Stories

Knowing the Right Trigger Strategy Ensures Capture of High-Speed Application With Precision

In the field of technical imaging, the term “trigger” is often used synonymously with the term frame-synchronization (or f-sync) signal. In the...

Tying Overlapping Laser Beams into Stable 'Optical Knots'

A beam of light doesn’t sound like a material that can create a knot. Until now.

This Tiny Robot Could Save Your Life One Day

A tiny, soft, flexible robot that can crawl through earthquake rubble or travel inside the human body may seem like science fiction, but a team is pioneering such adaptable robots by integrating flexible electronics with magnetically controlled motion.

Tiny, Soft Robot Flexes Its Potential as a Life Saver

A tiny, soft, flexible robot that can crawl through earthquake rubble to find trapped victims or travel inside the human body to deliver medicine may seem like science fiction, but an...

Engineering a Robot That Can Jump 10 Feet High — Without Legs

Inspired by the movements of a tiny parasitic worm, Georgia Tech engineers have created a 5-inch soft robot that can jump as high as a basketball hoop. Their device, a silicone...

RoboBee Comes in for a Landing

The Harvard RoboBee has long shown it can fly, dive, and hover like a real insect. But what good is the miracle of flight without a safe way to land? A storied engineering achievement by the Harvard...

A Better Magnetoreceptive E-Skin

A research team has developed an electronic skin that detects and precisely tracks magnetic fields with a single global sensor. Read on to learn more.

My Opinion: Sometimes, When Competitors Collaborate, Everybody Wins

How can competitors both win when working together? Read on to find out SAE Media Group's Ed Brown's opinion on the matter.

Hopping Robots to Traverse Challenging Terrain

The hopping robot, which is smaller than a human thumb and weighs less than a paperclip, has a springy leg that propels it off the ground and four flapping-wing modules that give it lift and control its orientation.

How Much Do You Know About Electrical Equipment in Hazardous Locations?

This is critically important knowledge for all engineers and designers. How much do you know about electrical equipment in hazardous locations? Test your knowledge with this quiz.

Electronics-Free Robots Straight from the 3D Printer

Imagine a robot that can walk, without electronics, and only with the addition of a cartridge of compressed gas, right off the 3D-printer. It can also be printed in one go, from one material. That is exactly what roboticists have achieved in robots developed at the University of California San Diego.

How Much Do You Know About Electromagnetic Interference?

Electromagnetic interference (EMI) is when an external source disrupts an electrical device's operation. EMI, which can be caused by natural or man-made sources, can be used intentionally for radio jamming. How much do you know about EMI? Find out with this quiz.

A New Model that Addresses the ‘Outfielder Problem’

The work addresses the outfielder problem, which refers to the baseball player who stands in the outfield to catch the ball after it is hit. It is a classic challenge in physics and the neuroscience of movement, used to explore how humans and animals predict movements in a dynamic environment and how automated systems can be designed to mimic them.

What Are Smart Glasses?

Smart glasses are wearable devices that integrate computer technology into eyeglasses. These glasses work by projecting digital images onto the user’s field of vision. Test your knowledge about smart glasses.

A Bionic Hand that Can Grip Like a Human

Johns Hopkins University engineers have developed a pioneering prosthetic hand that can grip plush toys, water bottles, and other everyday objects like a human, carefully conforming and adjusting its grasp to avoid damaging or mishandling whatever it holds.

A Lighter, Smarter Magnetoreceptive Electronic Skin

Imagine navigating a virtual reality with contact lenses or operating your smartphone under water — this and more could soon be a reality thanks to innovative e-skins. A research team...

New Atom-Based Thermometer Measures Temperature More Accurately

Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a new thermometer using atoms boosted to such high energy levels that they are a thousand...

Advancing Semiconductor Devices for Artificial Intelligence

Researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have demonstrated that a single, standard silicon transistor, the fundamental building block of microchips used in...

New Wearable Tech Simulates Realistic Touch

When it comes to haptic feedback, most technologies are limited to simple vibrations. But our skin is loaded with tiny sensors that detect pressure, vibration, stretching, and more. Now,...

How MXenes Can Improve Air Filtration

An interdisciplinary team of researchers has introduced a new way to improve textile-based filters by coating them with a type of two-dimensional nanomaterial called MXene.

Maintaining Quantum Characteristics, Even in 3D Materials

An international team has developed a novel approach to maintain special quantum characteristics, even in 3D materials.

How Much Do You Know About Unattended Testing?

If we can remove clear indications that someone is being monitored, we are far more likely to get the information we seek. This is the basis for unattended testing, which is about as common as laboratory testing itself. So, how much do you know about unattended testing? Find out with this quiz.

A Neuromorphic Exposure Control System to Revolutionize Machine Vision in Extreme Lighting Environments

A research team has recently developed a neuromorphic exposure control system that revolutionizes machine vision under extreme lighting variations.

A Robust and Adaptive Controller for Ballbots

A Ballbot is a unique kind of robot with great mobility, which possesses the ability to go in all directions. Obviously, controlling such a robotic device must be tricky. Indeed, ballbot systems...

New Research Sheds Light on Using Multiple CubeSats for In-Space Servicing and Repair Missions

As more satellites, telescopes, and other spacecraft are built to be repairable, it will take reliable trajectories for service spacecraft to...

Exploring Earth Science with a New Navigational System

NASA and its partners recently tested an aircraft guidance system that could help planes maintain a precise course even while flying at high speeds up to 500 mph. The instrument is...

MIT Engineers Develop a Fully 3D-Printed Electrospray Engine

An electrospray engine applies an electric field to a conductive liquid, generating a high-speed jet of tiny droplets that can propel a spacecraft. These miniature engines are...

Artificial Muscles Could Lead to Soft, Wiggly Robots

A team has developed a method to grow artificial muscle tissue that twitches and flexes in multiple coordinated directions. As a demonstration, they grew an artificial, muscle-powered structure that pulls both concentrically and radially.

This AI Can Tell You Your Food’s Nutritional Value

An AI system developed by NYU Tandon School of Engineering researchers promises a new tool for the millions of people who want to manage their weight, diabetes, and other diet-related health conditions.