Articles

Lubricating Aerospace One Zulu Pod at a Time

On the heels of taking first place in the Aerospace & Defense category at the 2023 Create the Future Contest, Zulu Pods has grown in nearly every way imaginable and shows no signs of slowing down (nor a desire to!) at any point soon.

Countering the New Threat from the Sky: Advanced IR Imaging Zoom Lenses for C-UAS Systems

This article highlights requirements for an IR imaging C-UAS platform and examines the design of one state-of-the-art lens system for this application. Read on to learn more.

Enhancing Signal Integrity and Security in Aerospace: RF-Over-Fiber Optics Hybrid Communications Technology

Although RF-over-Fiber systems are engineered and ruggedized to withstand harsh environments, aerospace systems remain vulnerable to environmental stressors that can degrade the performance of components over time. Maintaining signal integrity requires consistent testing and preventative maintenance of key equipment. Read on to learn more.

A Guide to Cost-Effective Thermal Lens Integration: What to Know for Defense and Autonomous Vehicle Applications

From autonomous vehicles navigating in darkness to UAVs detecting threats, thermal imaging steps in when visible cameras fail — and lens design determines performance, cost, and reliability. Read on to learn more.

Co-Developing Illumination and Imaging Systems for Medical Fluorescence Endoscopy

Endoscopic imaging system development requires coordination between various engineering disciplines, especially for optical illumination and imaging engines, particularly when adding fluorescence imaging capabilities. Read on to learn more about it.

The Future of Axial- and Radial-Flux Motors

Traditionally, most motors used in EVs and mobility platforms have been radial flux systems. In recent years, there have been major strides in alternative axial flux motor architectures. What exactly do these architectural differences mean for motor design and production? Read on to find out.

EV Industry Grapples with Unprecedented Battery Regulation Compliance Challenges

The EU Battery Regulation demands unprecedented granularity in supply chain tracking. Read on to learn more about what this means.

The End of the Beginning: Why the EV Market Will Overcome the Loss of Tax Credits

Will EV sales in the U.S. double by the end of the decade, or more? Will the U.S. keep pace with China’s relentless iterative improvements on EV technology, or will China increasingly dominate the rapidly electrifying global transportation industry? Read on to learn more.

Heavy-Payload Conveyance Paves the Way for Next-Generation Battery Manufacturing

Battery packs are becoming larger and heavier, particularly in applications such as electric trucks, aviation and renewable energy storage. As payload requirements increase, manufacturers are turning to advanced automation and material handling systems to keep pace. Read on to learn what this means.

Vision Integration Transforms Collaborative Robotics

Without integrated vision, robots can only perform tasks in precisely the same way every time. If a part is even slightly out of position or rotated differently, the robot may fail to complete its task, or worse, cause an error in the process. Read on to learn more.

Why Human Expertise Is Driving the Future of Autonomy

The future of industrial autonomy will not be defined by systems that operate as opaque black boxes, but by approaches that deliberately embed the expertise of the people who know the processes best. Machine teaching makes this possible by making the skills and strategies of expert operators the foundation of AI system design. Read on to learn more.

The Mechanics Behind Motion: Exploring Planetary Servo Gearboxes

While growing up, many of us were fascinated by watching gears turning, whether in bicycles, clocks or garbage trucks packing trash on the old rear-load machines. Today, gearing systems play a crucial role in machinery, transmitting power efficiently and reliably across a wide range of applications. Read on to learn more.

Training Uncrewed Underwater Vehicles for Visualization of Subsurface Structures

Through a combination of modeling, simulation, and machine learning (ML), USM researchers are laying the groundwork for intelligent uncrewed underwater vehicles (UUVs) capable of autonomously and accurately revealing what lies beneath the waves. Read on to learn more.

A Satellite Micro-Vibration Test Platform to Isolate Vibrations

The micro-vibration test instrument gives the ESA a high confidence that a satellite’s mechanisms in space will generate verified forces and torques as displayed and confirmed on the micro-vibration test instrument on Earth. Read on to learn more about it.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a drone with flapping wings that can locate and hover around a moving light like a moth to a flame; a new multi-layered metalens design that could revolutionize portable optics in devices like phones, drones, and satellites; and more.

High-Performance Electrification Solutions Reshaping Military Systems

The electrification of military systems is a positive step that will deliver enormous technical, operational, and sustainability advantages across defense equipment lifecycles. But it requires deep system-level technical expertise to ensure systems work seamlessly together across power conversion, distribution, and conditioning. Read on to learn more.

2025 Award Finalists

In this article, you’ll learn about the Create the Future Design Contest finalists in all seven categories chosen from over 600 new product ideas submitted from 67 countries.

Making Diesel Engines Nearly Emission-Free

The team spent seven years developing NOxZero™ — a highly efficient, low-cost, and easy-to-install technology that reduces diesel NOx emissions to near-zero levels. In the standard Diesel system, urea — also known as Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) or AdBlue — is injected into the diesel exhaust stream. Read on to learn more about the 2025 Create the Future Contest's Automotive & Transportation finalist.

Ultra-Efficient Hydrogen Combustion for Clean, Distributed Power and Propulsion

REV Force, a radically new hydrogen-compatible engine platform developed by Alpha-Otto Technologies, combines a patented mode of engine operation with an advanced combustion strategy to redefine what’s possible in clean, distributed power. Read on to learn more about the Energy, Power & Propulsion Finalist from the 2025 Create the Future Contest.

Silent Sentry: A Software-Defined Passive Sensor for Counter-Stealth and Battlefield Survivability

Silent Sentry is a software system that transforms existing passive microwave sensors into advanced threat detectors. The system is based on Passive Microwave Radiometry (PMR), which “listens” for the faint, naturally emitted thermal radiation from all objects. Read on to learn more about Silent Sentry, which was the Aerospace & Defense finalist at the 2025 Create the Future Design contest.

100x Audio Digital-to-Analog Performance Improvement

Multi-Path is a new audio digital-to-analog conversion (DAC) architecture that improves today’s best DAC performance by 100X (40dB) or more. Noise, linearity, and dynamic range are so advanced that today’s finest test equipment cannot fully measure it (40nVrms broadband noise floor). Read on to learn more about the 2025 Create the Future Design Contest Electronics finalist.

REACT®: Automated Capsule Recycling Technology for a Circular Coffee Industry

The REACT® Coffee Maker is an innovative integrated appliance that automates both the brewing and clean recycling of single-use coffee capsules. Unlike conventional capsule coffee machines, which leave used capsules contaminated with organic coffee grounds, the REACT® Coffee Maker incorporates a patented mechanical separation module that automatically empties each capsule immediately after brewing. Read on to learn more about the 2025 Create the Future Design Contest Manufacturing & Materials finalist.

Woodpeckr

A team at the University of Waterloo has developed Woodpeckr — a semi-autonomous robot designed to climb and drill wooden utility poles during the electrical line installation process. Read on to learn more about Woodpeckr, which was the Robotics & Automation finalist at the 2025 Create the Future Design contest.

Blood Viscosity: The Next Vital Sign – A Wearable Breakthrough in Trauma, Sepsis, and Vascular Health

The first real-time, wearable blood viscosity monitoring device fills a long-standing void in trauma, burn, and sepsis care by delivering continuous, noninvasive insights into the body’s fluid and vascular dynamics. Read on to learn more about the technology, which was the Medical finalist at the 2025 Create the Future Design contest.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including an artificial neuron made of conductive plastics that can perform advanced functions similar to those of biological nerve cells; a new method that significantly boosts the performance and stability of solar cells; and more.

Battery Innovation Key for Commercial and Off-Highway EVs

The move to electrified on- and off-highway equipment is not without its challenges. The industry itself lags greatly behind the passenger car industry, which accounted for 17.5 million EVs sold globally last year. But why? Read on to find out.

Solving Fleet Electrification Bottlenecks with Battery-Integrated Charging Systems

Charging infrastructure has become the primary bottleneck to fleet electrification. Despite growing demand for electric trucks and increasing pressure to decarbonize logistics operations, many fleet operators face long delays for grid upgrades, transformer installations, and permitting, at times waiting more than a year to power vehicles that have already arrived. OptiGrid was formed in response to this growing gap between vehicle readiness and infrastructure availability. Read on to learn more.

Next-Generation Elastomer Seals: Enhancing Battery Safety and Sustainability in E-Mobility

As the EV market accelerates toward mass adoption, the need for durable, efficient, and scalable battery technologies is reshaping supply chain priorities across the automotive and energy sectors. Advanced sealing materials, such as high-performance elastomers, are emerging as strategic enablers in this transformation. Read on to learn more.

Driving EV Development with a Twin-Battery Approach

IAV hopes that its twin-battery design concept will function as a showcase to others in the battery industry that, even if you have demands that are contradicting, there can still be a solution. Read on to learn more.