Software

Amateur Drone Videos Could Aid Natural Disaster Damage Assessment

By using artificial intelligence, researchers are developing a system that can automatically identify buildings after disasters and make an initial determination of whether they are damaged and how serious that damage might be.

Additive Manufacturing Model-Based Process Metrics

Inventors at the NASA Langley Research Center have developed a novel method to model and ingest point-wise process data to evaluate an additive manufacturing build and its file for issues by highlighting potential anomalies or other areas where the build may have issues with fusion of the material.

Generative AI Models Solve Multistep Robot Manipulation Problems

MIT researchers developed a machine-learning technique called Diffusion-CCSP. Diffusion models learn to generate new data samples that resemble samples in a training dataset by iteratively refining their output.

Circumferential Scissor Spring Enhances Precision in Hand Controllers

Innovators at NASA’s Johnson Space Center have designed a circumferential scissor spring mechanism, that when incorporated into a hand controller, improves the restorative force to a control stick’s neutral position. The design also provides for operation on a more linear portion of the spring’s force deflection curve, yielding better feedback to the user.

My Opinion: We Need Humans in the Loop

With all the chatter these days about AI, it’s important to really understand what it is and how to use it. A project at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is exploring how operators and an AI automated control system interact.

How Is Generative AI Transforming Engineering?

As generative AI continues to evolve, we are seeing many new applications emerge across industries. How much do you know about generative AI? Take this quiz to test your knowledge.

Brain-Inspired AI Code Library Notches Milestone

The open source code library — snnTorch — has surpassed 100,000 downloads and is used in a wide variety of projects, from NASA satellite tracking efforts to semiconductor companies optimizing chips for AI.

Using Kirigami to make Ultrastrong, Lightweight Structures

Using kirigami, the ancient Japanese art of folding and cutting paper, MIT researchers have now manufactured a type of high-performance architected material known as a plate lattice, on a much larger scale than scientists have previously been able to achieve by additive fabrication.

Executive Roundtable: Artificial Intelligence

What are the opportunities and risks AI offers in manufacturing? How can manufacturers successfully implement AI and prepare their workforce to integrate it into their processes? What’s its future outlook? Tech Briefs asked four industry experts in this roundtable.

Commercial Lunar Landers Ready for the Moon

Through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, NASA is working with several U.S. companies to accelerate a robotic return to the Moon. Test your knowledge about commercial lunar landers in this quiz.

How Webb Telescope Made Simulation Software Better

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope pushed optical modeling capabilities, driving advances in software used to design medical and augmented reality devices.

Reaching for the Moon: Astrobotic Peregrine Mission One

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic is at the precipice of groundbreaking historic opportunity with the launch of its Peregrine Mission One (PM1), which, if successful, will make it the first U.S. commercial spacecraft to land on the Moon.

4 Predictions for 2024: AI Set to Supercharge Robotic Automation

Software is a key component of automation, and with AI, software developers will be able to create more customized and optimized solutions for various tasks and challenges.

Digital Twins: The Next Steps

According to researchers, Interconnected Digital Twins will challenge existing understanding of value creation and capture. The discrete and composite twins will be integrated within and between manufacturing firms and other key stakeholders.

Artificial Intelligence: How Cloud Technology and AI Drive a More Productive Future

This new era of technology eases the twin challenges of capacity and complexity and offers more flexibility than ever for businesses to respond to a fast-changing world.

Top 10 Engineering Stories of 2023 on Tech Briefs

If you missed the most-popular engineering stories of 2023 on Tech Briefs, see the list below.

Beyond the Shadows: Engineering Solutions for Surviving the Lunar Night

Passive thermal control systems have been developed over years of research and product development and will serve as enabling technology for NASA’s VIPER and future missions.

‘Digital Winglets’ for Real-Time Flight Paths

Traffic-Aware Strategic Aircrew Requests (TASAR), developed by NASA, is a piece of software pilots and ground operations teams can use to find better routes in transit.

Securing Supply Chains with Quantum Computing

New research in quantum computing at Sandia National Laboratories is moving science closer to being able to overcome supply-chain challenges and restore global security during future periods of unrest.

Aerovy Mobility Develops Cloud Software to Support Electric Aircraft Infrastructure

Launched by Purdue University postgraduate students, Aerovy Mobility commercializes cloud-based software solutions to plan and operate infrastructure that charges electric aircraft with renewable energy.

Testing Real Driverless Cars in a Virtual Environment

Researchers at The Ohio State University have developed new software to aid in the development, evaluation, and demonstration of safer autonomous, or driverless, vehicles. Called the Vehicle-in-Virtual-Environment (VVE) method, it allows the testing of driverless cars in a perfectly safe environment.

Maximizing Flexibility in Distributed I/O and Valve Systems

The ability to mix modules and terminals together in the system means that machine builders can install I/O and valves in the physical locations and orientations that make most sense to the overall machine design.

New Products

See the new products, including new Vision hardware from Beckhoff; Renishaw’s new Central manufacturing connectivity and data platform; Weidmuller USA's new open operating system, u-OS; a Digital Valve Controller featuring the Device™ technology; and more.

New Technique Helps Robots Pack Objects into a Tight Space

Anyone who has ever tried to pack a family-sized amount of luggage into a sedan-sized trunk knows this is a hard problem. Robots struggle with dense packing tasks, too.

Vote for Tech Briefs’ 29th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards

These 12 products are the nominees for the 2020 Tech Briefs Readers’ Choice Product of the Year.

AI Yields ‘Athletically Intelligent’ Robotic Dog

Someday, when quakes, fires, and floods strike, the first responders might be packs of robotic rescue dogs rushing in to help stranded souls. These battery-powered quadrupeds would use...