Materials & Manufacturing

Manufacturing & Prototyping

Explore innovations supporting advances in manufacturing and rapid prototyping. Access the developments and solutions that have an impact on applications in 3D printing and automation.

Stories

Products: Sensors/Data Acquisition

New Products

Positioning devices, vibration transmitters, brushless DC motors, and more.

Briefs: Motion Control

Flexible Feet Help Robots Walk Faster

This technology can help robots walk up to 40 percent faster on uneven terrain such as pebbles and wood chips.

Articles: Energy

Wiegand Wire: Energy Harvesting and More

With the emergence of a new generation of ultra-efficient electronic chips, the Wiegand technology is showing significant promise, especially in the exciting area of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT).

Question of the Week: Aerospace

Will Morphing Wings Take Off?

Our lead INSIDER story today showcased a morphing MADCAT aircraft wing. “From a first glance, it literally doesn’t look like anything that anyone’s ever seen before,” said MIT researcher Ben Jennet in our Here's an Idea episode. How about you? Will Morphing Wings Take Off?

Podcasts: Aerospace

A Morphing Airplane Wing Built by Tiny Robots

Ben Jennet is a PhD student at MIT and a former space research fellow at NASA. He is working with NASA to develop a new kind of aircraft wing that's flexible and changes mid-flight.

Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Even NASA Needs Effective Parts Sourcing

You can design the best product in the world but what if the parts, assemblies, and sub-components for your idea aren’t there?

Special Reports: Transportation

Vehicle Electrification - July 2020

The global transition to electric vehicles presents new design, manufacturing, and infrastructure challenges. To help you keep pace with the rapid changes in vehicle electrification technology, we present...

Products: Test & Measurement

New on the Market: July 2020

Photoelectric sensors, cable connectors, power monitors, and USB3 cameras.

Articles: Electronics & Computers

5 Important ESD Protection Considerations for Augmented Reality Wearables

How to design for safety, reliability, and connectivity using the latest circuit protection technologies and board layout strategies.

Briefs: Energy

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: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Biohybrid Can Turn Carbon Dioxide into New Products

Applications exist both on Mars and on Earth.

Briefs: AR/AI

System Reduces the Carbon Footprint of Artificial Intelligence

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

Articles: Semiconductors & ICs

Products of Tomorrow

NASA's Dry Goods Delivery System, a lung-heart sensor on a chip, and more.

Facility Focus: Robotics, Automation & Control

Facility Focus: National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

NIBIB is committed to integrating the physical and engineering sciences with the life sciences to advance basic research and medical care.

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: Manufacturing & Prototyping

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.

5 Ws: Manufacturing & Prototyping

5 Ws Of LEDs for 3D Metal Printing

In the operating room, you can produce bioresorbable metal implants, such as screws for bone fractures.

Briefs: Aerospace

Fabrication of Multilayer Ferritin Arrays

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

Application Briefs: Photonics/Optics

Beyond LPW: Debunking the Myth that More is Better

There’s been a race to the top among industrial LED lighting manufacturers as they scramble to squeeze the maximum possible lumens per watt (LPW) out of their products.

Question of the Week: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Do You See Yourself Someday Printing in 4D?

You’ve heard about 3D printing, but what about 4D? A Tech Briefs TV video this week showcased how Rice University researchers’ new way of making shape-shifting materials. The “4D-printed” objects can be manipulated to take on alternate forms when exposed to changes in temperature, stress, or...

Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Coffee Grounds Put a Pep in the Step of Flexible Robotic Feet

Traditional robotic feet are made of rigid components. A team of engineers at UCSD turned to coffee grounds to make legged robots more flexible and able to walk on a variety of rough terrain.

Question of the Week: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Will More Manufacturers Go With Metal 3D Printing?

Our most recent issue of Tech Briefs featured a roundtable discussion about the future of 3D printing. The industry pros, including Stratsys Direct Manufacturing CEO Kent Firestone, spoke about how metal additive manufacturing has yet to catch on, due to cost constraints and build limitations. That...