Robots of a feather, stick together

Scientists are developing robots which can 'dock' with each other and fly together in a swarm, according to Mail Online.

Using infrared beams, the drones are able to find each others' location and connect with one another using magnets, completely autonomously. The individual vehicles, or quadrocopters, have fixed propellers that lift them into the air, but the resulting flight is erratic and uncontrolled.

Once they are joined together these relatively simple little robots evolve into a sophisticated multi-propeller system capable of coordinated flight.

Leonardo Biosystems has received a $2.5 million grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund to commercialise a nanoparticle drug delivery system says AzoNano.

Leonardo Biosystems, co-founded by nanoscientist Dr Mauro Ferrari, professor at the University of Texas, and Arrowhead's CEO, Dr Christopher Anzalone, is engineering a multi-stage drug delivery platform to improve the effectiveness of drug therapy, particularly for cancer.

The Texas Emerging Technology Fund was established to accelerate commercialisation of new technologies.

University of Massachusetts Lowell (UMass Lowell) has unveiled a $70 million emerging technologies and innovation centre, the first new building in the university's expansive plan for growth, states Lowell.com.

The 84 000-square-foot building will be home to experts in cutting-edge fields including nanotechnology, plastics engineering, biomedicine and electro-optics. UMass Lowell hopes to draw researchers from around the world to collaborate with faculty and students at the centre, as well as work hand-in-hand with industry.

The centre is expected to be completed in 2012 and will create hundreds of new private sector jobs in its first five years of operation, as well as more than 400 construction industry jobs.