Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
A Robot Walks — No Electronics Needed
To move, a new UCSD robot just needs a constant source of pressurized air.
Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping
How to Build and Test a Robotic Remote-Control for Ventilators
Dr. Axel Krieger from Johns Hopkins University explains how he is getting a robotic system ready for the fight against COVID-19.
Blog: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
A Former NASA Mission Manager Reflects on a 'Flawless' Mars Landing
Darin Skelly spoke with Tech Briefs about how he felt during the landing of the Perseverance rover, and what he's most looking forward to finding out about Mars.
Blog: Materials
A New Kind of Soft Pump, The Size of a Credit Card
What can you do with a credit card sized pump? "Power clothing!" Prof. Jonathan Rossiter tells Tech Briefs?
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
Watch Live: Mars Perseverance Rover Touches Down on Jezero Crater
Watch as the Perseverance rover lands on Mars.
Design engineers should be cautious in how they design and deploy mixed-reality technologies, says an industry expert.
Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Answering Your Questions: Laser Radar...Or a CMM with a Laser Scanner?
Should you replace your big coordinate measurement machine with laser radar? Or should you just add a laser scanner with a CMM? A reader asks our expert.
The hard “coin,” could be used to make super-strength metal coatings or larger industrial components.
The "polymer of squares” could one day enable the use of plastic products many times over.
Blog: Automotive
Self-Heating Battery Addresses Key Barrier to Electric-Vehicle Adoption: Range Anxiety
If you're concerned that electric vehicles don't have the reliability to get you where you need to go, Penn State engineers are working on a battery for...
Blog: Photonics/Optics
A Squid-Like 'Muscle' Senses Light and Changes Shape
Inspired by the squid's color-changing chromatophore, Rutgers engineers set out to create an artificial one.
Blog: Materials
A New Way to Cure Adhesives on Demand? Magnets.
The non-contact method of curing leads to adhesives that can be activated on demand.
Blog: Transportation
CES 2021: How COVID-19 Turned the Car into a Personal 'Second Space'
In a roundtable presentation at the virtual CES 2021, panelists said the COVID-19 pandemic has changed driving patterns and consumer preferences – and that those shifts are here to stay.
Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Experts Weigh In: How Will a Robotic Future Impact Nature?
A survey of over 170 experts assessed the opportunities and challenges that drones, robots, and autonomous systems could have for urban nature and green spaces.
Blog: RF & Microwave Electronics
A Better Sensor Detects Ice Build-Up, In Real Time
The sensor is able to detect ice formation far before you can see it occurring on a surface.
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
A Spiraling Robotic Gripper 'Twines' Like a Plant
As engineering professor Mable Fok saw how the pole beans in her garden wrapped tightly around any objects nearby, she had an idea:
What if a robotic gripper could do the same...
Blog: RF & Microwave Electronics
Q&A: 'Smellicopter' Uses Live Moth Antenna to Seek Out Smells
UW doctoral student Melanie Anderson explains how to make an autonomous 'Smellicopter' to navigate toward smells.
Blog: Imaging
How to Choose an Optical Filter
Optical interference filters are critical to the overall performance of machine vision applications. So how do you select the right one?
Blog: Aerospace
Will Electric Aircraft Reach the Speeds of Commercial Jets?
An Israel-based company called Eviation is working on an all-electric aircraft known as "Alice." Will it match the speeds of a jet?
Blog: Semiconductors & ICs
With a 50-Million-Electron Jolt, Sensors Power Themselves
By jumpstarting electrons, a team at Washington University in St. Louis has developed sensors that can power themselves for more than a year.
Blog: Data Acquisition
Stanford Computer Model Predicts How COVID-19 Spreads in Cities
The model analyzes three factors that drive infection risk: where people go in the course of a day; how long they linger; and how many other people are visiting the same place at the same time.
Blog: Internet of Things
A Solar Alternative: How to Power Devices with Indoor Light
A new material is especially effective at absorbing indoor light and converting it into usable energy.
The RepelWrap inventors explain why their product is especially valuable as the world confronts a pandemic like COVID-19.
Blog: Motion Control
What Role Will Motors Play in Mars 2020 Missions?
The great tasks of retrieving samples and flying a helicopter on Mars requires a number of small parts — specifically motors and drives.
Blog: Energy
'Soil Fuel Cells' Support Water Treatment in Brazil
The soil microbial fuel cells produce energy to filter enough water for a person’s daily needs, with potential to increase scale.
Blog: Photonics/Optics
A Spider-Inspired Design Paves Way for Better Photodetectors
Purdue University innovators are taking cues from the spider to develop 3D photodetectors for biomedical imaging.
Blog: Design
Woodworking, Simplified: New Software Aids in Design
An interactive software being developed at the University of Tokyo allows architects and furniture makers with little experience in woodworking to to design and build structurally sound wood joints.
A reader asks, "For AV testing, what are the respective role of simulation, closed course, and public road testing?"
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
A Squid-Like Robot Swims, Untethered
A robot being tested at the University of California San Diego takes after an aquatic invertebrate that has a jet-like way moving through the water: The Squid.
Top Stories
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
A Former NASA Mission Manager Reflects on a 'Flawless' Mars Landing
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
A Robot Walks — No Electronics Needed
Videos: Photonics/Optics
'LaserFactory' Manufactures Fully Functional Devices & Drones
Videos: Motion Control
Watch NASA's Perseverance Rover Land on Mars
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
High-Speed Infrared Reveals Safer Hypergolic Propellant
INSIDER: Motion Control
Question of the Week
Do You See Applications for Electronics-Free Robots?
Webcasts
Upcoming Webinars: Materials
Ultra-High Purity Silicone in Aerospace and Defense Product Design
Webinars: Medical
Lunch & Learn: Pitfalls of Medical Cord Sets
Upcoming Webinars: Automotive
A Four-Pillar Approach to Driving Greater Efficiency ePowertrain...
Upcoming Webinars: Automotive
Confident TCU Connectivity Through Efficient Functional Testing
Upcoming Webinars: Transportation
7 Levers for Electric and Autonomous Vehicles
Upcoming Webinars: Information Technology
Trending Stories
Application Briefs: Software
Online Tools Reduce Time and Expense in Selecting, Configuring, and Ordering...
Articles: Communications
5G in Manufacturing: What’s Here and What’s to Come
Articles: RF & Microwave Electronics
2020 Create the Future Design Contest: Automotive/Transportation Category...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Capacitive Sensors for Measuring Masses of Cryogenic Fluids
Briefs: Green Design & Manufacturing
Bacteria-Based Hydrogel Beads Clean Up Contaminated Groundwater
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
