Fuel Cell Boosts Electric-Powered Vehicles

This fuel cell could power a variety of transportation modes such as unmanned underwater vehicles, drones, and eventually electric aircraft.

Executive Roundtable: Cloud Software

Tech Briefs asked 5 execs: What should a user consider before moving to the cloud?

Coatings Could Improve Traction on Slick Surfaces

Material for shoe bottoms could help prevent falls in icy or slippery conditions.

Soft Robotic Gripper Based on Twining Plants

The robot firmly but gently grasps objects as small as 1 millimeter in diameter.

Designing Soft Materials that Mimic Biological Functions

The soft material demonstrates autonomous, heartbeat-like oscillating properties.

Designing Large Diameter Aspheres

What you need to know before you incorporate large diameter aspheres into your optical systems.

Disrupting the Automobile Design Process

The more complex the vehicle, the greater the need for comprehensive design solutions.

System Standardization Streamlines Industrial Designs

Equipment designers can simplify design efforts and adjust controller platforms as needed when they standardize on electronic input/output products.

Human-Like Hands with Flexible, Hybrid Pneumatic Actuators

These hands, with a large grasping force, enable safer human-robot interactions.

Executive Roundtable: Robotics Design

A panel of experts explains how robots are playing a larger role in manufacturing.

Technology Leaders: Industry Renaissance Transforms Invention, Learning, Production, and Trade

Digital technologies are enabling an "Industry Renaissance" of virtual experiences.

Vote for Tech Briefs Product of the Year 2020

These 12 products are the nominees for the 2020 Tech Briefs Readers’ Choice Product of the Year.

Smart Window Improves Energy Efficiency of Buildings

A customizable smart window harnesses and manipulates solar power to save energy and cut costs.

Machine Learning Enables Rapid Rocket Engine Design

This method provides a fast way to assess rocket engine performance in a variety of operating conditions.

Guiding and Harnessing Transition Waves in Multi-Stable Mechanical Structures

The domino effect is used to design deployable systems that expand quickly with a small push and are stable and locked into place after deployment.

New Graphene-Based Metasurface Capable of Independent Amplitude and Phase Control of Light

Researchers described a new strategy of designing metamolecules.

Properly Designing and Specifying Aspheric Lenses

Aspheric lenses greatly improve the performance and efficiency of a wide range of optical applications.

Guiding and Harnessing Transition Waves in Multi-Stable Mechanical Structures

The domino effect is used to design deployable systems that expand quickly with a small push and are stable and locked into place after deployment.

Choose Surface Treatments Early to Avoid Future Problems

Surface treatments have limitations that demand attention early in the design process.

Create the Future Contest Idea Saving Lives

Tech Briefs checks back in with CEO Jon Sumroy about his award-winning product: the mifold grab-and-go car seat.

Virtually Optimizing Metasurface Topology with a Genetic Algorithm

See how software supported the design of an advanced antenna.

Design Treatment for Advanced Metals Enables Easier Machining

Applying a surface-active agent makes metal easier to cut and shape into parts and pieces.

Human Torso Simulator

The simulator could help in the development of new back braces.

New Airplane Wing Assembled from Tiny Identical Pieces

A radically new kind of airplane wing, assembled from hundreds of tiny identical pieces, can change shape to control the plane’s flight, and could provide a significant boost in...

Designing Sensors for Hazardous Environments

Some of the most common applications for hazardous duty sensors are in the oil and gas industry.

Module or Discrete Power?

Engineers today are feeling the pressure to get more done in less time, be experts in multiple disciplines, and use their resources more efficiently to maximize profits. This environment is shifting the way...

Key Factors to Consider When Designing a Smart Factory

In recent years, the emergence of Industry 4.0 has been steadily transforming the manufacturing sector into an ultra-high-tech industry. Innovative smart technologies such as robotics,...

Lockheed Martin Explores a Different Kind of Space for NASA

Protolabs
Maple Plain, MN
www.protolabs.com

Mankind first set foot on the Moon in 1969; nearly five decades have now passed. Today, NASA is developing the Orion...