LASER World of PHOTONICS, Day 3 — Unusual Exhibits

Editor Bruce A. Bennett takes us through the unusual — and completely unexpected —at this year's LASER World of Photonics.

Tool Tells Robots Where Nearby Humans are Headed

On a factory floor, robots are programmed to stop momentarily if a person passes by. The robot often freezes in place long before a person crosses its path. While robots can predict where a...

LASER World of PHOTONICS, Day 2: Bigger is Better

Many vendors at this year's event made their presence known with mega-sized booths.

From LASER World of PHOTONICS 2019: Light as the Key to Global Sustainability

The increased use of photonics has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions — by 3-billion tons.

LASER World of PHOTONICS 2019

The bi-annual Laser World of Photonics exhibition begins today.

How to Produce More Clean Water? Resemble the Rose.

A new water purifier works better because it takes the shape of the rose.

Answering Your Questions: What are New Missions for Military UAVs?

An industry expert tells a Tech Briefs reader what's over the next hill regarding military UAVs.

Flexible Generators Turn Movement into Energy

Wearable devices that harvest energy from movement are not a new idea, but a material created at Rice University may make them more practical.

Release of Solar Panel Dataset Helps Cities Make Power Grids Safer and More Reliable

Solar power researchers have traditionally only used the power measurements from single residential solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to estimate the power...

Clean Fuel Cells Could Be Cheap Enough to Replace Gas Engines in Vehicles

Advancements in zero-emission fuel cells could make the technology cheap enough to replace traditional gasoline engines in vehicles, according to researchers at the...

Winter Could Pose Solar Farm ‘Ramping’ Problem for Power Grid

By adding utility-scale solar farms throughout New York state, summer electricity demand from conventional sources could be reduced by up to 9.6% in some places. But Cornell...

Candy

In this episode of Here's an Idea, we explore how candy manufacturers large and small turn to technology to support their newest, sweetest ideas.

An ‘Active’ Machine-Vision Tool Adds Intelligence to Traffic Management

A new machine-vision tool extracts and reports valuable driving data from the standard traffic cameras already in place.

Increase Processing Capacity Without Adding Transistors

Computers and similar electronic devices have gotten faster and smaller over the decades as computer-chip makers have learned how to shrink individual transistors. Scientists’...

Breakthrough in Stretchable Electronics

With a wide range of healthcare, energy, and military applications, stretchable electronics are valued for their ability to be compressed, twisted and conformed to uneven surfaces without losing...

Building Animal-Inspired Sensors into the Shells of Aircraft, Cars

What if drones and self-driving cars had the tingling “spidey senses” of Spider-Man? They might actually detect and avoid objects better because they would process...

A Washable Sensor Can Be Woven into Material

Researchers at University of British Columbia Okanagan’s School of Engineering have developed a low-cost sensor that can be interlaced into textiles and composite materials. While the research...

Energy-Efficient ‘SlothBot’ Moves Only When It Has To

While robots like the WildCat from Boston Dynamics reach speeds of just under 20 miles an hour, engineers from Georgia Tech have gone with a decidedly slower approach.

New Products

Rotary Ball Spline NB Corporation of America (Hanover Park, IL) released a rotary ball spline that can be used for both rotational and linear motion. Applications include SCARA robots, the vertical shaft of assembly equipment,...

Snake-Inspired Robot

Researchers have developed a new and improved snake-inspired soft robot that is faster and more precise than its predecessor.

Calculating the Estimated Fatigue Life of a Disc Spring

In discussing fatigue life, it is important to distinguish between disc springs and conical spring washers, as they differ by design and intended usage. Conical spring washers are designed...

Pneumatics for Mechanical Motion

Employing fluid power to achieve mechanical motion can be implemented via hydraulics using uncompressible liquids or via pneumatics using compressible gasses; typically, air. The latter provides several distinct...

Ultra-Low-Power Chips Enhance Performance of Small Robots

An ultra-low-power hybrid chip inspired by the brain could help give palm-sized robots the ability to collaborate and learn from their experiences. Combined with new generations of...

Model Gives Robots a Better Feel for Object Manipulation

A new learning system improves a robot’s ability to mold materials into target shapes and make predictions about interacting with solid objects and liquids. The system, known as a...

Vision Sensors in Factory Automation

There are a number of ways to extract data from a production line. In factory automation, sensors are used in work cells to gather data for inspection or to trigger other devices. These sensors fall into...

Gear Bearings

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center developed gear bearing technology that combines gear and bearing functions into a single unit that significantly improves gear drives for electrical, internal combustion, and turbine motors. The...