Readers Select 2025 Products of the Year

Last December, Tech Briefs readers were asked to select one product from our 2025 Products of the Month to be named Readers’ Choice Product of the Year. Thanks to all of our readers who cast their votes. Read on for the three 2025 winners.

The Intertwining of AI and Simulation in Automotive Design

By leveraging rich simulation data to train AI models, which can then be used to quickly explore a design space and guide further simulations, the existing product design process can be enhanced to become faster and more flexible. Read on to learn more.

How Much Do You Know About Agentic AI?

Agentic AI is the next level of artificial intelligence transforming enterprise workflows with intelligent agents that can make decisions without constant human oversight. Test your knowledge about agentic AI in this quiz.

Analyzer Delivers Real-Time Insights for U.S. Power Grid

Yilu Liu, lead researcher and UT-ORNL Governor’s Chair for Power Electronics, and her team at Oak Ridge National Laboratory partnered with the University of Tennessee to develop the Universal GridEdge Analyzer, a secure, affordable sensing device that delivers real-time insight into electric grid behavior.

Tracking Falling Space Debris

The new tracking method generates more detailed information in near real-time than authorities have today about the reentry of space debris from falling satellites — information that will help to quickly locate and retrieve the charred and sometimes toxic remains.

Bringing Hybrid Power to the Rescue

NASA-funded hybrid power system makes drones more capable in disasters.

Weaving Data Fabric with AI

Autonomy Association International’s Digital Infrastructure Platform uses the same technology originally designed for a NASA flight test.

Context-Based Configuration Management System

NASA has developed a new technology to track the status of, and changes to, enterprise level programmatic operations. Read on to learn more about it.

Upper Body Robotic Exoskeleton

This lightweight, portable garment is designed for active shoulder and elbow positioning.

New Transmitter Could Make Wireless Devices More Energy-Efficient

Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have designed a novel transmitter chip that significantly improves the energy efficiency of wireless communications, which could boost the...

Wi-Fi Signals Can Measure Heart Rate — No Wearables Needed

Traditionally, measuring heart rate requires some sort of wearable device, whether that be a smart watch or hospital-grade machinery. But new research from engineers at the...

Implementing Predictive Maintenance

Predictive maintenance is based on condition monitoring, anomaly detection, and classification algorithms, and integrates predictive models which can estimate the remaining machine runtime. Read on to learn more about it and how to implement it.

A New Window into Earth’s Upper Atmosphere

Between 50 and 100 kilometers (30-60 miles) above Earth’s surface lies a largely unstudied stretch of the atmosphere, called the mesosphere. It’s too high for airplanes and weather balloons,...

My Opinion: How to Move to Agriculture 4.0

All the pieces are in place for agriculture to become smarter — it’s time to move ahead. Here’s how to move to Agriculture 4.0.

Privacy and Data Security in the Era of Medical Wearables

As we continue to explore the impact of wearables on healthcare, this episode focuses on privacy and data security in the era of medical wearables. Wearables are collecting vast...

Light-Propelled Flying Structures Aim to Study Earth’s Upper Atmosphere

A new study introduces a novel way to reach a largely unstudied stretch of the atmosphere, between 30-60 miles above Earth’s surface, the mesosphere. Researchers have introduced a new way to explore it: lightweight flying structures that can float using nothing but sunlight.

Better Data for Bodies in Motion

To discover why astronauts returning to Earth frequently experience head and neck injuries, NASA awarded SBIR contracts to miniaturize an acceleration data recorder. It’s now used in safety testing for parachute drops, cars, drones, and more.

My Opinion: Here Comes Agriculture 4.0

My Opinion: Industry 4.0 is already here — Agriculture 4.0 will catch up. Bringing automation and AI to agriculture is a necessity.

Robots React to Danger Like Humans

In the midst of the co-development of artificial intelligence and robotic advancements, developing technologies that enable robots to efficiently perceive and respond to their surroundings like humans has...

New Imaging Technique Reconstructs the Shapes of Hidden Objects

A new imaging technique developed by MIT researchers could enable quality-control robots in a warehouse to peer through a cardboard shipping box and see that the handle of a...

My Opinion: Quantum Computing Is Coming But Has This Engineer Puzzled

My Opinion: Quantum computing is coming but has this engineer puzzled. As we celebrate 2025, the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology, I find that thinking about these things from an engineer’s point of view is quite challenging.

Brain-Like Computer Steers Rolling Robot With 0.25 Percent of the Power Needed by Conventional Controllers

Analog computing is making a comeback with hardware that processes and stores information in the same location, similar to biological...

Breakthrough in Semiconductor Technology Paves the Way for Faster 6G Networks

Self-driving cars which eliminate traffic jams, getting a health care diagnosis instantly without leaving your home, or feeling the touch of loved ones based across the continent may soon become reality thanks to a radical breakthrough in semiconductor technology.

Your Skin Is Breathing — This New Wearable Device Can Measure It.

Northwestern University researchers have developed the first wearable device for measuring gases emitted from and absorbed by the skin. By analyzing these gases, the device...

How the CARL-Bot Catches Some Tasty Waves

Researchers were brainstorming ways that underwater vehicles could use turbulent water currents for propulsion and wondered if, instead of them being a problem, they could be an advantage.