INSIDER: Materials

Using Spider Silk, Surgeon Hits a Nerve

Christine Radtke, a Professor for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Austria’s MedUni Vienna/Vienna General Hospital, has 21 spiders. The silk obtained from the Tanzanian golden orb-weavers offers...

Briefs: Motion Control

Soft Robot “Walks” on Any Terrain

Traditional robots often feature isolated mechanical joints. These discrete components limit a rover’s ability to traverse sand, stone, and other challenging environments. A team at the University of...

Briefs: Motion Control

High-Temperature Actuators Bend as They “Breathe”

Extreme temperatures are hard for mechanical components to endure without degrading. To address the problem, researchers at MIT worked with several other universities to develop a new way...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

3D-Printed Tensegrity Object Can Change Shape

A team of researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed a way to use 3D printers to create objects capable of dramatic expansion. The technology could someday be used in...

Articles: Motion Control

Reduce Compressed Air Costs with Proper Air Cylinder Sizing

There may be no stronger ally of electrical power utilities than industrial size air compressors, as they drone on every day, taking atmospheric air and transforming it into useful...

Articles: Motion Control

Energy Management Through Direct Drive Servo Technology

Direct drive servo motor and drive technology has many advantages. It reduces an axis’ parts count, mechanical losses, and often its objectionable noise. What’s more, it also...

Articles: Motion Control

Smart Actuators Add Brains to Automation Brawn

Actuators have always been on the frontline of automation, providing the “push and pull” that extends human capabilities to operate everything from delicate pick-and-place...

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Flat, Triangular Modules Connect to Form Origami Robot

Origami robots are composed of thin structures that can fold and unfold to change shape. They are compact and lightweight, but have functional restrictions related to size, shape, and...

Products: Motion Control

New Products: August 2017 Motion Design

Brushless AC Servo Motors

Allied Motion Technologies (Amherst, NY) introduced the HeiMotion™ Premium (HMP) brushless AC servo motor family. The motors, which have a 20,000+ hour life span,...

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Straws Help Create Simple Robot Joints

Inspired by arthropod insects and spiders, Harvard professor George Whitesides and Alex Nemiroski, a former postdoctoral fellow in Whitesides’ Harvard lab, used ordinary plastic drinking straws to...

Articles: Motion Control

Eliminate Interference from Converter Output

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) in frequency converters can be very problematic if not addressed properly in the initial design. EMC ensures the proper operation of devices to avoid negative...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Conductive Particle Assembly Enables Creation of Two-Dimensional Electronic Circuits

One-dimensional conductive particle assembly holds promise for a variety of practical applications; in particular, for a new generation of electronic...

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Omni Jaw 5™ Powered Protrusion Cutter

In many manufacturing and construction activities, it is frequently necessary to remove a protrusion of material from a component or from a substrate surface. These removal operations include clipping...

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Low-Cost Chip Extends Life of Battery Sensors

A voltage detector chip was developed that requires only a few trillionths of a Watt (picowatts) to activate other circuits, enabling engineers to design sensors that continuously listen, without...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Using Microwaves to Produce High-Quality Graphene

Engineers have developed a simple method for producing high-quality graphene that can be used in next-generation electronic and energy devices. The method essentially bakes the compound in a...

Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing

Process Produces Renewable Car Tires from Trees and Grasses

A team of researchers has invented a new technology to produce automobile tires from trees and grasses. Conventional car tires are viewed as environmentally unfriendly because they...

NASA Spinoff: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Micromachined Sensors Monitor Train Rails and Predict Failures

Spinoff is NASA's annual publication featuring successfully commercialized NASA technology. This commercialization has contributed to the development of products and services in...

Facility Focus: Defense

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) was created with a national sense of urgency in February 1958 amidst one of the most dramatic moments in the history of the Cold War and the...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

3D-Printed Heart-on-a-Chip with Integrated Sensors

The first entirely 3D-printed organ-on-a-chip with integrated sensing has been built by a fully automated digital manufacturing procedure. The 3D-printed heart-on-a-chip can be quickly...

News: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Wireless Tamper Detection Sensor and Sensing System

NASA's Langley Research Center researchers have developed a wireless, connection-free inductor capacitor sensor system that can be placed on or embedded in materials and structures to...

Briefs: Software

Network Geolocation Technology

A network geolocation technology (NGT) can be used to determine the physical location of a networked Internet user, as well as accurately determine if an Internet user is in fact in the metropolitan service...

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Water-Saving Firefighting Nozzle

Fluorocarbon-based fire extinguishing agents are environmentally harmful since they cause depletion of the Earth's ozone layer. Fine Water Mist (FWM)-type systems have very favorable characteristics as...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Robotic System for 3D-Printing the Basic Structure of an Entire Building

Materials that can be produced by 3D printing include not just plastics, but metal, glass, and even food. A new system called a Digital Construction Platform (DCP) was...

Briefs: Imaging

Linear Fresnel Spectrometer Chip with Gradient Line Grating

NASA's Langley Research Center has built a very small spectrometer by integrating a differential linear Fresnel lens onto an imaging chip. NASA is using the lens/chip in a very...

Briefs: Software

Multi-Dimensional Information Visualization Software

DiVisa is a multi-dimensional information visualization tool that en ables researchers to understand the behavior of network data.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Sandia Cooler

Heat exchangers are used for the transfer of heat between two or more media. The media may be separated by a solid wall so that they never mix, or they may be in direct contact. Heat exchangers may be used in HVAC systems,...

Articles: Electronics & Computers

Products of Tomorrow: August 2017

This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that...

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Ruck Dock Load Carriage Connector System

Soldiers, civilians engaged in activities such as hiking, and public safety personnel engaged in search and rescue missions all require reliable systems for the effective carriage of necessary...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

4D Printing of Load-Bearing and Predictable Structures

Research is being performed in adding a fourth dimension to 3D printers — the dimension of time. This technique, called 4D printing, creates moveable and shape-variable objects, such...

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

RFID System for Management of High-Risk Materials

For years, radio frequency identification (RFID) technology has been used in a variety of applications, from passports to inventory tracking. Homeland security concerns have heightened the...

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Wireless Damage Location Sensing System

NASA Langley Research Center researchers have developed a wireless, open-circuit SansEC (Sans Electrical Connections) sensor that can be used for pharmaceutical applications without the need for...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Machine Vision System

A number of instruments have been built to obtain range images — a two-dimensional array of numbers that gives the depth of a scene along many directions from a central point in the instrument. Instead of measuring...

Application Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Ensuring Part Quality in Industrial Metal Additive Manufacturing

Concept Laser
Grapevine, TX
For more info click here

Now that metal additive manufacturing (AM) is creating fully functional industrial parts, many OEMs are...

News: Imaging

Lock-In Imaging System for Detecting Disturbances in Fluid

NASA's Langley Research Center has developed an aircraft-based turbulence and vortex detection system. Turbulence and vortices in the front-flight path are very dangerous for...

Articles: Software

Using Formal Methods for Engineering Embedded Systems

Between 1985 and 1987, a radiation therapy device called the Therac-25 was involved in at least six incidents in which the device delivered massive overdoses of radiation. The patients...

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Reducing Inaccuracies in Force/Haptic Feedback Systems

Researchers at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center have developed a new technology to reduce inaccuracies in force/haptic feedback devices and systems. Used at NASA in aircraft...

Briefs: Imaging

Curved Sensor Improves Image Quality Captured with Digital Cameras

In dark environments, it is often difficult to get a clear, high-quality image. To address this problem, a method was developed for spherically curving the flat image sensors...

Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing

Electrochemical Method for Removing Pollutants from Water

When removing very dilute concentrations of pollutants from water, existing separation methods tend to be energy- and chemical-intensive. A new method was developed that could provide...

Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Structural Health Monitoring System/Method Using Electroactive Polymer Fibers

NASA's Langley Research Center has developed a novel polymer material that can be utilized as a real-time structural health monitoring sensor. The material is...

Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Product of the Month: August 2017

Harwin, Salem, NH, announced the SYCAMORE surface-mount socket that provides pin retention and durability for high-volume applications manufactured using automated systems. The capacitor's design...

Briefs: Imaging

Algorithm Enables Five-Dimensional Imaging in Living Organisms

Researchers use fluorescent imaging to locate proteins and other molecules in cells and tissues by tagging the molecules with dyes that glow under certain kinds of light — the...

INSIDER: Photonics/Optics

Writing with Light: An ‘Etch A Sketch’ Electrical Circuit

Physicists from Washington State University (WSU) have used lasers to draw conductive circuits into a crystal. The achievement demonstrates a new kind of transparent,...

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Researcher Sees the Power of Solar Glasses

New eyeglasses from Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology generate solar power. Featuring semitransparent organic solar cells, the eyewear powers a microprocessor and two small displays...

News: Medical

New 3D printing method promises superior medical implants for millions

For the millions of people every year who have or need medical devices implanted, a new advancement in 3D printing technology developed at the University of Florida...

News: Medical

Study points way to better implantable medical devices

Medical devices implanted in the body for drug delivery, sensing, or tissue regeneration usually come under fire from the host's immune system. Defense cells work to isolate material...

News: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Flexible glass made for tiny medical devices

Brigham Young University researchers have developed new glass technology that could add a new level of flexibility to the microscopic world of medical devices.

Question of the Week: Energy

Will "Electric Clothing" appeal to consumers?

Last week's INSIDER lead story featured an ultra-thin energy harvester from Vanderbilt University. Made from materials five thousand times thinner than a human hair, the technology may someday be...

News: Robotics, Automation & Control

Sound-Off: How Do Collaborative Robots Spot Human Operators?

In a “speed and separation” manufacturing scenario, a safe distance must be maintained between a collaborative robot and a human operator. When the gap reaches below a specific...

News: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Sound-Off: How Does ‘Cold Forming’ Impact a Part?

The manufacturing process of "cold forming" applies force to a metal as it is staged in a die. The technology, used originally in the early 1900s to create artillery shells, supports the...

INSIDER: Aerospace

The Newest Way to Propel Nanosatellites? Water.

Although maneuvering nanosatellites in space is a complex procedure, a new micro-propulsion method features the simplest of ingredients: water.

Question of the Week

Will water-based propulsion support space missions?

Our lead INSIDER story this week features a micro-propulsion system that uses water to maneuver nanosatellites. What do you think? Will water-based propulsion support space missions?

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Soft, Stretchy Fabric Sensors Enable Wearable Robots

A highly sensitive, soft, capacitive sensor made of silicone and fabric that moves and flexes with the human body can unobtrusively and accurately detect movement. The technology...

INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Sprayable Sensing Network Monitors Structural Health

Sprayed sensors were developed that can be networked to render real-time information on the health status of a structure, detecting hidden flaws. The sprayed nanocomposite sensors and...

INSIDER: Imaging

New Software Spots Eye Contact

Did you see? New software developed at Saarland University turns any camera into an eye-contact detector. Why is it so valuable to identify eye contact? We spoke with the inventor about new kinds of...

INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Secure 3D Printing: 'Three-Layer' System Protects Parts from Hackers

A 3D printer is essentially a small embedded computer — and can be exploited like one.

Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology and Rutgers University have...

News: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Sound-Off: How to Sell Additive Manufacturing to the Organization

How do you convince program managers to take an additive manufacturing approach to tooling? A 3D-printing pro shares lessons he learned about how to overcome obstacles from...

Q&A: Photonics/Optics

Q&A: aBeam Technologies' Dr. Keiko Munechika Offers New Ideas in Nano-Optics

Dr. Munechika — along with Alexander Kosh­elev and Giuseppe Calafiore at aBeam Technologies, and Stefano Cabrini at the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley...

Question of the Week: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Are you concerned about the integrity of 3D-printed parts?

This week's INSIDER story features a new method for verifying the integrity of critical 3D-printed parts, from brakes to aircraft components. What do you think? Are you concerned...

INSIDER: Medical

Tissue Repair, With a Single Touch

Researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Ohio State’s College of Engineering have developed a new kind of TNT — a "Tissue Nanotransfection" device that generates specific cell...

INSIDER: Energy

Method to Revolutionize Battery Recharging

University of Sydney researchers have developed a three-stage method to recharge zinc-air batteries. While zinc-air batteries are currently used as an energy source in hearing aids and some...

INSIDER: Energy

Turning Homes into Power Stations

A new solar project, called SUNRISE, will develop printed photovoltaic cells and new manufacturing processes that can be used to construct solar energy products in India. These will then be integrated...

Question of the Week

Have you faced internal hurdles when trying to introduce additive manufacturing?

This week's "Sound-Off" article featured advice on how to bring a 3D-printing approach to the organization. What do you think? Have you faced internal hurdles...

INSIDER: Energy

Perspiration Power: Biofuel Cell Reacts to Sweat

Engineers from the University of California – San Diego have developed stretchable fuel cells that extract energy from an often-unpleasant source: sweat. The flexible UCSD-developed devices...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Wireless Magnetic Field Powers Folding Robots

A team of researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) at Harvard University has...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Robotic Gripper Cleans Up Space Debris

Currently there are about 500,000 pieces of human-made debris in space, orbiting our planet at speeds up to 17,500 miles per hour. This debris poses a threat to satellites, space vehicles, and...

INSIDER: Motion Control

Harmonic Air Motor Offers Very High Efficiency

Currently available air motors have many advantages over electric motors. They are more compact, lighter-weight, instantly reversible without sparking, create no heat buildup, are undamaged...