A microscopic, shape-shifting robot inspired by children’s toys successfully saved the narrative of Japan’s historic first lunar landing, according to data finalized by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

The mini-rover, officially designated as Lunar Excursion Vehicle-2 (LEV-2) and nicknamed SORA-Q, was ejected from Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) just moments before the main spacecraft suffered a catastrophic engine failure and flipped upside down on the lunar surface.

Newly released mission telemetry reveals that the baseball-sized mechanical sphere executed its transforming sequence flawlessly, crawling across the loose lunar soil to capture the iconic, mission-saving image of the inverted lander.

The Toy Engineering Behind the Sphere

Weighing a mere 250 grams (8.8 ounces) and measuring just 8 centimeters (3.1 inches) in diameter, SORA-Q represents an unprecedented cross-disciplinary engineering venture. JAXA co-developed the tiny explorer alongside Japanese toy manufacturing giant Takara Tomy—the original co-creators of the Transformers franchise—as well as Sony Group and Doshisha University.

The robot’s structural layout relies on mechanical principles utilized in transforming action figures. To survive the violent vibrations of spaceflight and the impact of dropping onto the Moon, SORA-Q remained packed into a smooth, metallic sphere.

Upon landing, the ball split down the middle, allowing the two outer hemispheres to extend outward as independent, eccentric wheels, while a small stabilizing tail deployed from the rear to prevent the body from spinning in place. This transforming design allowed a tiny camera package to pop upward from the core, clear of the dusty ground.

Surviving the Regolith: The Locomotion Modes

Operating on the Moon presents steep physical challenges for miniature mobile platforms. The fine, abrasive lunar dust—known as regolith—can easily jam delicate gears, and the lack of substantial gravity makes traditional wheel traction highly inefficient.

To overcome these environmental hurdles, JAXA and Takara Tomy programmed SORA-Q with two distinct physical locomotion modes to ensure it could navigate the unpredictable lunar surface.

In crawling mode, both hemispherical wheels rotate in perfect synchronization, creating a standard rolling motion that is highly energy-efficient for crossing flat terrain.

For tougher terrain, the robot switches to butterfly mode, where the wheels shift out of alignment and rotate asynchronously to mimic a swimming or flapping motion. This erratic movement allows the rover to push itself out of deep, shifting dust traps by continually shifting its center of gravity side to side.

Analysis confirms that the rover dynamically toggled between these modes, navigating slopes up to 15 degrees and crawling across several meters of rough terrain to position itself for its primary photography task.

Saving a mission via mesh networks

SORA-Q’s deployment was not just a mobility test; it proved to be an essential safety net for the entire SLIM mission. When the primary lander lost one of its main thrusters at an altitude of 50 meters, it touched down hard and tipped completely over, leaving its solar panels facing away from the sun and severely limiting its operational lifespan.

Because SORA-Q was too compact to house a heavy, power-hungry antenna capable of beaming data directly back to Earth, it relied on an innovative, local Bluetooth mesh network to relay its findings.

The tiny sphere filmed the tilted lander and transmitted the image files locally to its companion rover, LEV-1—a separate, 2.1-kilogram hopping robot that had ejected alongside it. LEV-1 then utilized its larger, dedicated S-band transponder to upload the data to ground stations on Earth.

The resulting photograph provided the first definitive visual proof of SLIM’s orientation on the lunar slope, enabling JAXA engineers to precisely calculate when the changing angle of the sun would hit the inverted solar cells and wake the lander back up.

By proving that ultra-lightweight, transforming mechanisms can survive the space environment, the success of SORA-Q is directly influencing the design of the next generation of compact planetary scouts, showing that heavy, rigid chassis are no longer the only way to explore foreign worlds.

A team at UNSW Sydney has produced an espresso-strength coffee using room-temperature water and sound waves — no heating, no pressure, no boiling — and in a blind taste test with 100 regular coffee drinkers, the result was indistinguishable from a traditionally brewed shot.

The research was led by Dr. Francisco Trujillo from UNSW’s School of Chemical Engineering. His team developed an ultrasonic brewing system that reduces energy consumption by up to 75% compared to conventional espresso machines while producing a concentrated shot in under three minutes.

How acoustic cavitation replaces heat

Traditional espresso forces water heated to near-boiling through tightly packed coffee grounds under pressure — typically 9 bar. The heat and pressure together drive the rapid extraction of flavor compounds, oils, and caffeine from the grounds into the water.

Trujillo’s system replaces heat with high-frequency sound waves. A transducer — a small metal device — is pressed against the side of a modified coffee filter basket.

When activated, it causes the basket to vibrate rapidly at ultrasonic frequencies far beyond human hearing, transmitting those vibrations through both the coffee grounds and the room-temperature water.

The vibrations create a phenomenon called acoustic cavitation: microscopic bubbles form and collapse rapidly in the liquid. When those bubbles collapse near coffee particles, they act like tiny jets of water, pitting and fracturing the surface of the grounds and forcing flavor compounds, oils, and caffeine into the water at rates that would normally require heat.

The result is a concentrated, espresso-strength shot — same richness, same caffeine — brewed with cold water in two and a half to three minutes.

Three variables proved most important in getting it right: the brew ratio (water per gram of coffee, which controls concentration), the grind size (finer grinding accelerated extraction), and the duration of ultrasound application (the sweet spot was 2.5 to 3 minutes for a balanced result).

What the taste test found

To validate the system, the team ran a randomized blind sensory evaluation. Four drinks were tested — traditional espresso, ultrasound-brewed espresso, traditional filter coffee, and ultrasound-brewed filter coffee — all prepared fresh, cooled to the same temperature, and served in identical coded cups in random order. Around 100 regular coffee drinkers rated each drink on a nine-point scale for aroma, flavor, bitterness, and overall liking.

For espresso, there were no significant differences across any taste measure. Most participants could not tell the two versions apart, and no preference for either emerged.

For filter coffee, the ultrasound version actually outperformed the traditional brew. Participants rated it significantly higher overall — particularly for the pleasantness of its bitterness.

The industrial case

Trujillo’s team is clear about where the biggest impact lies. While a home version of the machine is technically feasible, the most compelling opportunity lies in industry. Companies producing ready-to-drink coffee at scale currently operate large volumes of high-energy brewing equipment continuously.

A system that cuts energy use by three-quarters, brews in minutes, and delivers espresso-strength concentrate that can be shipped and later diluted into cold brew, milk-based drinks, or ready-to-drink products represents a meaningful change to that cost structure.

The 75% energy saving is particularly beneficial at that scale, Trujillo noted, and because the process produces a concentrated, espresso-strength coffee, it can be used directly in manufacturing or shipped as a concentrate for a range of coffee products — cutting both energy and processing time from the industrial supply chain simultaneously.

The research was first published in the Journal of Food Engineering.

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