Visualization Software

VR Greenhouse: Digital Twins Allow Farmers to Walk the Fields from Anywhere

Engineers have developed a system that creates “digital twins” of real farms, allowing users to walk through fully interactive virtual spaces and observe actual plants in real time.

Harvard's BRIDGE Brings Video Analytics to Parasports

A Harvard-led research team developed BRIDGE, a simulation technology. The system is designed to give para-athletes and coaches access to video analysis resources that are commonplace in non-disabled sports but are rare in parasports.

Readers Select 2025 Products of the Year

Last December, Tech Briefs readers were asked to select one product from our 2025 Products of the Month to be named Readers’ Choice Product of the Year. Thanks to all of our readers who cast their votes. Read on for the three 2025 winners.

AI-Powered Vision System Helps Drones Navigate Safely

The skies are getting crowded. Every day, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration manages tens of thousands of flights — from drones and helicopters to commercial jets. As air traffic...

New Imaging Technique Reconstructs the Shapes of Hidden Objects

A new imaging technique developed by MIT researchers could enable quality-control robots in a warehouse to peer through a cardboard shipping box and see that the handle of a...

Camera Inspired by the Human Eye Can Improve How Robots See, React

A team led by University of Maryland computer scientists invented a camera mechanism that improves how robots see and react to the world around them. Inspired by how the human eye works, their innovative camera system mimics the tiny involuntary movements used by the eye to maintain clear and stable vision over time. Read on to learn more.

Designing the Next Generation of Event-Based Sensing and Vision for Edge Applications

Event-based sensing enables new approaches to machine learning. An object recognition or detection algorithm that, until now, could only use the spatial information from a frame can now access another dimension: time. Read on to learn more.

Seeing Like a Butterfly: Optical Invention Enhances Camera Capabilities

Butterflies can see more of the world than humans, including more colors and the field oscillation direction, or polarization, of light. Other species, like the mantis shrimp, can sense an even wider spectrum of light, as well as the circular polarization, or spinning states, of light waves. Inspired by these abilities in the animal kingdom, researchers have developed an ultrathin optical element known as a metasurface, which can attach to a conventional camera and encode the spectral and polarization data of images captured in a snapshot or video through tiny, antenna-like nano-structures that tailor light properties.

New Technology Uses Light to Engrave Erasable 3D Images

Imagine if physicians could capture 3D projections of medical scans, suspending them inside an acrylic cube to create a hand-held reproduction of a patient’s heart, brain, kidneys, or other organs. Then, when the visit is done, a quick blast of heat erases the projection, and the cube is ready for the next scan. A new report by researchers at Dartmouth and Southern Methodist University outlines a technical breakthrough that could enable such scenarios, and others, with widespread utility. Read on to learn more.

A Powerful Vision-Based Autonomy Alternative to LiDAR, Radar, GPS

Southwest Research Institute has developed off-road autonomous driving tools with a focus on stealth for the military and agility for space and agriculture clients. The vision-based system pairs stereo cameras with novel algorithms, eliminating the need for LiDAR and active sensors. Read on to learn more.

Researchers Develop New and Improved Camera Inspired by the Human Eye

The camera mimics the involuntary movements of the human eye to create sharper, more accurate images for robots, smartphones, and other image-capturing devices. Read on to learn more about it.

Bird-Eye-Inspired Camera Developed for Enhanced Object Detection

This innovative camera technology represents a significant advance in object detection, offering numerous potential applications across various industries. Read on to learn more.

Convolutional Neural Networks Enable Nighttime Imaging

Increasing regulatory concentration on improving the protection of vulnerable road users (VRUs) against vehicle collisions at night has led to new evaluations of proven imaging modalities that might quickly, effectively, and economically identify VRUs and measure their positions relative to moving vehicles.

Optical Invention Mirrors the Image Processing Power of a Human Eye

Mimicking the easy, instantaneous image processing power of the human eye, Penn State electrical engineering researchers created a metasurface, an optical element akin to a glass slide that uses tiny nanostructures, placed at different angles to control light.

Training a Quadrotor Drone to Cope with Collisions

Advanced technology plays a vital role in search and rescue operations after natural disasters such as earthquakes. Thermal imaging equipment and sensitive listening devices are deployed to seek out signs of life.

Physics-Aware Neural Networks Improve Camera-Based Machines

Researchers from UCLA and the United States Army Research Laboratory have laid out a new approach for enhancing artificial intelligence-powered computer vision technologies by...

Hyperspectral Imaging: Making Rich Colors More Visible

Spectral measurement is thus the basis of remote sensing, allowing for highly accurate material analysis and image recognition.

Vision Sensing is Becoming More Accessible

Vision sensing systems are needed to improve operations in many industrial applications, where they can be arranged to detect the presence, position, and other characteristics of objects and products.

Crack Image Quality Indicator

Engineers have developed a modeling and manufacturing technique that generates unique verification tools which simulate cracks in metals within X-ray setup part-testing geometries.

Lunar Lens: First Compact Flat Metalens Images Moon Surface

Using a new fabrication method, researchers developed a single-lens telescope and captured clear images of the lunar surface — achieving greater resolution of objects and much farther imaging distance than previous metalenses.

Artificial Intelligence in Design Engineering

In the age of industry digital transformation, visual data has received minimal focus yet can have significant impacts on a company's success.

Nanoimaging of Perovskite Solar Cell Materials

Scientists have developed a new characterization tool that allowed them to gain unique insight into a possible alternative material for solar cells.

Compact MEMS-Based NIR Spectroscopy for Mobile Applications

This measurement technique is particularly useful for, but not limited to, samples containing organic compounds.

James Webb Space Telescope Enters New Era of Universal Infrared Imaging in Cycle 1

It began full scientific operations July 11, following six months of instrumentation cool-down, calibration, and other commissioning activities.

AI that Mimics the Human Eye

Researchers at University of Central Florida have developed an artificial intelligence device that mimics the retina of the eye.