Innovation Insights Quarterly: Q3

Sometimes, an innovation makes immediate use of just one valuable insight. More often, an innovation emerges in a way that may feel sudden and violent, but in reality is the result of years of work across different fields. This quarter, the exciting innova­tions we chose are largely the latter type. Across the board, they combine progress from fields as diverse as robotics and materials science to invent ingenious new forms that build on previous advancements. What unites them is their potential to impact our world and economy far beyond their initial use cases.

Advanced new robot “dog” uses reinforcement learning to do parkour

A team at Carnegie Mellon University recently created a robotic dog that jumps up blocks twice its height, deals with tricky terrain and can rove freely.¹ Reinforcement learning, a technique that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to mimic how humans learn, enables this new robot dog to respond dynamically to its environment.

Why it matters: Researchers have changed focus to how a robot’s “mind” can learn to perform new actions with its body. As a result, robots are increasingly agile and responsive to their environments. This shift in approach may allow robots to learn how to perform basic daily tasks on our behalf.

New AI model can predict how proteins change in interactions with molecules

The first version of AlphaFold, a protein structure predictor, came out in 2020. In 2024, AlphaFold was updated in a major breakthrough—it can now predict the structures of proteins during interactions with other molecules with startling accuracy.²

Why it matters: The developers of AlphaFold hope to increase the power of the technology. The goal is to predict the structure of the >100,000 proteins in our bodies both by themselves and in interactions. If achieved, this would be a foundational advancement for drug discovery, moving it from the lab onto the computer.

Yeast-like bacteria found to digest carbon and produce ethanol

One of the answers to climate change may have been found in rabbit feces—the bacterium clostridum autoethanogenum.³ Like yeast, which eats sugar to make ethanol, this bacterium eats gaseous carbon and produces ethanol. One company is capturing waste carbon emissions from steel plants and placing them in a bioreactor with the bacteria.

Why it matters: The climate benefit of this innovation is twofold. First, these bacteria could produce a 30% drop in carbon emissions for steel plants, an industry responsible for 11% of global emissions. Second, the resulting ethanol can be used to make aviation fuel with 85% less carbon emissions.⁴

Researchers invent a shapeshifting robot

A new miniature robot that can change from liquid to solid takes its inspiration from the flexible sea cucumber.⁵ By embedding magnetic particles within the metal gallium, researchers built a robot with similar flexibility. It can jump up to 20 times its body length, climb walls, and even escape from a mock prison.

Why it matters: Although it is early, this new robot shows promise in biomedical applications. For instance, it could be used to remove a coin from a human stomach. Beyond medicine, it may be able to help assemble and repair hard-to-reach circuits or even act as a universal screw.

Advances in geothermal energy may help curb carbon emissions

New ideas to solve old problems can be found in the most unlikely of places. In this case, geothermal energy, one of the most promising forms of renewable energy, has emerged as a new application for hydraulic fracking.⁶ Solid stone at unprecedented depth is cracked, and water is injected. This produces steam, which drives turbines to produce electricity for the grid.

Why it matters: Today, less than 1% of energy is geothermal. But, geothermal energy, like fossil fuels, doesn’t vary with weather conditions or time of day, a major limiting factor for other renewable energy technologies. This means it could power the grid when other renewables are less available.