Magazine

High Atomic Number Coatings for Fabrics

This new approach is useful for building radiation shields via the Z-grading method, the process of layering metal materials with different atomic numbers to provide radiation protection for protons, electrons, and x-rays.

First 3D-Printed Nanostructured Alloy is Strong, Ductile

"The potential of harnessing the combined benefits of additive manufacturing and HEAs for achieving novel properties remains largely unexplored."

Achieving Desired Level of Wettability for Unlikely Materials

MIT researchers have developed a way of making even the most unlikely pairings of materials take on a desired level of wettability.

3D Printing Materials with Tunable Mechanical Properties

The researchers created these sensing structures using just one material and a single run on a 3D printer.

Liquid Metal Turns Motion into Electricity, Even Underwater

The soft and stretchable device converts movement into electricity and can work in wet environments.

Soft Mate Lifting Device

This below-the-hook device enables gentle crane placement to decrease the risk of property damage.

NanoGear Molecular Gear

Oscillatory and rotational motions of different parts are combined to pave the way to developing super-miniaturized mechanical devices.

Locking Side Pull Hoist Ring

The integrated tool eliminates the need for manual operators or additional custom fixtures.

Antimicrobial Coating for Orthopedic Implants Prevents Dangerous Infections

The coating is customizable to individuals and requires less than 10 minutes to prepare and use.

Noninvasive Therapy for Cartilage Regeneration

The PEMF device could be wrapped around synovial joints where cartilage-degrading inflammation is located.

Extraction of Largely Unexplored Bodily Fluid Could Be a New Source of Biomarkers

Fluid could provide a new source of information for routine diagnostic testing.

New on the Market: November 2022

New products on the market in November 2022, including automotive relay, power inductors, RFID Read/Write modules, and more.

Florida Tech College of Engineering and Science

The Florida Institute of Technology is a private research university in Melbourne, FL. The university was founded in 1958 as Brevard Engineering College to support NASA in providing advanced education for professionals working in the space program.

Product of the Month

Automotive engineers utilize Adams software to build their virtual vehicle prototypes and Adams Real Time Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) capabilities to bridge the gap with physical tests.

New Imaging Method Reveals Concealed Objects

Using state-of-the-art indium phosphide transistors and a basic computer and mirrors, researchers were able to produce images of concealed bodies.

Highly Sensitive, Mass Producible Organic Photodetectors

Incorporating new green-light absorbing transparent organic photodetectors into organic-silicon hybrid image sensors could be useful for applications such as light-based heart-rate monitoring, fingerprint recognition and devices that detect the presence of nearby objects

Bringing More Reliable Electricity to Puerto Rican Microgrids

Ben Ollis and a team of engineers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory are creating a novel orchestrator tool to manage a cluster of microgrids so they can directly support and communicate with each other, making them more resilient during long power outages. It is being installed as a demonstration project in the small town of Adjuntas in the Central Mountains of Puerto Rico.

Space to Sea: An Underwater Robot Takes a Deep Dive

Aquanaut, built on lessons from NASA’s robot astronaut, will cut costs for ocean industries.

Products of Tomorrow

From space propulsion to underwater monitoring and antibacterial coatings, three new innovations aim to address real-world problems.

5 Ws of Energy-Harvesting Yarns

A group of University of Texas at Dallas researchers have invented energy-harvesting yarns made from carbon nanotubes that produce electricity when repeatedly stretched.

When Cobots Make a Manufacturing Difference

Robots have been widely used in industry for many years, but cobots, or collaborative robots, are a more recent arrival to the market.

Pressure Sensors for Improved Dexterity in Robots

Made from 3D graphene foam, the sensors use a piezoresistive approach, meaning when the material is put under pressure it dynamically changes its electric resistance, easily detecting and adapting to the range of pressure required, from light to heavy.

Getting a Grip with ‘Necrobotic’ Spiders

An open-access study in Advanced Science outlines the process by which Preston and lead author Faye Yap harnessed a spider’s physiology in a first step toward a novel area of research they call “necrobotics.”

A Manta Ray-Inspired Bio-Syncretic Robot

Biomimetics is one of the most important robotic research methods which can improve the kinematic performance of robots by imitating the structure and behavior of natural organisms.

Inflatable Actuators Use Origami Principles to Deform

Researchers have taken inspiration from origami to create inflatable structures that can bend, twist, and move in complex, distinct ways from a single source of pressure.

Sustaining Shock Loads: Low-Speed, High-Torque Hydraulic Direct Drives

The most common use of HDD systems is for industrial applications moving heavy masses on a continuous basis with low speed and high torque, and especially high starting torque for operations with frequent stops and starts.

New Products

Read about the new products for October 2022, including rotary encoders, precision gearboxes, a brushless servo motor, and more.

New Automation Technology Helps High-Precision Telescope Observations

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) continues to enable exciting scientific advances that help us better understand the universe.

Machine Learning and Sensor Technology Unlock Predictive Maintenance Insights

More than 80 percent of manufacturers experienced at least one instance of unplanned downtime during the past three years, and a single factory can lose $2.3 million annually due to unplanned stoppages.