Stories
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Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Robots in production lines work with micrometer precision, unless a component fails. If, for example, the linear actuator used to precisely position a car body in front of an...
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Electrical circuits such as printed wiring boards or hybrid microcircuits designed to utilize surface mount electrical components are commonly assembled by computer-controlled automated...
Briefs: Motion Control
Today's water distribution systems lose an average of 20 percent of their supply because of leaks. Current leak-detection systems are expensive and slow to operate, and they don't work well in systems...
Briefs: Motion Control
Folding robots based on origami have emerged as an exciting new frontier of robotic design. However, they generally require onboard batteries or a wired connection to a power source, making them...
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The Industrial Internet of Things is predicated on large-scale, distributed sensor/control networks that can run unattended for months to years with very low power consumption. The characteristic...
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The terms Industry 4.0, Big Data, the Internet of Things, and the Digital Factory are being pitched around like a rugby ball, and almost always with a decided lack of clear definition. Let’s...
Application Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Thanks to advances in biomedical engineering, the use of robotic systems in surgery has become increasingly common. A clear challenge in robotic surgery, however, is the lack of haptic technology — there have...
Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
When you buy a new car, you can choose from a wide range of exterior and interior features, transmission and dynamics, and safety bundles, to configure your individual vehicle. From the point of view...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Traditional robots often feature isolated mechanical joints. These discrete components limit a rover’s ability to traverse sand, stone, and other challenging environments. A team at the University of...
Briefs: Motion Control
Origami robots are composed of thin structures that can fold and unfold to change shape. They are compact and lightweight, but have functional restrictions related to size, shape, and how...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Inspired by arthropod insects and spiders, Harvard professor George Whitesides and Alex Nemiroski, a former postdoctoral fellow in Whitesides’ Harvard lab, used ordinary plastic drinking straws to create...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Materials that can be produced by 3D printing include not just plastics, but metal, glass, and even food. A new system called a Digital Construction Platform (DCP) was...
Briefs: Aerospace
A number of instruments have been built to obtain range images — a two-dimensional array of numbers that gives the depth of a scene along many directions from a central point in the instrument. Instead of measuring the...
Articles: Imaging
CMOS imaging is trending to become the dominant imaging technology. Initially, CMOS was limited by its inherent noise. Architectures were then essentially analog and the idea of integrating the image...
Articles: Photonics/Optics
Imaging lenses used in many industrial machine vision applications have special requirements beyond those of standard imaging lenses. The lenses used in factory automation, robotics, and industrial inspection...
Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics
A major manufacturer of electromechanical products had been operating six separate indexing assembly machines, each producing one of a family of more than 75 different products at about 40 parts...
Briefs: Medical
Digital-to-Analog Transformation and Reconstruction of ECG Data
The innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a new method and device for specialized digital-to-analog conversion (DAC) and reconstruction of multichannel electrocardiograms (ECGs), including 12-lead ECGs. Current devices do not have the functionality that allows for the...
Articles: Electronics & Computers
Over the years, the term “virtual” has become associated with many different domains. Virtual machines are now commonplace as a substitute for physical laptops or desktops, allowing for the...
Articles: Motion Control
Adding vision to a collaborative robot can open a world of possibilities for automation applications. With a vision system, a robot can inspect parts, check specific features of a part,...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
SIMbot is an updated version of the ballbot, an elegantly simple robot whose tall, thin body moves on top of a sphere slightly smaller than a bowling ball. SIMbot features a motor with just one...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC), in collaboration with General Motors and Oceaneering, have designed a state-of-the-art, highly dexterous, humanoid robot: Robonaut 2 (R2). R2...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), in collaboration with General Motors and Oceaneering, have designed a state-of-the-art, highly dexterous, humanoid robot:...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Robots are conventionally made mobile by rolling on wheels; however, wheeled robots have limited ability to traverse large obstacles. Obstacles much taller than the robot's wheels can prevent passage,...
Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping
The Flying Carpet is a platform of any shape, size, or material that is suspended by a four-point cable system. The platform can serve as a movable scaffolding and worker...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers developed a wearable robotic system for minimally invasive surgery (also known as keyhole surgery) that will offer surgeons natural and dexterous movement, as well as the...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Multi-robot systems deployed in real-world applications are exposed to the same issues that computer systems face. A cybersecurity attack on a robot has the consequences of an attack on a...
Briefs: Photonics/Optics
Invertible Time Invariant Linear Filtering (InTILF) Method for Pattern Detection and Modeling of Stochastic One- or Two-Dimensional Data
X-ray astronomy offers the opportunity to observe important phenomena, including the early accretion of massive black holes and detecting diffuse ionized intergalactic gas that is heated to X-ray temperatures...
Briefs: Motion Control
Advanced Tool Drive System (ATDS) Camera Positioning Mechanism (CPM)
Robotic servicing of a satellite in low earth orbit (LEO) or geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) requires advanced systems capable of meeting the harsh environments of space. To support this effort, the Goddard Space Flight Center Satellite Servicing Capabilities Office (SSCO) has...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) were inspired by origami when they developed the Pop-Up Flat Folding Explorer Robot (PUFFER). Its lightweight design — which can hitch a ride...
Top Stories
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Aya Durbin of Boston Dynamics on Why Humanoids Are the Future of...
Podcasts: RF & Microwave Electronics
Engineering Spacecraft Components at Scale for Commercial Space Growth
INSIDER: Motion Control
NVIDIA Announces Industry’s First Full-Stack Safety System for Physical...
Blog: Design
NASA Marches Toward Artemis III Mission in 2027
Articles: RF & Microwave Electronics
Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Meet AutoLabs: The New Generative AI Automating Multi-Step Laboratory...
Webcasts
Webinars: AR/AI
From Grid to GPU: Validating Next-Gen AI Data Center Power Infrastructures
Summits: Power
Hydrogen & Alternative Fuels Summit 2026
Webinars: Automotive
Engineering Extended-Range Hybrid Systems
Editorial Webinars: Medical
Design for Miniaturization: Meeting the Demand for Smaller,...
Webinars: AR/AI
Why Your Integration Stack Is Blocking Your AI Roadmap
Editorial Webinars: Automotive
