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Making humanity’s challenges smaller and smaller: UW launches Institute for Nano-Engineered Systems | UW News

Former WNF director Karl Bohringer is leading new nanotechnology institute dedicated to the development of solutions to the field’s most pressing challenges: the manufacturing of scalable, high-yield nano-engineered systems for applications in information processing, energy, health and interconnected life.

WNF celebrates completion of $37M remodel project

On October 24, 2017, The University of Washington National Nanotechnology Coordinated Structure (NNCI) Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF) officially opened the doors of its remodeled facility – a 15,000 square-foot space that offers an open-access cleanroom and expert resources to users. The environment further enhances the shared discovery and dissemination of new technologies focused on nanotechnology and fabrication processes.

Flexible ‘skin’ can help robots, prosthetics perform everyday tasks by sensing shear force | UW News

Engineers from the University of Washington and UCLA have developed a flexible sensor “skin” that can be stretched over any part of a robot’s body or prosthetic to accurately convey information about shear forces and vibration that are critical to successfully grasping and manipulating objects. The new stretchable electronic skin was manufactured at the UW’s Washington Nanofabrication Facility. It is made from the same silicone rubber used in swimming goggles. The rubber is embedded with tiny serpentine channels — roughly half the width of a human hair — filled with electrically conductive liquid metal that won’t crack or fatigue when the skin is stretched, as solid wires would do.