Mechanical engineering

Robots that reconfigure

05/11/26 — Like octopi squeezing through a tiny sea cave, metatruss robots can adapt to demanding environments by changing their shape. These robots are made of trusses composed of hundreds of beams and joints that rotate and twist, enabling astonishing volumetric transformations. But as tasks become more complicated, so does the robot’s design. Adding actuating beams to […]

Backdrop: homes. Front: Two people smiling at the camera. Person on the left is in a motorized wheelchair. Person on the right is wearing a walking assistance device on their left leg.

Reimagining rehabilitation

05/11/26 — Two Berkeley alums have launched a company that offers an at-home robotic rehabilitation device

From forest to front door

05/10/26 — Understanding how wildfire spreads through communities

Close-up image of the MechanoAge platform on a microscope stage.

Researchers teach AI to spot cancer risk by squeezing individual breast cells

04/23/26 — UC Berkeley and City of Hope scientists discover that a cell's mechanical age can effectively signal cancer risk

A brilliant green and blue, long-billed bird sitting under a flower head.

Sunbirds suck, scientists find. Hummingbirds don’t.

04/13/26 — Two unrelated groups of nectar eaters, hummingbirds and sunbirds, evolved different techniques to slurp the sweet liquid from flowers

Paige Balcom at “Plastic Mountain,” an area at the current Takataka Plastics facility where collected bottles are dumped, then sorted before being processed in the facility’s production lines.

Giving plastic a second life

03/30/26 — UC Berkeley Engineering alum Paige Balcom is turning plastic waste into economic opportunity through her recycling company in Uganda

Negar Mehr, UC Berkeley assistant professor of mechanical engineering.

Developing a safer, more efficient autonomous robot

03/03/26 — Berkeley engineer Negar Mehr envisions a future where robot assistants are commonplace, from our homes to deep space

An M.D. and Ph.D. candidate at UC San Francisco, Alice Tang speaking at a dais.

Berkeley engineers among innovators featured on Forbes ‘30 Under 30’ list

02/02/26 — UC Newsroom: Many are leading the way across AI, entrepreneurship, science and more

Wildfire burn area to the edge of suburban neighborhood in Southern California. (Photo by Erin Donalson / iStock)

Wildfire defense that works

11/10/25 — Home hardening and defensible space strategies can double the number of structures that survive a blaze

Illustration showing a ring of disease biomarkers, interacting with a droplet of liquid that contains plasmonic nanoparticles

From drop to diagnosis

11/10/25 — Researchers have created a rapid, at-home diagnostic test that is 100 times more sensitive to viruses

Material intelligence

11/10/25 — Science meets shapeshifting at the Morphing Matter Lab

Building bots on a budget

11/03/25 — Berkeley Humanoid Lite is a low-cost, open-source, customizable robot made of 3D printed parts

Berkeley alums develop at-home robotic rehabilitation device

10/20/25 — ATDev co-founders advance new possibilities for assistive technologies

Rows of metatruss robots in different shapes.

Mighty morphing robots

09/30/25 — New AI-driven design tool optimizes performance and functionality without complex control systems

A home with severe fire damage, including a collapsed roof, broken windows and smoke damage, stands next to a home that appears undamaged.

California communities can reduce wildfire damage by half. Here’s how.

08/28/25 — UC Berkeley-led study demonstrates how two mitigation strategies — home hardening and defensible space — can have a major impact on wildfire destructiveness

A group of students sits in a large yellow disposal bin that is filled with small twigs and branches. The bin is on a hilly street next to a white house.

UC Berkeley scholars help Bay Area communities prepare for wildfire season

07/09/25 — Professor Michael Gollner and his students are applying advanced wildfire simulation tools to help neighborhoods understand their specific wildfire risks

An illustration shows a ring of small purple particles, representing disease proteins, sitting on a surface. The ring is partially covered by a droplet of liquid containing enlarged cartoons of plasmonic particles.

From COVID to cancer, new at-home test spots disease with startling accuracy

07/08/25 — Novel technology uses the ‘coffee-ring effect,’ paired with plasmonics and AI, for rapid diagnostics

Professor Lining Yao with models created in the Morphing Matter Lab.

Inspired by nature, engineering professor’s designs fold, move and morph

07/03/25 — UC Berkeley’s Morphing Matter Lab is transforming what’s possible in engineering design with their biomimetic materials

Berkeley engineers develop customizable, 3D-printed robot for tech newbies

06/25/25 — The open-source Berkeley Humanoid Lite provides an entry point into the robotics field

Close-up of a 1cm wide drone with an inset picture of a researcher holding the drone on his fingertip

Insect-sized innovation

06/11/25 — Engineers have unveiled the world’s smallest wireless flying robot.