Features

AI-Powered Earth Mapping for Global Sustainability

By combining historical and current data from multiple NASA and European satellites, MD-based terraPulse applies AI to create meaningful maps enabling data-driven ecological decisions.

Advancing Battery Technology: The 2023 Battery Show Preview

The largest battery and electric vehicle technologies trade show in North America.

5 Ws of Making Hydrogen from Sunlight

Rice University engineers are turning sunlight into hydrogen with record-breaking efficiency with a device that splits water molecules and generates hydrogen when stimulated by simulated sunlight.

2023 Guide to Motors

Motion Design’s 2023 Guide to Motors provides a comprehensive list of today’s top manufacturers in many technology fields.

Revolutionizing Motion Control with Linear Motors

As the demand grows for increased productivity, higher product quality, rapid development time, and lower engineering costs, adopting linear motor technology is increasingly popular by leveraging modular linear motor designs.

A Cobot Spot Welder Promises Ergonomic Safety and Productivity Gains

Pro Spot International was founded in 1984 by Ron Olsson, shortly after coming to America from Sweden. Almost 40 years later, Pro Spot is one of the leading companies in automotive repair tools.

North Sea Rig Operators Discover a Solution for Frequently Tangled Service Loops

A company from Denmark found a problem with its oil rig, where wind caused service loops to swing, become entangled and snag, resulting in downtime. The company solved the problem with a 33.5-meter e-loop from igus, the Germany-based manufacturer of high-performance plastics.

New Products

See the new products, including digital servo drives, the PM2 pinion series from Neugart, valve controller modules, electric cylinders, and more.

How to Select the Right Cobot for Your Application

Capitalizing on the benefits cobots, of course, requires choosing the right cobot for the job. This article discusses five key considerations for selecting a cobot for your manufacturing application.

Direct Drive Motors: Delivering Reliability, Precision, and Performance

Direct drive motors have a long-standing history as a technology that has continually evolved and improved. This article introduces the technology behind direct drive motors, explores their advantages, and discusses example applications.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including a spoofing device, a deployable electrode, and a snake robot.

Six Considerations When Choosing Machine Vision in Collaborative Applications

Machine vision dates back to the beginning of the modern industrial robot age in the 1980s. Augmenting cobots with vision allows them to perform with higher precision, flexibility, and intelligence. However, integration is not a one-size-fits-all process.

Generative Design Puts Hydrogen Fuel Cell Development in High Gear

Toyota Research Institute of North America has developed a simulation-driven generative design method and applied it to the design of flow field microchannel plates, which direct the movement of fluid reactants in microreactors like hydrogen — oxygen fuel cells.

New on the Market

See the new products on the market, including Clean-in-Place Utilities and Automated Reporting Analytics software, radar-level sensors, power ultrasonic transducers, and more.

Product of The Month

See the product of the month: InnoPhase IoT, Inc.'s Talaria TWOTM Ultra-low power (ULP) Wi-Fi optimized market-ready solution for cloud-connected IP video IoT devices.

How to Diagnose an Ailing Bridge

A solar-powered wireless sensor system developed by a Drexel University team can continuously monitor bridge deformation and could be used to alert authorities if the bridge performance deteriorates significantly.

Taking Industrial Robot Automation to New Heights

Combining an industrial robot, computerized vision system, AI, and machine learning, Skyline Robotics has succeeded in automating window washing for the world’s skyscrapers.

Magnetic Bearing Technology Enables Environmental Control for Human Space Exploration

Leveraging a high-speed permanent magnet motor, an environmental control system aboard the ISS represents a step change toward electrification and optimization.

Tensegrity Robots to the Rescue

Squishy Robotics’ tensegrity sensor robots gather data at the scenes of fires, crashes, explosions, and other disasters to help first responders determine their approach to a disaster scene.

5Ws of ‘Talking’ Concrete

A new technology allows concrete to “talk,” decreases construction time and how often concrete pavement needs repairs while also improving the road’s sustainability and cutting its carbon footprint.

Mars: Past, Present, Future

Since the dawn of the space race, the idea of sending humans to Mars has been the subject of aerospace engineering and scientific studies. From the successful flyby of NASA’s Mariner 4 in 1964 to the Perseverance rover in 2020, the missions to Mars have come a long way.

NASA’s New, Resilient Approach to Moon, Mars Exploration

As NASA builds a blueprint for exploration throughout the solar system, the agency is doing it with staying power in mind. The agency's new analysis process is designed to align its Moon to Mars exploration strategy and codify the supporting architecture.

Robotic Exploration of Caves on Mars

University of Arizona engineers have developed a system that allows autonomous vehicles to scout out underground habitats for astronauts. Their robust platform could allow robotic explorers to operate underground or even submerged in liquid environments.

Developing High-Fidelity Martian Regolith Simulants

Researchers at the Exolith Lab, University of Central Florida, are simulating realistic materials to be used for testing a range of technologies for Martian surface interactions and operations.

Astronaut Smart Glove for Mars EVA Spacesuits

One of the most demanding needs for dexterous and sustained subtle control inputs during EVA could be the operation of drones as robotic assistants. The Astronaut Smart Glove amplifies the effects of subtle finger, hand, and wrist gestures while wearing existing rigid pressurized spacesuit gloves.

Earthly Twin Offers Test Bed for NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover

OPTIMISM, the full-scale engineering model of Perseverance, on Earth is helping NASA assess the risk of potential driving hazards on the surface of the Red Planet.

3D-Printed Mars Habitat Simulated on Earth

CHAPEA is a series of analog missions that will simulate year-long stays on the surface of Mars. Insights from these missions will help NASA make informed decisions to design and plan for a successful human mission to Mars.

Enabling Ambitious Battery Production at Scale

The battery industry is forecasted to grow tenfold by the end of the decade. This growth is driven by increasing demand for Li-ion cell batteries, predominantly for electrified transportation and energy storage.

Key Design Considerations for Automated Production of EV Batteries

Examining an EV battery degassing automated cell that is widely installed across the industry exemplifies many design features.