Stories
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Products: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Bearing Sensor
ABB (Zurich, Switzerland) introduced the ABB Ability™ smart sensor that enables health checks for bearings. The smart sensor technology provides an early indicator of potential problems by assessing the condition...
Briefs: Materials
Making electric cars lighter also involves reducing the weight of the motor. One way to do that is by constructing it from fiber-reinforced polymer materials. A new cooling concept was...
Application Briefs: Test & Measurement
In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii Island is surrounded by thousands of miles of thermally stable seas. The 13,796-foot Maunakea mountain summit has no nearby ranges to roil the upper...
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
When choosing a gas spring for a particular application, it’s imperative to have a basic understanding of the workings and terminology used when specifying gas springs. This article offers...
Briefs: Automotive
By mixing carbon fibers into polymer-based brakes, researchers designed brakes that are self-lubricating. These new and improved brakes can prevent wear-and-tear and have better frictional...
Briefs: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Researchers, drawing inspiration from bacteria, have designed smart, bio-compatible microrobots that are highly flexible. Because these devices are able to swim through fluids and modify their shape when...
Briefs: Nanotechnology
Fast-response, stiffness-tunable (FRST) soft actuators — or movable machine elements — were developed that could be used in soft robots.
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Linear permanent magnet brakes, also known as eddy current brakes, are a failsafe, power-free deceleration system that is used in conjunction with a metal reaction plate. Ceramic or rare earth magnets are bonded...
Articles: Transportation
Smarter, better, faster, less expensive — those words are the mantra of today’s global economy. As organizations seek to streamline operations and do more with less, they...
Briefs: Electronics & Computers
Mechanical systems such as engines and motors rely on two principal types of motions of stiff components: linear motion, which involves an object moving from one point to another in a straight line,...
INSIDER: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Vehicles could be affordably produced for a wide variety of specialized purposes using a self-contained wheel unit that combines a wheel and an electric motor with braking, suspension, steering,...
INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Robots using a system of RFID tags can locate tagged objects within 7.5 milliseconds on average with an error of less than a centimeter. TurboTrack could replace computer vision for some...
Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
The wearable is fireproof, thanks to a carbon aerogel nanocomposite material.
Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Computer-Controlled Exercise Equipment
While a wide variety of computer-controlled exercise machines for training and rehabilitation exist — some of which can be automatically adjusted to vary resistance or incline — such systems provide for preprogrammed changes in load or resistance. What is needed is a system that overcomes the limitations...
Articles: Sensors/Data Acquisition
This column presents technologies that have applications in commercial areas, possibly creating the products of tomorrow. To learn more about each technology, see the contact information provided for that innovation.
Technology Leaders: Materials
One of the first things an electrical engineer will learn is that the number-one enemy of designing and manufacturing any electrical/electronic product is heat. It's the one...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Controller and Datalogger
Watlow, St. Louis, MO, introduced a batch processing feature for the F4T temperature and process controller and D4T datalogger. The new feature helps collect manufacturing part processing...
Briefs: Software
Precision Low-Speed Motor Controller
Innovators at NASA Johnson Space Center have developed a method for controlling precise motion of a brushless DC (BLDC) motor using relatively inexpensive components. Precision motors are usually quite expensive and inefficient when operating at slow speeds. Current motors are only capable of operating at...
INSIDER: Software
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists have created open source software that scales up analysis of motor designs to run on the fastest computers available.
INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Ants are able to use polarized light and ultraviolet radiation to locate themselves in space. AntBot mimics this ability to explore its environment randomly and go home automatically, without GPS or mapping.
Blog: Aerospace
Even a shape-morphing plane is possible, says Harvard's Ehsan Hajiesmaili.
Briefs: Motion Control
For patients missing a hand, one of the biggest challenges to regaining a high level of function is the inability to rotate one's wrist (pronate and supinate). These are essential movements...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Hundreds of small robots can work in a team to create biology-inspired shapes without an underlying master plan, purely based on local communication and movement. To achieve this, the biological principles...
Articles: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Integrating lead screws with stepper motors is a simple and cost-effective method for getting precise linear motion. But achieving that precision requires anti-rotational...
Application Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems
Robots are helping a European airplane manufacturer cut into an eight-year backlog of orders for one of its most popular aircraft.
Articles: Transportation
Different types of motion encountered in dynamic environments require designers to specify connectors for boards, wiring, and devices that can meet significant g-forces,...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Motor Control Integrated Circuit
Microsemi Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Microchip Technology (Aliso Viejo, CA), announced the LX7720 radiation-tolerant motor control integrated circuit that works with a field programmable...
Briefs: Aerospace
A novel foot-pedal-operated system and device were developed to control translational and rotational movement of an object in three-dimensional (3D) space. The Foot Pedal Controller system enables operators to control...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Jet engines can have up to 25,000 individual parts, making regular maintenance a tedious task that can take more than a month per engine. Many components are located deep inside...
Top Stories
Blog: Design
Aerial Microrobots That Can Match a Bumblebee's Speed
Blog: Semiconductors & ICs
Revolutionizing the Production of Semiconductor Chips
News: Power
INSIDER: Unmanned Systems
World’s Smallest Programmable, Autonomous Robots
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
Tech Briefs Wrapped 2025: Top 10 Technology Stories
INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Webcasts
On-Demand Webinars: Power
Powering America’s EV Future: Connect, Collaborate, Innovate
Upcoming Webinars: Robotics, Automation & Control
Next-Generation Linear and Rotary Stages: When Ultra Precision...
Upcoming Webinars: Power
E/E Architecture Redefined: Building Smarter, Safer, and Scalable...
Upcoming Webinars: Energy
Hydrogen Engines Are Heating Up for Heavy Duty
Upcoming Webinars: Semiconductors & ICs
Advantages of Smart Power Distribution Unit Design for Automotive...
Upcoming Webinars: Automotive
Quiet, Please: NVH Improvement Opportunities in the Early Design...
