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Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
Farmers in Europe are increasingly turning to robotic weeders. A specialist from University of California, Davis tested out the technologies.
INSIDER: Robotics, Automation & Control
Cornell University engineers have been experimenting with a new type of programming that mimics the mind of an insect.
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Evolving and Controlling Behaviors in a Computation-Free Robot Swarm
Flocks of birds, schools of fish, and colonies of ants exhibit a remarkable robustness and resilience, despite the limited capabilities of each individual. Recently, research into bio-inspired swarm robotics has been gaining popularity due to the low-cost, robust, redundant, and...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A fundamental advance in controlling soft robots involves using magnetic fields to remotely manipulate microparticle chains embedded in soft robotic devices. Several devices have been developed that...
Articles: Motion Control
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.
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
System Enables Robots to Understand Contextual Commands
Today’s robots can accomplish many repetitive tasks, but their inability to understand the nuances of human language makes them mostly useless for more complicated requests. For example, if a specific tool is placed in a toolbox and a robot is asked to “pick it up,” it would be...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Engineers have fabricated transparent, gel-based robots that move when water is pumped in and out of them. They are made entirely of hydrogel — a tough, rubbery, nearly...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
A software system was developed that helps robots more effectively act on spoken instructions — no matter how abstract or specific those instructions may be — from people who by...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
To date, it has been difficult or impossible for most robotic and prosthetic hands to accurately sense the vibrations and shear forces that occur, for example, when a finger is sliding along a tabletop, or...
INSIDER: Materials
A vortex in the atmosphere can churn with enough power to create a typhoon. But more subtle vortices form constantly in nature. Many of them are too small to be seen with the naked eye....
INSIDER: Motion Control
One technology uses magnetic fields to generate mechanical work. The other enhances the magnetic properties of 3D-printed materials. Combined, they could lead to efficient, economical production of magnetic...
Articles: Robotics, Automation & Control
A team of engineers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign built a new kind of crawler robot. The wheel-less design takes inspiration from two unconventional sources: origami...
Briefs: Motion Control
The James Webb Space Telescope will be the most powerful space telescope ever built. With a 21-foot diameter, the telescope’s primary mirror is six times larger than the one used by the...
Briefs: Motion Control
Origami has once again inspired engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Besides aesthetic beauty, the Japanese tradition of paper-folding addresses a persistent problem faced...
Products: Electronics & Computers
Corrosion-Resistant Valve
GF Piping Systems (Irvine, CA) introduced a corrosion-resistant pneumatic diaphragm valve for highly corrosive dosing and open/close applications. The Type 604/605 pneumatically actuated dosing valve is...
Briefs: Motion Control
Scientists at Disney Research have developed a modular, reconfigurable legged robot named Snapbot that can move forward, interact with its environment, and perform other tasks based on a number of...
Briefs: Motion Control
An engineering team at the University of California San Diego has designed and built a gripper that can pick up and manipulate objects without needing to see them and without being...
Application Briefs: Motion Control
The launch, landing, and overall mission of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is arguably one of the most daring — and successful — space exploration endeavors ever...
Articles: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Proper filtration plays an important role in ensuring that hydraulic systems operate trouble-free. High-performance filters maintain the cleanliness of the hydraulic fluid over its entire service life. In...
Application Briefs: Motion Control
Deciding between a gantry and a robot for your application isn’t always as clear-cut as it may seem. To automate a simple, yet time-consuming and potentially dangerous task in...
Briefs: Motion Control
Researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) have created the first functional robot powered entirely by vacuum. It is made of soft building blocks that move by having air sucked out...
Facility Focus: Robotics, Automation & Control
The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, WA, has been operated by Battelle and its predecessors since the lab’s inception in 1965. For more than 50...
Articles: Transportation
The Create the Future Design Contest has helped stimulate and reward engineering innovation over the past 16 years, drawing more than 14,000 product designs from engineers, students, and...
INSIDER: Sensors/Data Acquisition
Researchers from Florida State University developed a class of motion sensors made using buckypaper. The new technology is versatile, and the sensors are affordable to print.
INSIDER: Motion Control
Scientists at the University of Exeter have discovered a technique to transform ambient heat into motion in nanoscale devices. This thermal ratchet is made from a material known as “artificial spin...
INSIDER: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Using a commercial printer and some silver ink, researchers from Florida State University have found a novel way of producing motion sensors en masse. The low-profile...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
Robots in production lines work with micrometer precision, unless a component fails. If, for example, the linear actuator used to precisely position a car body in front of an...
Articles: Automotive
2017 Create the Future Design Contest Special Awards Section
The Create the Future Design Contest was launched 16 years ago by Tech Briefs Media Group (publishers of Tech Briefs magazine) to help stimulate and reward engineering innovation. Since then, the annual contest has drawn more than 14,000 product design ideas from engineers, students, and...
Briefs: Robotics, Automation & Control
An industrial-class excavator was developed for use on the Moon and perhaps on Mars. The model mobility platform uses Ackerman Steering with active drives on all six wheels,...
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Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
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Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
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INSIDER: Imaging
A New Tool for Measuring Femtosecond Lasers
Articles: Aerospace
Countering the New Threat from the Sky: Advanced IR Imaging Zoom Lenses...
Webcasts
Upcoming Webinars: Motion Control
Next-Generation Linear and Rotary Stages: When Ultra Precision...
Upcoming Webinars: Power
Hydrogen Engines Are Heating Up for Heavy Duty
On-Demand Webinars: AR/AI
The Real Impact of AR and AI in the Industrial Equipment Industry
Podcasts: Medical
How Wearables Are Enhancing Smart Drug Delivery
Podcasts: Energy
SAE Automotive Podcast: Solid-State Batteries
Podcasts: Test & Measurement
