Products: Imaging
The CLM-602 Camera Link Multiplexer from Vivid Engineering (Shrewsbury, MA) interfaces two Camera Link cameras of any configuration (base, medium, full, 80-bit) to one frame grabber. The CLM-602 incorporates high-speed...
Tech Needs
Fabrics with an Inherent Thickness
A foam shape must be replaced with a knitted, woven, or nonwoven fabric that derives its thickness from the geometric structure of its components. The current application uses polyurethane foams that range from millimeters to 2 cm thick. The foams offer little or no ventilation in a situation where air...
News
GOES-R Instruments Set to Observe Space Weather
Two of the six instruments that will fly on NOAA's first Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite - R (GOES-R) satellite have completed integration with the spacecraft. The Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) and Extreme Ultraviolet and X-ray Irradiance Sensors (EXIS) were installed on the...
News: Robotics, Automation & Control
New Algorithms Enable Self-Assembling, Printable Robots
In two new papers, MIT researchers demonstrate the promise of printable robotic components that, when heated, automatically fold into prescribed three-dimensional configurations.
One paper describes a system that takes a digital specification of a 3-D shape — such as a computer-aided...
News: Electronics & Computers
Microsoft engineers have developed a new type of augmented mechanical keyboard, sensing rich and expressive motion gestures performed both on and directly above the device. A low-resolution...
News: Test & Measurement
Rotary sensors can help determine the position of a moveable body in relation to an axis. They are essential to the smooth running of car engines in the automotive industry, for...
News
Engineers Test Supersonic Decelerator
A saucer-shaped vehicle designed to test interplanetary landing devices hangs on a tower in preparation for launch at the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. The saucer, which is part of NASA's Low-Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project, will test two devices for landing heavy...
News: Medical
Wireless System Paves Way for 'Electroceutical' Medical Devices
A wireless system uses the same power as a cell phone to safely transmit energy to chips the size of a grain of rice. The technology paves the way for new "electroceutical" devices to treat illness or alleviate pain.
The central discovery is an engineering breakthrough that...
Question of the Week
Will You Use a Smartphone Spectrometer Before You Eat?
SCiO, a handheld molecular sensor, allows users to scan their food to check its nutritional value and alcohol, sugar, or calorie content. The spectroscopy product from the Israeli startup Consumer Physics is paired with a smartphone and shines near-infrared light on the food to stimulate and...
News: Green Design & Manufacturing
GPS Tide Gauge Measures Sea Level Change
Using radio signals from satellite navigation systems, Scientists at Chalmers Department of Earth and Space Sciences have developed and tested a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) tide gauge, an instrument that measures the sea level.
The GNSS tide gauge uses radio signals from satellites in...
News: Robotics, Automation & Control
Robotic Modules Transform into Configurable Furniture
EPFL scientists from the Biorobotics Laboratory (BIOROB) have developed small robotic modules that can change their shape to create reconfigurable furniture.
Like Lego bricks, Roombots pieces can be stacked upon each other to create various structures. Each 22 cm-long piece, which looks...
News: Photonics/Optics
Sulfur left over from refining fossil fuels can be transformed into cheap, lightweight plastic lenses for infrared devices, including night-vision goggles, a University of Arizona-led...
News: Transportation
Researchers at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) have designed a new pedestrian detection system for cars that works in low-visibility conditions using infrared cameras to capture body...
Question of the Week
Will Robots Make Good Caregivers?
An EU-funded program, called the GiraffPlus Project, uses robotics to help elderly people who want to remain at home. The GiraffPlus robot is part of a system that includes environmental and physiological sensors, which feed back information about the inhabitants' movements and health. A recent Pew Research poll...
News: Aerospace
This past November, NASA launched the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission in the hope of understanding how and why the planet has been losing its atmosphere over...
News: Imaging
Over the past three years, researchers in the Camera Culture group at the MIT Media Lab have steadily refined a design for a glasses-free, multi-perspective, 3-D video screen, which they hope...
INSIDER: Test & Measurement
A credit-card-sized anthrax detection cartridge developed at Sandia National Laboratories makes testing safer, easier, faster and cheaper. Bacillus anthracis, the bacteria that causes...
INSIDER: Test & Measurement
Heliophysicist Antti Pulkkinen of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and his team are installing scientific substations beneath high-voltage power transmission lines to...
INSIDER: RF & Microwave Electronics
Scientists studying the behavior of the world's ice sheets — and the future implications of ice sheet behavior for global sealevel rise — may soon have a new airborne tool...
News: Materials
3D-Printing Aerial Robot Mimics Tiny Bird
Scientists from Imperial College London have developed a 3D-printing Micro Aerial Vehicle (MAV) that mimics the way that swiftlets build their nests.
The MAV is a quad-copter, with four blades that enable it to fly and hover. The vehicle, made from off-the-shelf components, carries in its underbelly...
News: Test & Measurement
OCULLAR Provides Around-the-Clock Ocean Measurements
A team led at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., has developed an instrument capable of observing ocean color during normal sunlight conditions and under moonlight — a first-ever capability that will allow scientists to monitor the health and chemistry of the planet’s...
Question of the Week
Will Self-Driven Cars Improve Road Safety?
Using autonomous technology, Google has also been testing its self-driven robotic cars near the company's Silicon Valley headquarters. The vehicles are equipped with navigation software, like Google Maps, and other sensors to avoid obstacles and unexpected events. The cars' technology also features a...
INSIDER Product: Photonics/Optics
Lumics GmbH (Berlin, Germany) has broadened its portfolio of single-mode fiber pigtailed butterfly 14-pin modules by adding 786nm to that product line as a standard wavelength. Modules are now available in the...
INSIDER Product: Photonics/Optics
Prima Power Laserdyne (Champlin, MN) has announced availability of the LASERDYNE 430 Series of precision laser systems with up to 20 kW QCW (quasi continuous wave) fiber lasers. This laser system is designed for ease...
INSIDER Product: Photonics/Optics
Zygo Corporation (Middlefield, CT) recently announced the NewView(TM) 8000 series of 3D optical profilers. The two models of NewView 8000 benchtop profilers are based on non-contact optical technology and powered by...
INSIDER Product: Photonics/Optics
Toshiba Surveillance & IP Video Products (Irvine, CA) has introduced two new full HDTV (1080p) mini-dome IP cameras featuring 110° horizontal viewing angles to capture up to 20 percent more area than...
News: Materials
NASA Simulator Recreates Space Dust
A team of scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, has successfully reproduced, on Earth, the processes that occur in the atmosphere of a red giant star and lead to the formation of planet-forming interstellar dust.
Using a specialized facility, called the Cosmic Simulation...
News: Aerospace
Self-Repairing Plastic Regenerates After Damage
Illinois researchers have developed materials that not only heal, but regenerate. The restorative material is delivered through two, isolated fluid streams (dyed red and blue). The liquid immediately gels and later hardens, resulting in recovery of the entire damaged region.
For regenerating...
INSIDER: Energy
New research from North Carolina State University and UNC-Chapel Hill reveals that energy is transferred more efficiently inside of complex, three-dimensional organic...
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Webcasts
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AI on the Ascent: Optimizing Factory Schedules for Peak Production
Webinars: Materials
Top 3 Factors Impacting the Useful Life of Medical Devices
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How to Safely Control the Power to Your Vehicle
Upcoming Webinars: Automotive
Digital Twins and Simulation for Accelerated Automotive Product...
Upcoming Webinars: Automotive
EV Bodyshop Metrology: The Same but Different
Upcoming Webinars: Aerospace
Integrating Additive Manufacturing Into Aerospace Production