Magazine

Fluid-Driven Actuators Enable Complex Motions in Soft Robots

A team of researchers has designed a new system of fluid-driven actuators that enable soft robots to achieve more complex motions. The researchers accomplished this by taking advantage of the very thing — viscosity — that had previously stymied the movement of such robots.

Peeling Back the Layers: Adhesives Testing for Wearables

Trends in wearable technology follow those of the broader biomedical and electronics industries — devices are getting smaller, smarter, and easier to use. Specifically, wearables in...

Crack Image Quality Indicator

Engineers have developed a modeling and manufacturing technique that generates unique verification tools which simulate cracks in metals within X-ray setup part-testing geometries.

3D-Printable Nanocomposite Polymeric Ink Could Replace Epoxies

Researchers have created a way to make a 3D-printable nanocomposite polymeric ink that uses carbon nanotubes — known for their high tensile strength and lightness. This revolutionary ink could replace epoxies.

Cryogenic Selective Surfaces

A new thermal control coating material, developed for use as a coating or rigid tiles, reflects essentially all solar radiation in the space environment.

Robust Synthesis of Vertically Aligned Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Researchers are scaling up the production of vertically aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes that could revolutionize diverse commercial products ranging from rechargeable batteries, automotive parts and sporting goods to boat hulls and water filters.

3D Printing Creates High-Performance Metal Alloy

Scientists used a 3D printer to create a high-performance metal alloy with an unusual composition that makes it stronger and lighter than state-of-the-art materials currently used in gas turbine machinery.

Copper Catalyst Converts Carbon Dioxide into Liquid Fuels

A research team has gained new insight by capturing real-time movies of copper nanoparticles as they convert CO2 and water into renewable fuels and chemicals: ethylene, ethanol, and propanol, among others.

An Energy-Efficient Method to Monitor Soil Moisture

The University of Maine’s Wireless Sensor Networks laboratory has developed a novel method of using AI and machine learning to make monitoring soil moisture more energy and cost efficient.

Turning Plastic Waste into a Valuable Soil Additive

Researchers have moved a step closer to finding a use for the hundreds of millions of tons of plastic waste produced every year that often winds up clogging streams and rivers and polluting our oceans.

AV Computers Contribute to Global Carbon Emissions

MIT researchers recently explored the potential energy consumption and related carbon emissions if autonomous vehicles (AV) are widely adopted.

Radiative Cooling and Solar Heat from One System

Researchers have been exploring how to turbocharge a passive cooling technique — known as radiative or sky cooling — with sun-blocking nanomaterials that emit heat away from building rooftops.

New on the Market

See what's New on the Market, including eFuses, a Portable Particle Counter, a high-efficiency right angle gearmotor, graphical panel meters, and more.

How to Engineer Intrinsically Safe Hazardous Duty Wireless Sensors

An apparatus such as a wireless sensor used in a hazardous location must meet the required safety standards. Those standards are amplified when the hazardous duty is done in areas in or near explosive atmospheres.

Always-On Intelligent Sensing at Microwatt Levels

An interview with Tom Doyle, CEO and Founder of Aspinity, Pittsburgh, PA, about the company's analog machine learning chip, the AML100 analog machine learning processor.

Silk-Based Printable, Wearable, Biosensors

Researchers have developed a way to detect bacteria, toxins, and dangerous chemicals in the environment using a biopolymer sensor that can be printed like ink on a wide range of materials.

Multi-Pixel Magnetic Sensing Gives Robots the Gentle Touch

A reliable and cost-effective sense of touch now lets robots handle fragile objects to fulfill an even wider variety of tasks and interact more safely with humans.

MEMS-Based Inertial Switch for Event Detection

With advancements in microfabrication techniques, MEMS devices have become more readily available for many commercial applications.

Low-Cost Device Can Measure Air Pollution Anywhere

Air pollution is a major public health problem. Now, an MIT research team is rolling out an open-source version of a low-cost, mobile pollution detector that could enable people to track air quality more widely.

New Hydration Sensor Enables “Smart Diapers” and Other Health Monitors

A new sensor — so cheap and simple to produce that it can be hand-drawn with a pencil onto paper treated with sodium chloride — could clear the way for wearable, self-powered health monitors.

New Sensor May Be Groundbreaking Tool for Soil Health

Bioengineers have developed sensors that monitor multiple soil parameters to provide farmers with accurate, real-time, continuous data to improve soil health and productivity.

New Products

See the New Products for May 2023, including particulate matter sensor, a vibration sensor, an air quality monitor, and more.

Highlights of Sensors Converge 2023

This year, Sensors Converge will be held at the Santa Clara (California) Convention Center from Tuesday June 20 – Thursday June 22. Some highlights include: Extending Battery Life to Empower the IoT/IIoT; The Smarts Behind Smart Cities and Smart Farms using Sensors in IoT; and more.

Battery-Free Smart Tags

Professor Patrick Mercier and his team at the University of California, San Diego, have developed an RFID smart tag that uses the signals generated by a smartphone to both read and power it.

Predicting Buffet Onset on the Transonic Truss-Braced Wing

Through the Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project, Boeing is partnering with NASA to develop and flight-test a full-scale Transonic Truss-Braced Wing (TTBW) demonstrator aircraft.

Modeling 3D-Printed Metal Parts for Space and Earth

Software for modeling metal parts before 3D printing provides significant savings in cost and time compared to conventional physical testing.

5 Ws of a Weeding Robot

MIT alumnus-founded FarmWise uses autonomous machines to snip weeds while preserving crops, eliminating the need for herbicides.