Features

Peering through Lunar Darkness: Laser Invention to Steer the Next Generation of Moon Landers

In a pivotal step toward autonomous lunar exploration, Advanced Navigation has announced the successful completion of the critical terrestrial validation for its LUNA (Laser Measurement Unit for Navigational Aid) sensor. Read on to learn more.

Hard(ware) to the Core

The core Flight System (cFS) is an open-source software framework that allows spacecraft to have a common starting point, without having to code all the base functions from scratch. Managed out of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, cFS covers all the basics that a spacecraft’s computer needs to operate. Read on to learn more about it.

New Products

See the new products, including Plasmatreat's HydroPlasma, a solution for the removal of stubborn contaminants from glass and metal surfaces; TDK Corporation's 3000-watt TDK-Lambda brand HWS3000G programmable AC-DC power supplies; Zircotec's new range of proprietary ceramic coatings; Thermo Fisher Scientific's expanded solutions for battery manufacturers; and more.

New Products

See the new products, including NVIDIA's IGX Thor, an industrial-grade platform built to bring real-time physical AI directly to the edge; Teknic's precision planetary gearboxes; PI's L-220 series linear actuators; Compact Click dev tool from MIKROE; and more.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including the new ImageIR® 9800 from infraTec; Instron's new 100 kN table model for the 6800 and 3400 Series universal testing systems; Sumida Corporation's CIUH10D46 and CIUH10D47 pulse transformers; and much more.

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.

Product of the Month

See the product of the month: OnLogic's new edge computer series, the Karbon 520.

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.

Boosting Welding Productivity with the GoFa Cobot

Finland-based Metos Oy, a manufacturer of professional stainless steel kitchen equipment, needed a welding solution that could deliver flawless, pressure-rated welds for small batches of high-spec products, which feature tubular structures and circular shafts that required continuous, precision welding. Read on to find out what they did.

Vote for Tech Briefs’ 30th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards

Each month, our editors choose a Product of the Month that has exceptional technical merit and practical value for our design engineering readers. Those 11 products are the nominees for the 2025 Tech Briefs' Readers’ Choice Product of the Year. You’re invited to cast your vote for the one product among the 11 listed in this article that you feel was the most important new product introduced to the engineering community in 2025.

Ultra-Lightweight, Multispectral, High-Resolution Imaging for Orbital Intelligence and Civilian Missions

The launch of Elbit Systems' JUPITER space camera marks an important advancement in spaceborne imaging technology.

Open-Source Software for 3D Printing with Multiple Materials

Charles Wade, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Matter Assembly Computation Lab (MACLab) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and Professor Rob MacCurdy, who leads the MACLab, have created a design package that uses functions and code to map not just shapes but where different materials belong in a 3D object.

Cutting-Edge Computing Goes Spaceborne

Hewlett Packard Enterprise worked with Ames Research Center to send a computer to space that was radiation-hardened with software. Now the approach is making fast, low-cost radiation hardening available to commercial space companies, allowing the use of cutting-edge computers in space.

5Ws of Dex: A Mobile Humanoid Robot

Richtech Robotics’ Dex is an industrial humanoid robot that learns in simulation and works in reality to elevate productivity and safety on the factory floor.

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.

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.

Product of the Month

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

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.