New chemistries for batteries, semiconductors, and more could be easier to manufacture, thanks to a new approach to making chemically complex materials that researchers at U-M and Samsung’s Advanced Materials Lab have demonstrated.

A three-year project funded by a $1 million grant aims to equip bipedal walking robots with the technology to trek in areas that are too dangerous for humans, including collapsed buildings and other disaster areas.

Experience an earthquake, frolic on Mars, and chase a robot up the stairs. It’s just another dazzling day at U-M’s Ford Motor Company Robotics Building, now open for mind-bending business.

The Ford Robotics Building, at $75 million and 140,000 square feet, is set to open soon. Features include an indoor fly zone for autonomous aerial vehicles, an outdoor playground for walking robots, a high-bay garage for self-driving cars, and more.

With its outdoor fly lab for drone testing, U-M now hosts advanced robotics facilities for land, air, sea, and space. Plus: Robotics building breaks ground.

New bot is loosely modeled on the cassowary, a flightless bird with backward-facing knees.

Lab will feature fly zone for autonomous aerial vehicles, outdoor course for walking robots, and more.

A. Alfred Taubman dies at 91 … Don’t eat for two while pregnant … Teen smoking falls, e-cigarettes rise … U-M breaks ground on new architecture facility … U-M robotics lab planned … VC in state faces $1.3B gap … Forbes names UMHS one of nation’s best employers … 3 earn Guggenheim fellowships … Death and your brain … M-City set to open … Facebook app aids genetic research.

Two-legged locomotion is the robotics industry’s next frontier. But how and why do we make machines that move like us?