Manufacturing & Prototyping

Consumer Product Manufacturing

Learn about the advancements impacting consumer product manufacturing. Find the latest applications that design engineers are using to meet their biggest challenges.

Stories

Articles: Internet of Things

How Virtual Twins Help Optimize Supply Chains

Unprecedented and unrelenting market turbulence has shown that the old ways of supply chain planning and manufacturing production are outdated and vulnerable to disruption.

Products: Design

Product of the Month

The new Indicators feature true absolute sensor technology that minimizes the chance of data loss.

Products: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Product of the Month

The new IRB 1010 robot from ABB (Cary, NC) offers electronics manufacturers the opportunity to increase their production of small wearable devices.

INSIDER: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Gripper Robot Can Grasp Objects from Very Fine to Large

The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM) announced that it has developed a gripper capable of all gripping movements, inspired by elephant trunks. It mimics how elephants...

Articles: Test & Measurement

Vote for Tech Briefs’ 28th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards

These 12 products are the nominees for the 2022 Tech Briefs Readers’ Choice Product of the Year.

Question of the Week: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Will We Use Our Clothes to Monitor Heartbeat?

A recent Tech Briefs story highlighted efforts by MIT Professor Yoel Fink and his team to create a fabric microphone. The computing material offers wearers the ability to someday monitor their heartbeat, as well the heartbeats of soon-to-be newborns.

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Micro-Supercapacitors Enable Fast Charging

Micro-supercapacitors could revolutionize the way we use batteries by increasing their lifespan and enabling extremely fast charging. Now, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have...

Briefs: Electronics & Computers

Electronic Textiles Made with Conductive Cellulose Thread

A research team developed a thread made of conductive cellulose that offers practical possibilities for electronic textiles. Sewing the electrically conductive cellulose threads into a...

Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Create the Future Design Contest: Success Story — Shaping the Future with 3D Printing

Behrokh Khoshnevis has always known that 3D printing would make its biggest impact on big structures. While most advances in additive manufacturing...

Briefs: Lighting

Composite Glass Produces Unbreakable Screens

Researchers have developed technology to produce next-generation composite glass for lighting LEDs and smartphone, television, and computer screens. The technology was a step forward in perovskite...

Briefs: Photonics/Optics

New Family of Glass for Lens Applications

A new composition of germanosili-cate glass created by adding zinc oxide has properties good for lens applications. The new family of zinc germanosilicate glass has a high refractive index comparable to...

Briefs: Power

Washable, Wearable Battery-Like Devices

Wearable electronic components incorporated directly into fabrics have been developed that could be used for flexible circuits, healthcare monitoring, energy conversion, and other applications. Graphene...

Articles: Materials

Create the Future Design Contest: Success Story — Reinventing Mobility

Rowheel, which was a winning technology at SAE’s Create the Future Design Contest in 2010, continues to roll forward.

Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition

With Functional Fibers, A Shirt Becomes a Valuable Microphone

The future of computing is in fabrics, says Prof, Yoel Fink from MIT.

Question of the Week: Electronics & Computers

Can 'Charging Rooms' Catch On?

One of the Tech Briefs highlighted in the second section of today’s INSIDER is a “charging room” from the University of Michigan and University of Tokyo that provides electricity over the air. The aluminum test area uses magnetic fields to deliver 50 watts and power-up devices, no matter their location within...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Smart Displays Show Information Through Fabric

The technology shines through fabrics to show notifications for email messages, time, weather, or other forms of basic information.

Question of the Week: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Would You Try ‘Intelligent’ Lawn Care?

Our lead story today featured “Best of Innovation” products at CES, including a smart irrigation system called “OtO Lawn.” The cloud-connected system only requires a hose and a Wi-Fi connection. A user goes into their phone and moves a joystick to determine zones requiring lawn care. The technology...