Ultra-Sensitive Lead Detector Could Improve Water Quality Monitoring

Engineers have developed an ultra-sensitive sensor made with graphene that can detect extraordinarily low concentrations of lead ions in water. The device achieves a record limit of detection of lead down to the femtomolar range, which is one million times more sensitive than previous sensing technologies. Read on to learn more.

Smart Full-Body Fitness Tracking

With the new Smart Connected Sensors platform from Bosch Sensortec, you can track more than just steps. You can program complex whole-body movements and accurately track them during physical workouts or while you are going through a rehabilitation or physical therapy regimen. Read on to learn more.

Machine Monitoring Enables Control of Cutting Forces

Reliable machine monitoring yields valuable real-time insights into ongoing processes; it is the basis for dependable, productive, and reproducible manufacturing and it helps machine operators to reach well-founded decisions on both short- and long-term improvements. Read on to learn more about it.

The Industrial Nervous System: IIoT and PLCs

Moving forward, the lines between PLCs, edge devices, and cloud systems will continue to blur. The most successful manufacturers will be those who can seamlessly integrate these technologies, creating a unified system that’s greater than the sum of its parts. Read on to learn more.

Optimizing Fluid Sensors for Industrial Process Measurement

When processing pharmaceutical products, how do you tell if a fluid is of high quality? If you are working with crude oil, how do you know how much you are extracting? If you are transporting water, how do you know the flow rate? Such questions, which impact confidence and bottom lines for water, food, life sciences, and oil and gas companies, are addressed by the manufacturers of flowmeters that are installed in pipelines and other equipment. Read on to learn more.

New Products

See the new products, including Delta Motion's EtherCAT communication module, which adds to its flagship RMC200 Motion Controller family; Teledyne FLIR IIS' Dragonfly S 5MP, the first camera in the new Dragonfly S series to enter full production; Akribis Systems' SGR Series rod motor positioning module; and more.

An Algorithm for Making Robots Safer Around Humans

A new algorithm may make robots safer by making them more aware of human inattentiveness. In simulations, it improved safety by about a maximum of 80 percent and efficiency by about a maximum of 38 percent compared to existing methods. Read on to learn more about it.

DNA-Based Controller to Operate Swarm Molecular Robots

Researchers have successfully developed a DNA-based molecular controller that autonomously directs the assembly and disassembly of molecular robots. This pioneering technology marks a significant step toward advanced autonomous molecular systems with potential applications in medicine and nanotechnology.

Origami Inspires Shape-Shifting ‘Transformer Bots’

Inspired by the paper-folding art of origami, North Carolina State University engineers have discovered a way to make a single plastic cubed structure transform into more than 1,000 configurations using only three active motors. Read on to learn more.

CAD Model Offers Robots Precise Pick-and-Place Solutions

A new paper explores pick-and-place solutions with more precision. In precise pick-and-place, also known as kitting, the robot transforms an unstructured arrangement of objects into an organized arrangement. The approach, dubbed SimPLE (Simulation to Pick Localize and placE), learns to pick, regrasp and place objects using the object’s computer-aided design model. Read on to learn more.

A New System for Shape and Contact Detection of Continuum Robots

The sensing and control principles used in this framework could lead to new tactile sensors that can be attached to any existing robotics system, offering new sensing and control paradigms for safe human-robot interaction without altering the robot’s original design. Read on to learn more.

Innovating Non-Destructive Test Systems Using Advanced Automation

Designing non-destructive test (NDT) systems for aerospace clients can feel like engineering with blindfolds on. Even when the parts under test aren’t confidential, they can change rapidly as companies optimize their designs. But how do you create precision inspection systems without knowing what they’ll inspect in the field? Read on to find out.

Cobot Enables Production Leap with Automated Stacking

Mi Rancho has been delighting customers with authentic and fresh tortillas, chips, and salsas since its establishment in 1939. Originally founded as a grocery store in Oakland, CA, the business has evolved into a food provider for large nation-wide retail partners. To enable continued growth, Mi Rancho recently partnered with Formic to introduce robotic automation to their food processing and packaging production operations. Read on to learn more.

Achieving Exceptional Precision with Air Bearing Motion Systems

Air-bearings and air bearing motion stages utilize a cushion of air to eliminate mechanical contact, thereby effectively mitigating common problems associated with traditional bearings such as friction, wear, vibration, hysteresis effects, and particle generation. Read on to learn more about their powers.

Delivering Higher Performance Batteries with Advanced Microscopy

As we collectively move away from fossil fuel power and work toward cleaner energy solutions, batteries are emerging as the preferred clean energy source. Read on to learn how they're advancing.

Examining EV Battery Thermal Management

In this article, we'll discuss how modeling and simulation can be used to facilitate the design of thermal management systems for EV batteries – from the cell scale up. Read on to learn more.

New Products

See the new products, including Webasto's traction batteries, which are increasing from 35 to 40 kilowatt hours; Avery Dennison's pressure-sensitive adhesive tape solutions for EV battery cell wrapping applications; Thermo Fisher Scientific's Thermo Scientific™ LInspector™ Edge In-line Mass Profilometer; and more.

Cheaper and Safer Battery Storage

Researchers have developed a new technique to solve the problem of how to increase the capacity of sodium-ion batteries. Read on to learn more about it.

Anode-Free Sodium Solid-State Battery

A team has created the world’s first anode-free sodium solid-state battery. This research has brought the reality of inexpensive, fast-charging, high-capacity batteries for electric vehicles and grid storage closer than ever. Read on to learn more.

Iron Could Be Key to Less Expensive, Greener Lithium-Ion Batteries

Researchers are hoping to spark a green battery revolution by showing that iron instead of cobalt and nickel can be used as a cathode material in lithium-ion batteries. Read on to learn more.

A New Way to Enhance Durability of Lithium Batteries

Researchers have been developing batteries with higher energy storage density, and thus, longer driving range. Other goals include shorter charging times, greater tolerance to low temperatures, and safer operation. One of the more promising such batteries has a lithium-containing cathode supplemented with nickel, manganese, and cobalt (NMC). Read on to learn more.

Algorithms to Enhance Reliability of Electric Vehicle Charging

American drivers have long been accustomed to quickly filling up at a gas station with plenty of fuel available, and electric vehicle drivers want their pit stops to mimic this experience. Researchers are working to make EV charging more resilient. Read on to learn more about it.

Battery Progress, But What’s the Holdup in Adoption?

There’s no shortage of alternatives to lithium-ion EV batteries in development. From lithium-iron phosphate to sodium-ion to multiple solid-state chemistries, companies are racing to perfect these technologies and figure out how to manufacture them at scale. Read on to find out what the holdup is.

Enhancing EV Battery Design with Advanced Testing

This article explores how advanced testing using end-to-end EV battery test systems can improve the quality and performance of EV battery designs. Read on to learn more.

Streaming Video Over Legacy Military Tactical Networks

Joshua Cryer, President and CEO of Reticulate Micro, is the guest on this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology Podcast.