How Much Do You Know About Physical AI?

Why 3D ICs Are Essential for Next-Gen AI

As 3D-IC systems grow more complex and heterogeneous to meet the demands of the AI era, the combination of human expertise and AI-augmented design methodologies will be essential.

Product of the Month

See the product of the month: Nikon Corporation's APDIS MV5X, the latest addition to its APDIS Laser Radar product lineup.

Sweat-Powered Wearable Akin to Wearing a Band-Aid

A sweat-powered wearable has the potential to make continuous, personalized health monitoring as effortless as wearing a Band-Aid. Read on to learn more.

Radiation Detection Using Scintillating Fibers

At Idaho National Laboratory, researchers developed TRIPWIRE to enable detecting radiation over large and inaccessible areas like nuclear material repositories. Read on to learn more.

Improving Next-Generation Aircraft with Supercomputing and AI

With unprecedented capabilities for simulation and artificial intelligence, the Aurora supercomputer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory is helping researchers explore new ways to design more efficient airplanes. Read on to learn more.

Testing Heat Shields for Space

For decades, Sandia National Laboratories’ National Solar Thermal Test Facility has harnessed the power of the sun to expose aerospace materials to intense heat, replicating the harsh conditions of faster-than-sound flight and atmospheric reentry to ensure the materials’ ability to protect the rest of the vehicle. The most recent of these tests is in support of two exciting NASA missions. Read on to learn more.

Polyamide Aerogels

NASA Glenn researchers have found methods for using combinations of diamines and disecondary amines to produce polyamide aerogels with tunable glass transition temperatures, for greater control of features such as flexibility or water-resistance. Read on to learn more.

Electrochemical Sensors for Cheap, Disposable Diagnostics

Using an inexpensive electrode coated with DNA, MIT researchers have designed disposable diagnostics that could be adapted to detect a variety of diseases, including cancer or infectious diseases such as influenza and HIV. Read on to learn more.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including SPIROL's newest machined aluminum threaded Inserts, designed for heat or ultrasonic installation into straight plastic holes; Mitutoyo America Corporation's CRYSTA-Apex V PLUS Series, a next-generation CNC coordinate measuring machine; Airmar Technology Corporation's next generation of its WeatherStation instruments; and more.

A Biocompatible Sensor Implant to Monitor Neurological Functions

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, and New York’s Columbia University have embedded transistors in a soft, conformable material to create a biocompatible sensor implant that monitors neurological functions through successive phases of a patient’s development. Read on to learn more.

Using Digital Twins to Teach Robots to Lunar Crawl

The future of Moon exploration may be rolling around a non-descript office on the CU Boulder campus. Here, a robot about as wide as a large pizza scoots forward on three wheels. It uses an arm with a claw at one end to pick up a plastic block from the floor, then set it back down. Read on to learn more.

Grain-of-Salt-Sized Neural Implant

Researchers at Cornell University, working with collaborators, have created an extremely small neural implant that can sit on a grain of salt. Despite its size, the device can wirelessly transmit brain activity data from a living animal for more than a year. Read on to learn more.

A Flexible and Efficient DC-DC Power Converter

A new DC-DC power converter is superior to previous designs and paves the way for more efficient, reliable, and sustainable energy storage and conversion solutions. The Kobe University development can efficiently interface with a wide range of energy sources while enhancing system stability and simplicity at an unprecedented efficiency. Read on to learn more.

World’s First 2D, Non-Silicon Computer Developed

In a world first, researchers have used 2D materials, which are only an atom thick and retain their properties at that scale, unlike silicon, to develop a computer capable of simple operations. The development represents a major leap toward the realization of thinner, faster and more energy-efficient electronics. Read on to learn more.

Monitoring Hydrogen Fuel Quality in Real Time

The Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science has developed equipment that monitors the quality of hydrogen fuel supplied to vehicles through hydrogen refueling stations in real-time. This equipment is expected to prevent hydrogen vehicle accidents caused by impurities in the hydrogen fuel and improve the quality of hydrogen production. Read on to learn more.

A Thinner, Better Conductor

In a paper published in Science, Stanford researchers show that niobium phosphide can conduct electricity better than copper in films that are only a few atoms thick. Moreover, these films can be created and deposited at sufficiently low temperatures to be compatible with modern computer chip fabrication. Read on to learn more.

8 Emerging Space Startups

Powering momentum in the space sector is a new generation of commercial startups designing, building, and flight-testing breakthrough technologies that will enable sustained human presence in low-Earth orbit, on the Moon, and fuel deep-space missions. Read on for a look at eight emerging startups.

Autonomous AI Design Unlocks a Faster Route to Custom Materials

In this interview, Argonne Scientist Jie Xu, also an Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, discusses the results of her research and more. Read now!

Neutrons Help Improve 3D-Printed Superalloys

Researchers successfully used laser-based 3D printing to make alloys from two different metals, Inconel 718 and René 41, without cracking. Read on to learn more.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of the month, including a new method that automatically keeps a fleet of robots moving smoothly; inspiration for a new class of materials built on interlocking particles; and a new chip design that could improve how GPUs convert and manage power.

A Face Mask to Detect Kidney Disease

Surgical face masks help prevent the spread of airborne pathogens and therefore were ubiquitous during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, a modified mask could also protect a wearer by detecting health conditions, including chronic kidney disease. Researchers reporting in ACS Sensors incorporated a specialized breath sensor within the fabric of a face mask to detect metabolites associated with the disease. Read on to learn more.

7 Key Engineering Hurdles in Building High-Precision Gantry Systems for Automation

If you are building a high-accuracy gantry system inhouse, understand that the tolerance for error is measured in microns, while the number of interacting failure modes is vast. Read on for more tips.

AI Boosts Snakebot’s Movement Efficiency

A research group has developed a snake-like robot artificial intelligence that optimizes its rolling movement using deep reinforcement learning. This movement is aided by a unique “observation buffer” that uses data from the robot’s sensors to analyze angular velocity, acceleration, and body state information. Read on to learn more.

Programming Robots for Improved Nonverbal Communication

At Purdue University, Sooyeon Jeong, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and robot communication and behavior expert, is working to make robots as friendly and helpful as possible in non-fictional settings. Her goal is to create robots that make the world a better place for humans. Read on to learn more.

Delivering Industrial-Grade Physical AI at Scale

ABB Robotics is integrating NVIDIA Omniverse libraries into ABB Robotics’ RobotStudio® to help manufacturers deploy physical AI in real-world robotics applications. Read on to learn more.

Radiation-Tolerant Microcontrollers for Expanding LEO Satellite Network

On this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast, we speak with the CEO of Vorago Technologies, Bernd Lienhard, about how radiation-tolerant and radiation-hardened semiconductor technologies are enabling the next generation of satellite constellations, autonomous defense systems, and resilient space infrastructure. Listen now!

New Wearable Sensor Uses Sweat to Monitor Health Continuously

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have developed a wearable, wireless, and battery-free bioelectronic sensor that monitors health by detecting molecular biomarkers in human sweat. Read on to learn more about it.

Argonne Researchers Unlock Potential of Spintronics for Future Electronic Devices

The rapid expansion of data generation is challenging the capabilities of traditional charge-based electronics, such as smartphones and laptops. In response, researchers at Argonne National Laboratory are investigating alternative technologies that utilize electron spin. Read on to learn more.

Portable Biosensor Offers Fast Detection of Foodborne Pathogens

Researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute have developed a solid-polymer biosensor coated with nonpathogenic viruses to detect S. enterica, potentially providing innovative methods for identifying food contamination. Read on to learn more.