Sensors & Test

5Ws of the Smart Yard Robot

A smart modular yardwork robot that can blow leaves and plow snow as well as achieve reductions in carbon emissions at the same time.

Products of Tomorrow

See the products of tomorrow, including the University of Maryland's "cooling glass"; the Reconfigurable Robotics Lab's sensor that can perceive combinations of bending, stretching, compression, and temperature changes using color; Tufts' tiny biological robots; and more.

Testing Space Applications with Solar Simulator Technology

NASA’s Artemis program consists of a series of missions designed to land humans on the Moon and establish a sustainable, continuing presence. A long-term foothold on the Moon’s surface enables invaluable research and testing opportunities that will set the stage for future groundbreaking missions, including the first human mission to Mars.

Piezo Composites with Carbon Fibers for Motion Sensors

An international research group has engineered a novel high-strength flexible device by combining piezoelectric composites with unidirectional carbon fiber (UDCF), an anisotropic...

Researchers Create First Functional Semiconductor Made from Graphene

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created the world’s first functional semiconductor made from graphene, a single sheet of carbon atoms held...

Self-Powered Sensor Automatically Harvests Magnetic Energy

MIT researchers have developed a battery-free, self-powered sensor that can harvest energy from its environment.

Photonics West 2024: 5 New Technologies on Display This Year

The largest optics and trade show in North America, SPIE Photonics West 2024, is just a few days away from its annual collection of exhibitions, conferences and courses at San...

Network of Robots Can Successfully Monitor Pipes Using Acoustic Wave Sensors

An inspection design method and procedure by which mobile robots can inspect large pipe structures has been demonstrated with the successful inspection of multiple...

How Much Do You Know About Predictive Maintenance?

One of the benefits of modern digital technology is that industrial maintenance can be done in a more efficient way than ever before, by using a process called predictive maintenance (PdM). See how much you understand about it — take this quiz.

5Ws of the Eye-Safe Laser

There is an urgent need for new technologies to improve the timeliness of traumatic brain injury diagnosis. Researchers from the University of Birmingham have a laser-based solution.

New on the Market

See what's new on the market, including Keystone Technologies' THM Test Points, Nikon IMBU's CT systems for non-destructive inspection, Renesas' SoCs and MCUs, Rad Source NDT's X-ray Inspection System, the Precision Specimen Loader from Instron, and more.

A Precision Arm for Mini Robots

A team at ETH Zurich has developed an ultrasonically actuated glass needle that can be attached to a robotic arm. This lets them pump and mix minuscule amounts of liquid and trap particles.

A Temperature-Modulating Robotic System

A research team has developed a robotic system that can be unobtrusively built into the frame of a standard honeybee hive. Composed of an array of thermal sensors and actuators, the system measures and modulates honeybee behavior through localized temperature variations.

Dynamic Hydrogel Makes Soft Robot Components and Building Blocks

Using a new type of dual-polymer material capable of responding dynamically to its environment, researchers have developed a set of modular hydrogel components that could be useful in a variety of soft robotic and biomedical applications.

Single Drop of Ethanol to Revolutionize Nanosensor Production

Macquarie University engineers have developed a new technique to make the manufacturing of nanosensors far less carbon-intensive, much cheaper, more efficient, and more versatile — substantially improving a key process in this trillion-dollar global industry.

Optical Concentration Sensor for Liquid Solution

The optical concentration sensor has been demonstrated to effectively measure pretreat concentrations in both still and flowing liquid conditions and is resistant to contamination issues as necessitated by the UWMS.

Photoelectric Sensor Essentials

Photoelectric (PE) sensors represent a discrete sensor technology widely used throughout industry. They use the presence or absence of light to provide an on/off output to supervisory automation and monitoring systems, and are often the better choice for sensing manufacturing products.

Videos of the Month

See the videos of the month, including one on FibeRobo, a novel body-temperature shape-changing fiber based on liquid crystal elastomers; one on 3D printing extremely viscous plastic solids; one on using digital twins in EV battery design and testing; and one on flexible sensors screen-printed onto a stamp-like flexible surface.

Measuring Earthquakes and Tsunamis with Fiber-Optic Networks

Scientists from the Institute of Geophysics at ETH Zurich, working together with the Swiss Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS), have found an inexpensive method that enables accurate earthquake measurements even on the ocean floor and in less developed countries.

5Ws of the Silk Transistor

Researchers at Tufts University have created microprocessor-scale transistors that can detect and respond to biological states and the environment.

MIT Engineers Design a Robotic Replica of the Heart’s Right Chamber

MIT engineers have developed a robotic replica of the heart’s right ventricle, which mimics the beating and blood-pumping action of live hearts.

AI Helps Robots Manipulate Objects with Their Whole Bodies

Imagine you want to carry a large, heavy box up a flight of stairs. You might spread your fingers and lift the box with both hands, then hold it on top of your forearms and balance...

How Much Do You Know About EMC/EMI?

EMC/EMI is a serious issue in the design of electronic systems. The best laid plans for a system design can easily go awry if EMC/EMI is not a serious consideration in both the design and installation. How much do you know about EMC/EMI?

Scientists Amplify Superconducting Sensor Array Signals Near the Quantum Limit

Understanding how energy moves in materials is fundamental to the study of quantum phenomena, catalytic reactions, and complex proteins. Measuring how energy...

Novel Approach to Advanced Electronics and Data Storage with Ferroelectricity

New research from Flinders University and UNSW Sydney, published in ACS Nano, explores switchable polarization in a new class of silicon compatible metal oxides...

Researchers Demonstrate a High-Speed Electrical Readout Method for Graphene Nanodevices

The 'wonder material' graphene is well-known for its high electrical conductivity, mechanical strength, and flexibility. Stacking two layers of graphene...