Enabling Ambitious Battery Production at Scale

The battery industry is forecasted to grow tenfold by the end of the decade. This growth is driven by increasing demand for Li-ion cell batteries, predominantly for electrified transportation and energy storage.

Key Design Considerations for Automated Production of EV Batteries

Examining an EV battery degassing automated cell that is widely installed across the industry exemplifies many design features.

Decarbonizing the EV Battery Supply Chain

A report from consultants at McKinsey & Co. strikes an optimistic tone that major reductions in carbon emissions from the electric vehicle battery supply chain can be attained in the next five to 10 years.

Controlling Electric Double Layer Dynamics for All-Solid-State Batteries

Researchers have employed a novel technique to investigate and modulate electric double layer dynamics at the solid/solid electrolyte interface.

Increased Storage Capacity in Water-Based Batteries

Researchers at Texas A&M University have discovered a 1,000 percent difference in the storage capacity of metal-free, water-based battery electrodes.

Oxygen-Ion Battery: A Solution for Large Energy Storage Systems

TU Wien has developed an oxygen-ion battery that has some important advantages. Although it does not allow for quite as high energy densities as the Li-ion battery, its storage capacity does not decrease irrevocably over time.

New Polymer Coating Could Boost EV Batteries

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have developed a conductive polymer coating – called HOS-PFM – that could enable longer lasting, more powerful lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles.

New Products

See the new products, including a battery management system, a battery simulator, a battery charger, and much more.

Battle for the Box

Whether you call them packs, boxes, or trays, the structures that envelop and protect EV battery cells and their supporting electrical and thermal-management hardware are among the industry's top subsystem priorities.

Designing Shock-Mitigating Seats for Boat Operators

Products for nautical applications face an unusual set of design challenges. The corrosiveness of salt water can cause premature degradation, and the impact of fast-moving vessels bouncing up against forceful ocean waves can also damage equipment.

A Harvesting Robot Automates Apple Picking

“AurOrA” is a small autonomous vehicle, which in the future will move independently around fruit orchards and detect full fruit boxes, pick them up, and take them to a defined unloading point.

Robotic Hand Can Identify Objects with Just One Grasp

Inspired by the human finger, MIT researchers have developed a robotic hand that uses high-resolution touch sensing to accurately identify an object after grasping it just one time.

A Four-Legged Robotic System Can Move on Tough Landscapes

Researchers from MIT’s Improbable Artificial Intelligence Lab have developed a legged robotic system that can dribble a soccer ball under the same conditions as humans.

Chip-Free, Autonomous OrigaMechs with Conductive Materials

Roboticists have been using a technique similar to origami to develop autonomous machines out of thin, flexible sheets. These lightweight robots are simpler and cheaper to make and more compact for easier storage and transport.

Head-Worn Assistive Teleoperation of Mobile Manipulators

New research from Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute (RI) aims to increase autonomy for individuals with motor impairments by introducing a head-worn device that will help them control a mobile manipulator.

New Products

See the new products, including a crossed-roller linear bearing, a lifting column, a motion-sizing tool, and more.

Design Techniques for Efficient Power Transmission

Power transmission is critical in industrial automation as it enables machines to work together seamlessly, reducing downtime and maximizing productivity.

Videos of the Month

Watch the videos of the month, including one on the DARPA RACER program, one on a NASA supercomputer's theory on the Moon's formation, and more.

Multiphysics Simulation Drives Smart City Technology

Ishant Jain, Principal Researcher in R&D at Raychem RPG, applied his years of simulation experience to the challenge of creating a smart city-ready and space-conscious power box. The team enlisted multiphysics simulation to tackle the engineering challenges that accompanied the creation of this radical new design.

Optimizing Torque Measurement in Robotics Applications

With the advent of lower-cost robots that are easier and cheaper to deploy, collaborative robots or cobots are finding new industrial and consumer applications.

Hydrodynamic Effect Helps Motorized Objects Navigate Inclines

The tiny motors mimic how rock climbers navigate inclines.

Chemically Driven Wheels “Morph” Into Gears

A catalytic reaction causes a two-dimensional, chemically coated sheet to spontaneously morph into a three-dimensional gear.

Micromotor Winding Technology Uses AI to Improve Motor Performance

Achievable coils increase the capabilities of the micromotors.

Extractor for Chemical Analysis of Lipid Biomarkers in Regolith (ExCALiBR)

NASA Ames Research Center has developed a novel technology that provides an autonomous, miniaturized fluidic system for lipid analysis.

Flow-Through Transducer for Wind Tunnel Analysis

To enable key aerospace R&D applications, NASA’s Langley Research Center has developed a single-piece flow-through transducer design capable of measuring all six components adding in the Axial force measurement.

Cohesive Circuit Protection for Wearable Electronics

The cellulose nanofiber coating counters bending damage and retains electrode function under water.

Solid-State Thermal Transistor

A research team at Hokkaido University has developed the first solid-state electrochemical thermal transistor. It's more stable than, and just as effective as, current liquid-state thermal transistors.

Implantable Chip Uses Machine Learning to Detect Neural Disease

Boasting a 256-channel high-resolution sensing array and an energy-efficient machine learning processor, NeuralTree can extract and classify a broad set of biomarkers from real patient data and animal models of disease in-vivo.