Robotics, Automation & Control

Automation

Access your resource for innovative automation technologies and applications. Find technical briefs and applications that play an essential role in today's age of automation in industrial manufacturing and medical industries.

Stories

Question of the Week: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Are soft machines an important technology for the future?

Soft machines — a subcategory of robotics that uses deformable materials instead of rigid links — are an emerging technology commonly used in wearable robotics and biomimetics (e.g., prosthetic limbs).

INSIDER: Medical

Joystick-Operated Robot Could Help Surgeons Treat Stroke Remotely

MIT engineers have developed a telerobotic system to help surgeons quickly and remotely treat patients experiencing a stroke or aneurysm. With a modified joystick, surgeons...

INSIDER: Design

Kirigami Robotic Grippers Are Delicate Enough to Lift Egg Yolks

Engineering researchers from North Carolina State University have demonstrated a new type of flexible, robotic grippers that are able to lift delicate egg yolks without...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Engineers Bring a Soft Touch to Commercial Robotics

Inspired by the natural dexterity of the human hand, a team of engineers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has created a reconfigurable hybrid robotics system that is able to...

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

Robot Performs Soft Tissue Surgery with Minimal Human Help

What if your next surgery was planned and performed by a robot? A team at Johns Hopkins University is working to turn this idea into reality.

Products: Photonics/Optics

New on the Market: May 2022

Dual Locking C14 IEC Connector The SG03DC from MEGA Electronics, New Brunswick, NJ, contains side locking tabs similar to the Raritan Securelock. It will mate with any standard nonlocking C13 Outlet along with...

Technology Leaders: Photonics/Optics

Ensuring Optical Fiber Alignment

Most optical networks have many fiber couplings and even minor losses at these junctions will produce significant signal losses that cause problems in data transmission. Precise fiber alignment at the optical...

Special Reports: Unmanned Systems

RF & Microwave Electronics - May 2022

In this compendium of recent articles from the editors of Aerospace & Defense Technology and Tech Briefs, read about how advances in RF electronics are enabling new applications in avionics systems,...

INSIDER: Design

Machine Intelligence to Build Soft Machines

Soft machines — a subcategory of robotics that uses deformable materials instead of rigid links — are an emerging technology commonly used in wearable robotics and biomimetics (e.g.,...

Question of the Week: Aerospace

Are You Excited for the Next Moon Missions?

A recent episode of our Here’s an Idea podcast series highlighted the work of Lunar Station Corporation – a Massachusetts-based company that aims to provide the next generation of Moon explorers with the data they need for landing and resource detection.

Podcasts: Aerospace

How to Make the Best Decisions (on the Moon)

The private sector is heading to the Moon – Blair DeWitt and his team at Lunar Station Corp. want to provide the next generation of explorers with answers to their biggest navigation questions.

Special Reports: Robotics, Automation & Control

Aerospace & Defense Sensing - April 2022

Designing the connected battlespace of the future...mobile robots that detect and alert soldiers to dangers in real time...'electronic skin' sensors capable of mimicking the dynamic process of human...

Special Reports: Sensors/Data Acquisition

Medical Robotics - April 2022

Novel biosensors set to revolutionize brain-controlled robotics...micro-robots propelled by air bubbles...a smart artificial hand...major advances in exoskeleton technology. These are just a few of the medical...

Products: Motion Control

New Products

Modular robot platforms, automated crane systems, motion smoothing, and more.

Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition

EV vs. ICE: How Does Wire Harness Design Differ?

The wire harness is changing as vehicles become “computers on wheels.” A reader asks how electrification impacts the wiring harness.

Special Reports: Motion Control

Unmanned Systems - March 2022

Powering better battlefield drones...autonomous quadcopters that fly aerobatic maneuvers...a breakthrough in compact UAV satellite communications technology. Read about these and other advances in air, ground, and...

Facility Focus: Energy

Facility Focus: University of Michigan College of Engineering

Michigan engineers and collaborators are improving smart infrastructure, autonomous transportation, weather prediction, nuclear non-proliferation, and more.

INSIDER: Medical

New Photonic Effect Could Speed Drug Development

Twisted nanoscale semiconductors manipulate light in a new way. This effect could be harnessed to accelerate the discovery and development of life-saving medicines as well as photonic...

Products: Test & Measurement

New Products

Test servo drives, robot monitors, AC motors, and more

Briefs: Motion Control

Mobile Molecular Robots Swim in Water

Synthesized micro-robots can convert their mechanical motion into a means of self-propulsion in water.

Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control

SPIE Photonics West 2022 Returning to 'Normal'

Editor Bruce A. Bennett reports from SPIE Photonics West 2022 in San Francisco.

Briefs: Software

Swimming Living Robots Can Self-Train

Biobots based on muscle cells can swim at unprecedented velocities.

Briefs: Mechanical & Fluid Systems

Calibration System for Automated Fiber Placement

The system creates accurate defect standards for in-situ inspection systems.

INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control

LEONARDO, a Bipedal Robot, Can Ride a Skateboard and Walk a Slackline

Researchers at Caltech have built a bipedal robot that combines walking with flying to create a new type of locomotion, making it exceptionally nimble and capable of...