Stories

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Tech Briefs writers and editors share their opinions and find the fun, interesting, and unexpected stories behind today's leading-edge inventions.

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Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
Untethered soft robots are poised to become even more agile and controlled.
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Blog: Unmanned Systems
The Yonder Deep team installed an entire suite of sensors in its AUV, versatile enough to withstand the frigid Arctic waters as well as the coastal waters of Southern California.
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Blog: Test & Measurement
The first study on how purified boron nitride nanotubes remain stable in extreme temperatures in inert environments.
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Blog: Medical
A microelectronic fiber with microscopic parameters is capable of analyzing electrolytes and metabolites in sweat.
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Blog: Design
The term artificial intelligence (AI) has become an everyday catch phrase. The way it’s used all over the media, however, is very different from the way I think about it.
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Blog: Medical
A new take on an old design using artificial intelligence has the potential to make life incredibly easier for the visually impaired.
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Blog: Energy
By placing a metamaterial pattern on the surface of an object, the researchers were able to use sound to steer it in a certain direction without physically touching it.
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Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Researchers have developed a portable sensor made of simple materials to detect heavy metals in sweat, which is easily sampled.
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Blog: Photonics/Optics
Light-emitting diode (LED) solid-state lighting technology offers low power consumption and cost, small size, and a long lifespan. Plus, it’s environmentally friendly.
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Blog: Energy
Instead of disposing of batteries after three years, we could have recyclable batteries that last three times longer.
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Blog: Propulsion
A flapping-wing robot that can land autonomously on a horizontal perch using a claw-like mechanism.
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Blog: Design
See 10 AR/VR technologies from CES 2023.
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Blog: Test & Measurement
A counterintuitive way to protect atomically thin electronics: adding vibrations to reduce vibration issues.
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Blog: Photonics/Optics
A study has perhaps solved the wind-turbine issue of causing harm to bats.
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Blog: Aerospace
See Tech Briefs’ top-performing quizzes of 2022.
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Blog: Power
See Tech Briefs’ most-read stories of 2022.
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Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The epsilon iron oxide nanoparticles could be continuously produced through a micrometer-sized powder manufacturing process.
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Blog: Design
The battery was made using sodium-sulphur — a type of molten salt that can be processed from sea water at a low cost.
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Blog: Aerospace
Gift giving always induces anxiety. It’s never easy to pick a present that someone will enjoy, especially if the recipient is an engineer.
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Blog: Materials
A research team has demonstrated a promising method to easily manufacture self-folding origami honeycomb structures.
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Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The work showed that when a certain level of force inverts a dome, embedded sensors surrounding the dome can detect the change.
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Blog: Automotive
For automated driving, LiDAR combines the best features of two of the other sensing technologies: radar and cameras.
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Blog: Manned Systems
The Artemis I launch took place at Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with support from University of Central Florida alums, faculty, and students. However, it didn’t go off without a hitch.
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Blog: Test & Measurement
Power electronics are critical for renewable energy. They require special design and testing to ensure that they will reliably perform their critical duties.
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Blog: AR/AI
UCLA engineers have designed a new class of material that can learn behaviors over time and develop a “muscle memory” of its own.
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Blog: Motion Control
The drawing machine uses pens with ink containing conductive material or regular mechanical pencils with varying graphite content.
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Blog: Materials
The new materials are hard enough to stir molten steel and can withstand temperatures above 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit — about the same temperatures found just a few hundred miles above the surface of the sun.
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Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The system aims to add the sense of touch to the metaverse for use in virtual-reality shopping and gaming, and potentially facilitate the work of astronauts and other professions that require the use of thick gloves.
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Blog: Green Design & Manufacturing
Scientists say that such oil-rich duckweed could easily be harvested to produce biofuels or other bioproducts.
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