Inspired by the effortless way humans handle objects without seeing them, a team led by engineers at the University of California San Diego has developed a new approach that enables a robotic hand to rotate objects solely through touch, without relying on vision.
Researchers led by UC San Diego have developed a new model that trains four-legged robots to see more clearly in 3D. The advance enabled a robot to autonomously cross challenging terrain with ease—including stairs, rocky ground and gap-filled paths—while clearing obstacles in its way.
We’re taking you underground and inside the largest outdoor earthquake simulator in the world. You’re about to learn how this high-performance shake table is powered and equipped with smart-control technology that can simulate the most devastating earthquakes in modern history. Located at UC San Diego, this simulator supports the tallest and heaviest structures ever to be tested for resilience during an earthquake–from multi-story buildings to bridge columns, bridge bents, and wind turbines Funded by the National Science Foundation, the newly upgraded shake table can now replicate ground motions with 6 degrees of freedom. “With a world-class facility like this,” says Joel Conte, principal investigator, “Our goal is to save lives–in California, in the US, and the world; and also, to prevent tremendous economic losses after an earthquake, that take many, many years to rebuild.”
Engineers gathered on May 9 to shake a 10-story mass timber building–the tallest full-scale building to be tested on an earthquake simulator. The test took place at the UC San Diego NSF-funded outdoor shake table, one of the two largest shake tables in the world.
Jesse Driscoll, associate professor of political science at the UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy, has authored a new book, “Ukraine's Unnamed War.” Driscoll traveled to Ukraine to begin researching the book in 2014. In this Q&A and video, Driscoll discusses how the current conflict emerged from the ragged settlement of 2014-2016 and shares insights on what to expect as the largest war in recent European history grinds forward.
A new study shows that elephant seals average just 2 hours of sleep per day when they are at sea. This video by Scripps Institution of Oceanography postdoctoral fellow Jessica Kendall-Bar uses data-driven animations to show how these seals sleep for 10 minutes at a time during deep, 30-minute dives in which they often spiral downward while fast asleep. Kendall-Bar conducted the research while she was a graduate student at UC Santa Cruz. Study co-authors include a team of researchers affiliated with UC Santa Cruz and several other research organizations.
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