Soft Robots Use Camera and Shadows to Sense Human Touch

An off-the-shelf USB camera captures the shadows made by hand gestures on the robot’s skin.

Laser Jolts Microscopic Electronic Robots into Motion

Incorporating semiconductor components, microscopic robots are made to walk with standard electronic signals.

ARTEMIS II: Astronauts on Board

With Artemis II — the first crewed flight of SLS and Orion — four astronauts will travel to the lunar environment in 2024.

Special Section: The Winners of the 2021 'Create the Future' Design Contest

See this year's product designs from engineers, students, and entrepreneurs worldwide.

Nanosheets of Borophane are Stronger Than Steel

The 2D materials boost device performance for electronic devices, solar cells, batteries, and medical equipment.

Robot Locates and Retrieves Buried Items

This robotic arm fuses data from a camera and antenna to locate and retrieve items buried under piles and completely out of view.

Why 3D Artificial Intelligence with AR and VR is More Important Today

Deep learning-based AI allows users to identify 3D objects of arbitrary shape and size in various orientations with high accuracy in the 3D space.

5 Ws of the Electronics-Powering Finger Wrap

The wearable device turns the touch of a finger into a source of power for small electronics and sensors.

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Manufacturing/Robotics/Automation Category Winner — Electronics-Free Soft Walking Robot

Av four-legged soft robot walks, without requiring any electronics.

Color-Changing Dyes Visualize Stress in Plastics

Directly visualizing external stresses of plastics is useful in development of materials with improved mechanical properties.

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Automotive/Transportation Category Winner — Afreecar E-kit

The e-kit promises to be a low-cost solution in the developing world.

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Medical Category Winner — Halo Speculum

The Halo replaces all metal retractors with one simple, one-size-fits-all design.

ARTEMIS III: Return to the Surface

The third flight of SLS and Orion will carry the first woman and first person of color to the Moon.

Stable Polymeric Ink with High Conductivity

This paves the way for innovative and more energy-efficient printed electronics.

Keeping Warmer in the Great Outdoors

A long-time apparel insulator develops its own takes on popular NASA spinoff material.

ARTEMIS: Back to the Moon

With the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, NASA will return humans to the lunar surface.

New on the Market: November 2021

Power supply ICs, temperature sensors, DC-DC converters, and more.

Concrete-Like Material from Space Dust and Astronaut Blood

The material could be used to create housing in outer space.

Optimizing Wireless Test Systems and Antennas for High-Speed Communication

Easy-to-use reverberation test systems (RTS) measure the performance of wireless devices and antennas.

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Sustainable Technologies/Future Energy Category Winner — Multifunctional Bionanocomposite Fruit Coatings

The invention could capture the potential of the edible packaging market.

Are In-Wheel Motor Systems Catching On?

One EV design is bring power out toward the wheel. But is the design here to stay? A Tech Briefs reader asks an expert at SAE.

2021 Supplier Guide: Sensors

See leading manufacturers in a variety of sensor topic areas, including radar and encoders.

Four-Legged 'Swarm' Robots Traverse Tough Terrain — Together

Forget puzzles — In the early days of quarantine, Notre Dame professor and robotics engineer Yasemin Ozkan-Aydin used the time at home to put together robots.

Army Enables Robots to Learn New Concepts

Future Army missions will have autonomous agents, such as robots, embedded in human teams making decisions in the physical world. One major challenge toward this goal is maintaining performance when...

A New Use for Leftover Eggs: Preserving Produce

A micron-thick coating, made largely from leftover eggs, can extend the shelf life of the fruits and vegetables in your refrigerator.

When to Go With Battery X-Ray Inspection

Tech Briefs readers ask two industry experts about the effectiveness of CT scans when you want a deeper look at a battery.