Tech Briefs

Loosely connected disc-shaped “particles” can push and pull one another, moving together to transport objects.

These stickers wirelessly beam health readings to a receiver clipped onto clothing.

A new method of estimating the optimal trailing aircraft position in a formation increases fuel savings.

These louvers provide passive thermal cooling for CubeSats.

This technology is a novel, rugged, and economic diagnostic and sensor platform technology.

This microrobot with soft actuators can crash, fall, and collide without being damaged.

An upgraded mini robot can leap over obstacles with ease.

A technology uses a combination of WiFi signals and accelerometer technology to track devices in near-real-time.

A synthetic skin enables robots to sense their own bodies and surroundings

Researchers have developed a self-contained wheel unit that combines a wheel and an electric motor.

The technology can be used in commercial motors, robotic systems, and hybrid and electric vehicles.

The algorithm speeds up the planning process that robots use to adjust their grip on objects.

The skin could help rehabilitation and enhance virtual reality by instantaneously adapting to a wearer's movements.

This system uses fiber optic strain sensing to detect and locate micrometeoroid/orbital debris.

Made with “Jenga chemistry,” the material could help in understanding how high-temperature superconductors work.

Radar technologies were originally designed to identify and track airborne military targets. Today, they're more often used to detect motor vehicles, weather formations,...

The reader uses a frequency multiplexer to boost its ability to accurately locate a greater number of RFID tags.

Researchers have developed a more efficient, more reliable potassium-oxygen battery with a cathode that stores the energy produced by a chemical reaction in a metal-oxygen or metal-air battery....

Current laser interferometry pressure pulse detection techniques use the shock-induced change in index of refraction to track detonation and/or shock fronts in a single fiber optic by reflecting laser...

Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a calorimeter that is able to measure the total heat generated when specific types of Lithium-ion (Li-ion) cells are...

This lightweight material brings strength and durability to complex shapes.

This packaging provides protection for SiC sensors and electronics in harsh, hightemperature environments.

This approach removes the limitation on peak power densities that exists for fiber lasers.

This hands-on, educational tool highlights the properties of SMA wire.

This retractable de-orbit device facilitates targeted re-entry, attitude and orbital control, and collision avoidance.

This technology provides simultaneous ohmic contacts and the process to make them.

The simulator could help in the development of new back braces.

This optical switch controls the direction of light passing through optical fibers faster and more efficiently.

A combination of additives shows promise for boosting battery performance in very cold or hot weather.