Advanced manufacturing

We’re using our research to improve manufacturing products and processes to build a stronger, more vibrant industrial community. Our expertise in additive manufacturing, medical device manufacturing, and micro/nano-manufacturing is continually strengthened by our interdisciplinary collaborations and industrial partnerships. You'll find us exploring new materials for 3-D metal printing, exploring the latest innovations in micro-machining, or building innovative hands-on medical training tools.

Learn more about our research by watching videos from our advanced manufacturing playlist.

Mar 17

Advanced Manufacturing

CMU to Lead NASA Space Technology Research Institute

A new NASA Space Technology Research Institute (STRI) led by Carnegie Mellon University seeks to shorten the cycle required to design, manufacture, and test parts that can withstand the conditions of space travel through constructing models for qualification and certification.

Jan 11

Advanced Manufacturing

A sweet way to teach kids about manufacturing

Sneha Prabha Narra uses hands-on activities to introduce engineering and additive manufacturing concepts to local grade school students.

Students in Ding Zhao’s lab were awarded the 2022 Qualcomm Innovation Fellowship for their proposal to generate diverse safety-critical autonomous vehicle scenarios using digital twins.

Driving autonomy into the metaverse

Oct 21

Advanced Manufacturing

Manufacturing Day 2022

Area high school students visit Mill 19 on Manufacturing Day to learn about advanced manufacturing career opportunities.

Oct 11

Advanced Manufacturing

Microneedles unlock curcumin’s therapeutic potential

Researchers engineer a hybrid system that stabilizes curcumin to target skin diseases.

Oct 7

Advanced Manufacturing

Nanoprinting electrodes for customized treatments of disease

Researchers pioneer the CMU Array—a customizable, 3D nano-printed, ultra-high-density microelectrode array platform for next-generation brain-computer interfaces to treat neurological disorders.

Sep 13

Advanced Manufacturing

Hydrogels pave way for future of soft robotics

Wenhuan Sun, Victoria Webster-Wood, and Adam Feinberg have created an open-source, commercially available fiber extruder to benefit future research with hydrogels and soft robotics.

Aug 2

Advanced Manufacturing

3D printing ice

3D printed ice isn’t as magical as in the movie Frozen, but it has wonderful potential for biomedical engineering and advanced manufacturing.

Research paper

Researchers combined liquid crystal elastomers with a thermoelectric device to develop a stretchable transducer for soft robotics.

A cooler side to soft robotics

May 31

Advanced Manufacturing

Drop by drop: MXene in complex 3D device architectures

3D architectures of MXene can increase the energy storage density of lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors, but there hasn’t been a reliable manufacturing method to build these configurations.

Apr 22

Advanced Manufacturing

Robots that can learn to safely navigate warehouses

Advances in chips, sensors, and AI algorithms are enabling robots to continuously learn how to plan routes, avoid obstructions, and operate safely in large dynamic warehouse environments.

Mar 18

Advanced Manufacturing

3D printing giant nanotech models

Caleigh Goodwin-Schoen and Rebecca Taylor are designing more affordable ways to print colorful 3D models of biological nanostructures, like proteins and DNA.

Jan 31

Advanced Manufacturing

Biden calls for investment in American innovation

President Biden touted the importance of advanced manufacturing innovation, robotics, 3D printing, and artificial intelligence during his recent visit to Mill 19.

Three College of Engineering faculty members have been selected to receive funding for their projects through the Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP): Marc De Graef, Anthony Rollett, and Rebecca Taylor.

Faculty projects awarded DURIP funding

Dec 7

Advanced Manufacturing

Breaking barriers in medicine

A team of mechanical engineering researchers has used additive manufacturing and nanotechnology to detect increasingly tiny levels of biomarkers.

Nov 11

Advanced Manufacturing

Testing the durability of new probes

Mihir Lovalekar found a way to combine his interest in neurology with his major in mechanical engineering by getting involved with undergraduate research and the CMU Array.

Nov 1

Advanced Manufacturing

A hands-free, hands-on approach

As an innovation engineer designing footwear at Nike, alumna Katie Ricciardi has forged a career that blends the interests and skills she’s developed since her time at CMU.

Sep 30

Advanced Manufacturing

Team builds tools, innovations to support federal investment

With major investments in infrastructure and innovation pending, a multi-disciplinary initiative lead by EPP’s Erica Fuchs is building the tools and innovations to inform government decisions.

Aug 10

Advanced Manufacturing

Tuning synthetic collagen threads for biohybrid robots

Researchers in Victoria Webster-Wood’s Biohybrid and Organic Robotics Group are using techniques from tissue engineering to refine tendon-like collagen threads for a new generation of robots.

Explore Other Research Topics

Centers & Institutes

Next Manufacturing Center

As one of the world’s leading 3-D printing research centers, the NextManufacturing Center is defining the future of advanced manufacturing from metals to bio-printing. With more than 20 researchers from across disciplines, the center remains at the cutting edge of this field by exploring the interrelated processing, materials, cost, and design challenges of 3-D printing.

College of Engineering research centers and institutes