Features

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.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including Boker’s stamped metal components custom manufactured to fit into developed mold designs; the CRH03 tactical-grade gyroscope from Silicon Sensing Systems; Keysight Technologies' enhanced physical layer compliance test solution for high-definition multimedia interface; and more.

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.

Product of the Month

See the product of the month: Optical Gaging Products' addition to their SmartScope® 3D Multisensor Metrology systems: SmartScope M130.

Friction Stir Welding Robot Joins the Assembly Line

Piyush Upadhyay and his team at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have developed a self-fixturing tool that can be attached to a robot, freeing friction stir welding from an anvil so it can be used with complex shapes.

5Ws of the 3D Ultrasonic Sensor

Norway-based startup Sonair has developed a 3D ultrasonic sensor that uses sound waves in air to give robots a precise, real-time 3D view of their surroundings, helping them operate safely in shared spaces.

Aerogel Art Attracts Attention

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory perfected aerogel for the Stardust mission. Now this comet-catching NASA technology is enabling Greek artist to create exotic works of art.

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.

New Products

See the new products, including Nexperia's ESD diodes designed to protect 48V automotive data communications networks against the destructive effects of electrostatic discharge events; Comau's collaboration with Intecells to optimize the use of cold plasma within industrial cell manufacturing processes; Carlo Gavazzi Automation's UWP-DLB Series, an advanced solution delivering intelligent dynamic load balancing for EV charging systems; and 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.

Reachy 2: The Open-Source Humanoid Robot Redefining Human-Machine Interaction

In an office in Bordeaux, the Pollen Robotics teams are working on an ambitious mission: to imagine and advance useful robotics for humans. Their flagship creation, Reachy, combines accessibility, innovation, and open-source collaboration. Read on to learn more and see where it all started.

AI-Powered Robots Rebuild Homes in the Los Angeles Area

ABB Robotics is enabling faster, safer, and more cost-effective rebuilding in areas devastated by the 2025 Southern Californian wildfires through a collaboration with Cosmic Buildings — a leading construction technology company that uses proprietary mobile robotic microfactories. Read on to learn more.

New Products

See the new products, including Kassow Robots' Sensitive Arm technology across its complete range of 7-axis collaborative robots; igus' first humanoid robot, Iggy Rob, designed to support industrial production, service environments, and transport tasks; Weidmuller USA's unmanaged Single Pair Ethernet Switch that enables a seamless networking experience for users in a wide array of industrial environments; BizLink's careDP, an AI-powered condition monitoring system designed to revolutionize maintenance in robotic production lines; and more.

The Impact of AI Across the Industrial Value Chain

It is no exaggeration to say that AI will be the next big leap across all of industry, reimagining the way people work, products are designed, and factories are operated. But AI doesn’t mean a fully autonomous future but rather a harmony, uniting people and technology in a way that plays to the strength of both to achieve a result greater than what either could achieve alone. Read on to learn more.

When Automation Goes Wrong: Lessons from the Field

Automation is a powerful tool, but only when designed and implemented with a systems-level mindset. Failures rarely stem from the automation hardware itself but often result from gaps in planning, integration, or life cycle support. Read on to learn more.

Collaborative Robots Need More Sophisticated Sensors

The transition from isolated, pre-programmed robots to adaptive cobots marks a significant advancement in industrial automation — one that depends not only on software but on a new generation of sensing technologies. Read on to learn more.

Monitoring the Injection Molding Process to Improve Quality and Lower Costs

The digitalization of industrial measurement solutions has come a long way. With the help of these levers, plastic injection molders have effective tools at hand to tackle current challenges, be it cost pressure and competitiveness, high product quality, or sustainability requirements. Read on to learn more.

New Products

See the new products, including the VITA 93 QMC Mezzanine Modules from Acromag; fiber-optic sensors of the optoCONTROL CLS1000 series from Micro-Epsilon; AW-Lake's TG Series Gas Turbine Flow Meter; NewTek Sensors' advanced Linear Variable Differential Transformer specifically designed to withstand the extreme environments found in next-gen molten salt reactors; and more.

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.