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Podcasts: Robotics, Automation & Control

Here's an Idea: A Morphing Airplane Wing Built by Tiny Robots

Ben Jennet is a PhD student at MIT and a former space research fellow at NASA. He is working with NASA to develop a new kind of aircraft wing that's flexible and changes mid-flight.

Blog: Software

Even NASA Needs Effective Parts Sourcing

You can design the best product in the world but what if the parts, assemblies, and sub-components for your idea aren’t there?

Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition

3D Printing and Space Exploration: How NASA Will Use Additive Manufacturing

NASA is using the International Space Station as a testbed for 3D printing.

Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Prospecting for Ice: NASA Challenges Students to Find Ways to Drill Down on Mars

A new NASA challenge asks university teams to find new ways to drill down to the ice on the Moon and Mars.

Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Answering Your Questions: How Long Should a Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) Take?

An FMEA provides a step-by-step way of identifying product failures. Carl Carlson explains just how long the process takes.

Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Design Tool Brings a ‘Structural’ Approach to Color

A new approach to structural coloration is more freeform than you might expect.

Blog: Imaging

How to Evaluate a Vision System Integrator

Many manufacturers are relying on vision system integrators to implement machine vision. Our expert tells a reader how to find the right one for you.

Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping

How to Authenticate a 3D-Printed Part: ‘Explode’ and Embed a QR Code

Researcher Nikhil Gupta tells Tech Briefs why "exploding" a QR code inside a 3D-printed part makes counterfeiting practically impossible.

Articles: Test & Measurement

IMTS2018 Preview

Presented by the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT), the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) has been the premier manufacturing technology show in the Northern Hemisphere. IMTS is held every even...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Diamond Pellet Grinding Tool

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center has developed a numerically controlled grinding tool that eliminates undesirable periodic variations in surface contours in optical and other surfaces — such as mid-spatial...

Articles: Motion Control

Cobots and Industrial Robots: Choose the Right Robot for the Job

Automating manufacturing processes is a complex issue, with no one-size-fits-all solution. Robots range from insect-like microrobots to industrial robots powerful enough to...

INSIDER: Materials

Initially Moon-Bound, A New Demolition Probe Breaks Ground on Earth

An electrically-driven demolition probe originally funded by NASA enables a more precise, quieter fracturing method that its creators hope will give construction workers on...

NASA Tech Needs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Establishing a Network of pFab Innovators

Nancy M.H. Holloway, Section Head
Advanced Fabrication Processes Section
Fabrication Technology Development Branch
NASA Langley Research Center
Hampton, VA

The Fabrication...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Die Extrusion Technology for Medical Tubing Applications

Although the concept of nanotechnology (controlling matter on an atomic scale) dates back to 1959, it is only now becoming more commercially realized. It has the potential to challenge...

Briefs: Manufacturing & Prototyping

Laser Sintering for Customized Medical Applications

Engineers have long been aware of the potential of laser sintering to create innovative and beneficial medical products. Because it is an additive (layer-by-layer) manufacturing process,...