Revolutionizing Motion Control with Linear Motors

As the demand grows for increased productivity, higher product quality, rapid development time, and lower engineering costs, adopting linear motor technology is increasingly popular by leveraging modular linear motor designs.

A Cobot Spot Welder Promises Ergonomic Safety and Productivity Gains

Pro Spot International was founded in 1984 by Ron Olsson, shortly after coming to America from Sweden. Almost 40 years later, Pro Spot is one of the leading companies in automotive repair tools.

North Sea Rig Operators Discover a Solution for Frequently Tangled Service Loops

A company from Denmark found a problem with its oil rig, where wind caused service loops to swing, become entangled and snag, resulting in downtime. The company solved the problem with a 33.5-meter e-loop from igus, the Germany-based manufacturer of high-performance plastics.

Improved Grasping with an Energy-Efficient Robotic Hand

Grasping objects is a problem that is easy for a human, but challenging for a robot. Researchers designed a soft, 3D-printed robotic hand that cannot independently move its fingers but can still carry out a range of complex movements.

An Underwater Robot for Ocean Cleanup

One of the strategies to combat the mounds of waste found in oceans — especially around coral reefs — is to employ robots to master the cleanup. However, existing underwater robots are mostly bulky with rigid bodies, unable to explore and sample in complex and unstructured environments, and are noisy due to electrical motors or hydraulic pumps.

Four-Legged Robotic System Walks a Balance Beam

Researchers in Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute have designed a system that makes an off-the-shelf quadruped robot nimble enough to walk a narrow balance beam — a feat that is likely the first of its kind.

A Gripper That Grasps by Reflex

Looking to give robots a more nimble, human-like touch, MIT engineers have now developed a gripper that grasps by reflex. Rather than start from scratch after a failed attempt, the robot adapts in the moment.

Biomimetic “Myriapod” Robot Relies on Dynamic Instability to Navigate

Researchers have invented a new kind of walking robot that takes advantage of dynamic instability to navigate. By changing the flexibility of the couplings, the robot can be made to turn without the need for complex computational control systems.

New Products

See the new products, including digital servo drives, the PM2 pinion series from Neugart, valve controller modules, electric cylinders, and more.

How to Select the Right Cobot for Your Application

Capitalizing on the benefits cobots, of course, requires choosing the right cobot for the job. This article discusses five key considerations for selecting a cobot for your manufacturing application.

Direct Drive Motors: Delivering Reliability, Precision, and Performance

Direct drive motors have a long-standing history as a technology that has continually evolved and improved. This article introduces the technology behind direct drive motors, explores their advantages, and discusses example applications.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a spoofing device, a deployable electrode, and a snake robot.

Videos of the Month

See the videos of the month, including one on the VersaBlade wire-to-wire connectors from Molex, one on 3D-printed food technology, and more.

Six Considerations When Choosing Machine Vision in Collaborative Applications

Machine vision dates back to the beginning of the modern industrial robot age in the 1980s. Augmenting cobots with vision allows them to perform with higher precision, flexibility, and intelligence. However, integration is not a one-size-fits-all process.

Generative Design Puts Hydrogen Fuel Cell Development in High Gear

Toyota Research Institute of North America has developed a simulation-driven generative design method and applied it to the design of flow field microchannel plates, which direct the movement of fluid reactants in microreactors like hydrogen — oxygen fuel cells.

System for Flight Control of Hypersonic Aircraft

Researchers have designed an electrode-based system for guidance, navigation, and control of aircraft or spacecraft moving at hypersonic speeds in ionizing atmospheres.

5G, AI Team Up to Optimize Military Fueling

Armed with 5G network technology, AI, and edge computing resources, a pilot project under development at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island aims to create an optimized refueling system designed to boost readiness for military aircraft.

Drones Navigate Unseen Environments via Liquid Neural Networks

Researchers from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have introduced a method for robust flight navigation agents to master vision-based fly-to-target tasks in intricate, unfamiliar environments.

A Quiet, Efficient Propeller Solution for Electric Aviation

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed a propeller design optimization method that paves the way for quiet, efficient electric aviation.

Training a Quadrotor Drone to Cope with Collisions

Advanced technology plays a vital role in search and rescue operations after natural disasters such as earthquakes. Thermal imaging equipment and sensitive listening devices are deployed to seek out signs of life.

Tapping the Brain to Boost Stroke Rehabilitation

A brain-machine interface coupled with robot offers increased benefits for stroke survivors.

Soft Skin Patch Could Provide Early Warning for Strokes, Heart Attacks

The patch uses ultrasound to monitor blood flow to organs.

An Ultrasound Patch for Non-Invasive Deep Tissue Monitoring

Engineers have developed a stretchable ultrasonic array capable of serial, non-invasive, three-dimensional imaging of tissues as deep as four centimeters below the surface of human skin, at a spatial resolution of 0.5 mm.

Surgical Sutures Inspired by Human Tendons

Next-generation sutures can deliver drugs, prevent infections, and monitor wounds.

New Programmable Smart Fabric Responds to Temperature, Electricity

A new smart material is activated by both heat and electricity, making it the first ever to respond to two different stimuli. The work paves the way for a wide variety of potential applications, including clothing that warms up while you walk.

Printing Microchip Patterns on Curvy Surfaces

There’s still more to explore with REFLEX, but this process could open new possibilities for new materials and microstructures across fields from electronics to optics to biomedical engineering.

Nanomaterial Promises Big Benefits for Bendable Electronics

An international team of scientists is developing an inkable nanomaterial that they say could one day become a spray-on electronic component for ultra-thin, lightweight, and bendable displays and devices.

Mind-Controlling Machines

Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) have developed biosensor technology that will allow you to operate devices, such as robots and machines, solely through thought-control.

Caterpillar-Inspired Soft Robotics Locomotion

Researchers have demonstrated a caterpillar-like soft robot that can move forward, backward, and even dip under narrow spaces. Its movement is driven by a novel pattern of silver nanowires.

Highly Dexterous Robot Hand Can Operate in the Dark

Researchers at Columbia Engineering have demonstrated a highly dexterous robot hand, one that combines an advanced sense of touch with motor learning algorithms in order to achieve a high level of dexterity.

Engineering the Flow of Light

A novel nanostructure produces uniquely shaped light.

Strengthening Electron-Triggered Light Emission

A wavelength of visible light is about 1,000 times larger than an electron, so the way the two affect each other is limited by that disparity. Now, researchers have come up with a way to make...

Nanoscale 3D Structure to Control Light

3D nanometer-scale metamaterial structures hold promise for advanced optical isolators.

New on the Market

See the new products on the market, including Clean-in-Place Utilities and Automated Reporting Analytics software, radar-level sensors, power ultrasonic transducers, and more.

Product of The Month

See the product of the month: InnoPhase IoT, Inc.'s Talaria TWOTM Ultra-low power (ULP) Wi-Fi optimized market-ready solution for cloud-connected IP video IoT devices.

This Electric Autonomous Drone Can Enable Networked Military Communications

Kraus Hamdani Aerospace is working with the U.S. military on applications for its electric drone, the K1000ULE.

2023 Guide to Motors

Motion Design’s 2023 Guide to Motors provides a comprehensive list of today’s top manufacturers in many technology fields.

5 Ws of Making Hydrogen from Sunlight

Rice University engineers are turning sunlight into hydrogen with record-breaking efficiency with a device that splits water molecules and generates hydrogen when stimulated by simulated sunlight.

Advancing Battery Technology: The 2023 Battery Show Preview

The largest battery and electric vehicle technologies trade show in North America.

AI-Powered Earth Mapping for Global Sustainability

By combining historical and current data from multiple NASA and European satellites, MD-based terraPulse applies AI to create meaningful maps enabling data-driven ecological decisions.

How Much Do You Know About eVTOLs?

How much do you know about eVTOLs? Test yourself with this quiz.

LOFTID Atmospheric Re-Entry Program Paves the Way for Reusable Space Electronics

NASA’s successful Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) demonstration suggests that inflatable aeroshells can keep payloads safe during atmospheric entry.

An Approach to Inexpensively Mass Manufacture Micro-LED Displays

The new method paves the way to creating large-scale arrays of optical components and could be used to rapidly manufacture micro-LED displays.

Print 3D Metal Objects at Room Temperature Using a Conductive Metallic Gel

Professor Michael Dickey, of North Carolina State University, and his team have developed a unique process that allows you to print 3D metal objects that have good electric and thermal conductivity as well as good structural properties.

How Much Do You Know About Soft Robots?

Unlike rigid-body robots, which have a finite number of joints and thus limited freedom, soft robots are made of flexible materials and operate by continuous deformation. So, how much do you know about soft robots? Find out with this quiz.

Robots Learn from Videos

Carnegie Mellon University researchers have enabled robots to learn household chores by watching videos of people performing everyday tasks in their homes.

Training Robots How to Learn, Make Decisions on the Fly

Mars rovers have teams of human experts on Earth telling them what to do. But robots on lander missions to moons orbiting Saturn or Jupiter are too far away to receive timely commands...

New Ferroelectric Material Could Give Robots Muscles

A new type of ferroelectric polymer that is exceptionally good at converting electrical energy into mechanical strain holds promise as a high-performance motion controller or...

A Stretchable, Fabric-Based Li-ion Battery

Researchers developed a prototype for the Li-ion battery, which could lead to stretchy electronics or even clothes that monitor health.

A Plant-Based Gel That Saves Lives

A hemostatic gel technology that rapidly controls bleeding could transform wound care.

A Green Approach to Reducing Flood Impacts

Penn State researchers are exploring green stormwater infrastructure to manage severe urban flooding and pollution. They are studying ways to improve the existing green stormwater infrastructure in Lancaster, PA, as a pilot project for other cities as well.

How Much Do You Know About Sensor Fusion for Navigation Systems?

Sensor fusion is an important element of navigation systems especially with the rapid growth of driving automation. At each step of the levels of driving automation from ADAS toward driverless vehicles, sensor fusion becomes more critical.

Modified EEG Measures Brain's Electrical Activity During Immersive VR Interactions

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have modified a commercial virtual reality (VR) headset, giving it the ability to measure brain activity and examine how we react to hints, stressors, and other outside forces.

Whatever Happened to Analog in this Digital Age?

These days all electronics seems to be digital, except for a few exceptions here and there. However, it’s a mistake to write analog off altogether.

A Gentle-Yet-Strong, Dexterous, Precise, Robotic Gripper

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a robotic gripping device that is gentle, strong, dexterous, and precise enough to pick up microfilms that are 20 times thinner than a human hair.

How Much Do You Know About EV Charging?

What types of electric vehicle chargers are most popular? Which are the fastest? Which city continues to lead the country in the number of available public EV charging ports? Find the answers in this quiz.

Making Headway in Precision Therapeutics with a Fully Organic Bioelectronic Device

A tiny transistor enables device to acquire and transmit neurophysiologic brain signals while simultaneously providing power to the implanted device.

A Ferroelectric Transistor That Stores and Computes at Scale

The Big Data revolution has strained the capabilities of state-of-the-art electronic hardware, challenging engineers to rethink almost every aspect of the microchip. With ever...

Novel Technology Enhances Measurement Reliability of Methane Gas Emissions from Rice Paddy Fields

A joint research team of Dr. Namgoo Kang from the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) and Dr. Minseok Kang from the...

3D Display Could Bring Touch to the Digital World

Imagine an iPad with a surface that can morph and deform, allowing you to draw 3D designs, create haiku poems that jump out from the screen, and even hold your partner’s hand from an ocean away. Such is the vision of a team from the University of Colorado Boulder.

AI and AM: A Powerful Synergy

In the digital-design-engineering world, at the foundation of innovation in advanced manufacturing, AI’s “deep learning” has the potential to transform how the world makes products — in highly positive ways.

Diesel Engine Research Leading to Better Efficiency, Emissions Standards on the Roads

Purdue University’s Greg Shaver doesn’t believe there should be a trade-off between protecting the air we breathe and achieving better engine...

Magnetic Robots Walk, Crawl, and Swim

New soft-bodied robots that can be controlled by a simple magnetic field are well suited to work in confined spaces. The robots, formed from rubbery magnetic spirals, can be programmed to walk, crawl,...

Leading the Way to Cyber Safety on Roads and Highways

CYBER-CARE — the Transportation Cybersecurity Center for Advanced Research and Education — is a U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) University Transportation Center (UTC), Tier...

Hydrogen: A Potential Green Path to Making Chemicals

A new potential path toward greener ways to make chemicals: By adapting hydrogen fuel cell technologies, which are already used to power some EVs, laptops, and cell phones.