A tiny mechanical wrist from a team of engineers and doctors at Vanderbilt University’s Medical Engineering and Discovery Laboratory will be used on needle-sized surgical robots. The wrist is less than 1/16th of an inch (2 mm) thick.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology designed a low-cost prosthetic knee that mimics normal walking motion. The MIT team's prototype generates a torque profile similar to that of able-bodied knees, using only simple mechanical elements like springs and dampers. The team is testing...

Engineers from North Carolina State University have created stretchable, transparent conductors with a "nano-accordion" design. The conductors could be employed in a wide variety of applications, such as flexible electronics, stretchable displays, or wearable sensors.

A constant-force resistive exercise unit (CFREU) has been invented for use in both normal gravitational and microgravitational environments. In comparison with a typical conventional exercise machine, this CFREU weighs less and is less bulky: Whereas weight plates and associated bulky supporting structures...