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Home > News

Mechanical engineering

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.
Drew McPherson and Hannah Stuart demonstrate the newest version of the Dorsal Grasper in the Embodied Dexterity Group’s lab at UC Berkeley.

Q+A on assistive devices

06/11/25 — The Dorsal Grasper enables grasping with supernumerary robotic fingers on the back of the user's hand.
Gas flame over black background

Igniting knowledge

06/11/25 — Robots aboard the International Space Station are testing the flammability of acrylic plastic to improve spacecraft safety.
chameleon on a stick

The chameleon effect

06/11/25 — A chameleon-inspired electromagnetic material could someday make vehicles and aircraft invisible to radar.
Graduate students in UC Berkeley’s Indigenous Research Methods seminar.

Native FEWS Alliance trains students to strengthen tribal food, energy, water systems

05/22/25 — This multi-university consortium now faces an uncertain future due to NSF funding cuts
A male patient arrives at the therapy clinic complaining of low back pain. The therapist examines the patient

Researchers explore connections between chronic low back pain and movement

04/03/25 — UCSF/UC Berkeley study aims to make progress toward individualized treatments
Macro shot of white insect-sized drone held in fingertips of a UC Berkeley researcher.

Berkeley engineers create world’s smallest wireless flying robot

03/28/25 — The bumblebee-inspired robot, less than a centimeter in diameter, can hover, change directions and even hit small targets.
Collage mage of squirrels jumping, landing and balancing on a narrow branch, and a robot in midair attempting the same feat.

No robot can match a squirrel’s ability to leap from limb to limb — until now

03/19/25 — UC Berkeley engineers and biologists design a robot that can stick a landing on a branch
Mechanical engineering student Will Siemens competing on pole vault.

When student athletes are also engineers

03/05/25 — ASME: Berkeley mechanical engineering students are excelling on and off the field, court and track
The Dorsal Grasper assistive device, developed by UC Berkeley engineers, facilitates human-robot collaborative grasping. Its supernumerary robotic fingers on the back of the hand are grasping a tennis ball.

New assistive device enhances grasping for people with spinal cord injuries

02/10/25 — Dorsal Grasper provides an intuitive, collaborative grasping approach
The White House has announced that Grace Gu, Sergey Levine and Grace O’Connell (left to right) are among this year

White House honors engineering faculty with early career awards

01/17/25 — Grace Gu, Sergey Levine and Grace O’Connell have been awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
Brightly colored chameleon clutching leaves.

New electromagnetic material draws inspiration from the color-shifting chameleon

01/15/25 — Applications include defense, wireless communications, energy and smart infrastructure
Water is dropped on the advancing Palisades Fire by helicopter in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.

UC Berkeley researchers offer insights into the Los Angeles fires

01/13/25 — Scholars discuss the fires’ causes and impacts on health, housing and the path ahead
Illustration of Grace Gu.

Grace Gu named ‘game-changing’ researcher in materials science

12/12/24 — Nature: She is recognized for using techniques such as machine learning to design composite materials
A headshot of Homayoon Kazerooni.

Homayoon Kazerooni elected to the National Academy of Inventors

12/10/24 — A leading expert in robotics and human-machine systems, he has created medical exoskeletons that enable paralyzed individuals to stand and walk
Flame spreading over a 12.7 mm sample at 19.8% oxygen under 60 kPa ambient pressure in microgravity.

NASA-funded project offers new insights into fire behavior in space

12/09/24 — Testing in microgravity reveals materials can burn at lower-than-expected oxygen levels
SpaceCAL 3D printer awaiting June 2024 launch on VSS Unity; Taylor Waddell (inset)

Manufacturing in microgravity

11/20/24 — Berkeley researchers sent their 3D printing technology to space as part of the Virgin Galactic 07 mission.
A helicopter dropping water on a California wildfire in rugged terrain, backlit by a setting sun filtered through multiple layers of smoke.

Burning questions

11/20/24 — A new wildfire simulation model sheds light on how fires spread through communities in the wildland-urban interface.
A grey reef shark, Cairns Aquarium, Australia.

A shark of inspiration

11/20/24 — A textured surface designed to mimic shark skin can reduce drag and mitigate noise on underwater sonar systems.
A helicopter dropping water on a California wildfire in rugged terrain, backlit by a setting sun filtered through multiple layers of smoke.

New model sheds light on how wildfires spread through communities

09/16/24 — Insights could lead to more effective mitigation that saves lives and property
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