Tech Briefs

Briefs: Motion Control

Planetary Exploration Rover Avoids Sand Traps with “Rear Rotator Pedaling”

Complex locomotion techniques enable the rover to climb hills covered with soft granular material.

Briefs: Materials

4D Printing of Morphing Structures

A new method manufactures complex shapeshifters for soft robots and biomedical implants.

Briefs: Medical

New High-Speed Microscope Can Capture Brain Neuroactivity

A research team has built a super-high-speed microscope.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Low-Cost Imaging System Poised to Provide Automatic Mosquito Tracking

A new low-cost imaging system could make it easier to track mosquito species that carry disease, enabling a more timely and targeted response.

Briefs: Communications

Photonic Microwave Generation Using On-Chip Optical Frequency Combs

Using integrated photonic chips fabricated at EPFL, scientists have demonstrated laser-based microwave generators.

Briefs: Materials

Unlocking the Gate to the Millisecond CT

A new CT scan method using intense synchrotron radiation produces higher quality images within milliseconds.

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

A Combined Optical Transmitter and Receiver

Researchers at Linköping University, together with colleagues in China, have developed a tiny unit that is both an optical transmitter and a receiver.

Briefs: Semiconductors & ICs

Quantum Computing at Room Temperature

Quantum computer circuits that will no longer need extremely cold temperatures to function could become a reality.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Fabrication of Multilayer Ferritin Arrays

This method creates a thin-film electrode for a bio-nanobattery.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Semiconductors Can Behave Like Metals and Superconductors

This work potentially opens the door to advances like more energy-efficient electronic devices.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Electrohydraulically Actuated Valve Train

The new technology demonstrates a 20 percent savings in fuel in typical passenger car low-load operating conditions.

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Soft Prosthetic Hand Feels Surroundings via Stretchable Optical Waveguides

Sensors in the hand can actually detect forces being transmitted through the thickness of the robot.

Briefs: Software

Machine-Learning Tool for Developing Tougher Materials

This rapid screening system tests fracture resistance in billions of potential materials.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Hardware Reduces Energy Draw of Artificial Intelligence

A quantum material could offset energy demand of artificial intelligence.

Briefs: Materials

Multi-Polymer Filament Increases Production from Low-Cost Printers

The new filament allows low-cost printers to produce parts with mechanical properties competitive with injection molded plastics.

Briefs: Energy

SMART Solar Sail

The miniaturized, autonomous, reconfigurable solar sail is capable of very fine maneuvering by small surface deformation.

Briefs: Test & Measurement

Machine Learning Enables Rapid Rocket Engine Design

This method provides a fast way to assess rocket engine performance in a variety of operating conditions.

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Robot Automates Blood Drawing and Testing

The device provides quick results and gives healthcare workers more time to treat patients in hospitals and other settings.

Briefs: Energy

Wearable Cooling and Heating Patch

The patch could serve as a personal thermostat and save energy.

Briefs: Software

Elimination of Mission Clock Drift Contribution to Attitude and Celestial Pointing Error in the MSL Surface Mission

This potentially eliminates the need for future re-synchronizations.

Briefs: Energy

System Reduces the Carbon Footprint of Artificial Intelligence

An automated system cuts the energy required for training and running neural networks.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Biohybrid Can Turn Carbon Dioxide into New Products

Applications exist both on Mars and on Earth.

Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control

Autonomous Boats Automatically Target and Clasp Onto Each Other

A fleet of “roboats” could transport people, collect trash, and self-assemble into floating structures.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Super-Fast Method for Ceramic Manufacturing

Scientists have reinvented a 26,000-year-old manufacturing process into an innovative approach to fabricating ceramic materials widely used in batteries, electronics, and extreme environments....

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Sodium-Ion Batteries

These can replace rechargeable lithium-ion batteries commonly used in robotics, power tools, and grid-scale energy storage.

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Single-Atom Transistors

Linking multiple copies of these devices may lay the foundation for quantum computing.

Briefs: Transportation

Nature-Inspired Green Energy Technology

A new design enables artificial photosynthesis to generate fuel that can power homes and vehicles.