Devices & inventions

Novel drone shape-shifts mid-flight

01/19/22 — Interesting Engineering: Researchers at Berkeley's High Performance Robotics Laboratory (HiPeRLab) have developed an experimental drone called the Midair Reconfigurable Quadcopter that can shape-shift in midair, as seen in the lab's video.

The culture of yes

01/04/22 — A ventilator startup finds its life force at Berkeley Engineering

Boubacar Kante, superimposed over an illustration of a BICSEL laser

Making lasers more efficient, versatile and compact

12/07/21 — With support from his Bakar Fellowship, EECS associate professor Boubacar Kante is preparing to fabricate a prototype of a new laser with a range of applications from microsurgery to satellite telemetry.

Illustration of hourglass, containing plastic transforming into compost

Back down to earth

11/15/21 — Materials science professor Ting Xu is re-engineering plastics for the age of sustainability.

Illustration of heart tissue in isochoric chamber

Super cool

11/15/21 — Using a method called isochoric supercooling, researchers revived human heart tissue after it had been preserved in a subfreezing state for days.

Sather Gate viewed through a flexed piece of transparent monolayer semiconductor material

LED material shines under strain

08/26/21 — Berkeley Lab: EECS professor Ali Javey's team has devised a simple tactic to increase the efficiency and brightness of LED devices

Illustration of how EarEEG-based interface could deliver instructions via Bluetooth

Earbuds that read your mind

08/18/21 — Bakar Fellows: EECS assistant professor Rikky Muller has developed comfortable earbuds that detect and record brain activity, a platform technology that could support consumer and health monitoring apps

Insect-sized robot scurrying through scattered pieces of brick.

Insect-sized robot navigates mazes with the agility of a cheetah

07/02/21 — Flexible, durable robot developed by mechanical engineering professor Liwei Lin's team could become an asset for search and rescue operations

Student teams partner with armed forces to improve disaster response

06/24/21 Blum Center — Prototypes developed through a Blum Center for Developing Economies class tackle language, diplomacy and distance barriers

The robot surgeon will see you now

05/03/21 New York Times — Real scalpels, artificial intelligence — what could go wrong? That's what the researchers and doctors in Ken Goldberg's lab aim to find out.

A newborn infant receives supplemental warming while getting skin-to-skin contact with the mother

Infant-warming device proven safe, effective

04/29/21 Berkeley Lab — Technology developed by Ashok Gadgil's team shows a big drop in infant mortality in Rwanda hospitals

wearable biosensors in armband as hand makes gestures

Read my hand

04/26/21 — A wearable device that uses biosensors and AI can recognize hand gestures based on electrical signals detected in the forearm.

Bioengineering professor Dan Fletcher (center) with graduate students Maria Diaz de Leon Derby and Sungmin Son

The health lab in your pocket

04/26/21 — A COVID-19 test that uses CRISPR is professor Dan Fletcher’s latest transformation of cell phones into mobile diagnostic tools.

Bring in the reinforcements

04/26/21 — A team of engineers have developed a new way to reinforce concrete using a 3D printer to build octet lattices out of polymer.

Graduate student Ivan Jayapurna with a sample film of PCL (polycaprolactone), a new, biodegradable polyester plastic.

New process makes ‘biodegradable’ plastics truly compostable

04/21/21 — Ting Xu's lab has embedded polymer-eating enzymes in plastic to allow programmed degradation after the plastic's useful life is over

Tiny wireless oxygen monitor, shown on a finger

Tiny wireless implant detects oxygen deep within the body

04/14/21 — Ultrasound-powered device offers minimally invasive way to monitor organs or tissue

Computer rendering of CRISPR SNP Chip device

CRISPR-Chip advance streamlines genetic testing for medical diagnostics and research

04/05/21 — New study demonstrates platform's ability to detect single-point mutation without DNA amplification

Illustration of single photons approaching metamaterial beam splitter

Berkeley engineers demonstrate unprecedented control of light with a new quantum device

03/15/21 — The at-will control over the behavior of single photons is key to developing optical quantum gates.

maps showing declining radiation dose rates in the Fukushima evacuation zone over time

10 years after Fukushima, Berkeley monitoring still in use

03/11/21 Berkeley Lab — Response to earthquake, nuclear plant disaster led Kai Vetter and colleagues to new programs and technologies

UC Berkeley engineer Karl van Bibber in his Etcheverry Hall lab

Researchers harness quantum weirdness to speed search for dark matter

02/10/21 — Engineers build the most sensitive detector yet for spotting subatomic particles called axions