Blog

Tech Briefs writers and editors share their opinions and find the fun, interesting, and unexpected stories behind today's leading-edge inventions.

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Blog: Design
The researchers’ groundbreaking study introduces the first toroidal, light-driven microrobot that can move autonomously in viscous liquids, such as mucus.
Videos: Energy
Watch this video to learn more about three new energy technologies. One is from Rice University; one is from Université Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble, France and University of San Diego, CA; and the last one is from Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa).
Blog: Energy
My Opinion: Sustainability depends on understanding system interrelationships. Read on to learn more about SAE Media Group's Ed Brown's opinion on the matter.
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
Researchers at Tampere University have developed the world’s first soft touchpad that can sense the force, area, and location of contact without electricity. The device utilizes pneumatic channels, enabling its use in environments such as MRI machines and other conditions that are unsuitable for electronic devices.
Blog: Manufacturing & Prototyping
Researchers showed how kirigami — a variation of origami — can transform a single sheet of acetate coated with conductive MXene ink into a flexible 3D microwave antenna whose transmission frequency can be adjusted simply by pulling or squeezing to slightly shift its shape.
Blog: Materials
The Create the Future Design Contest has helped bring out the best technologies for the future throughout its 22-year run. The annual contest had the finalists in each of the seven categories pitch their ideas to a team of judges, who would then choose the Grand Prize winner. Read on to learn who won.
Blog: Materials
The robot’s versatility is due to a novel design based on kirigami, a cousin of origami in which slices in the material enable it to fold, expand, and locomote.
Blog: Design
Researchers have built a full textile energy grid that can be wirelessly charged. The team reported that it can power textile devices, including a warming element and environmental sensors that transmit data in real-time.
Blog: Sensors/Data Acquisition
A system of wearable sensors and machine learning can continuously monitor factory workers for signs of physical fatigue. Read on to learn more.
Blog: Materials
Inspired by living creatures, they jump across different terrains in an agile and energy-efficient manner. Read on to learn more.
Blog: Materials
Perovskite materials may degrade quickly, and in order to know how best to apply these materials, a deeper understanding is required of why this happens and how the material functions. Researchers have gained new insights into the matter. Read on to learn more.
Blog: Electronics & Computers
MIT researchers have developed a security protocol that leverages the quantum properties of light to guarantee that data sent to and from a cloud server remain secure during deep-learning computations.
Blog: Connectivity
The U.S. power grid is like the body’s central circulatory system — it provides the energy without which virtually nothing functions. Read on to learn more about what SAE Media Group's Ed Brown has to say on the matter.
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
A tiny battery could enable the deployment of cell-sized, autonomous robots for drug delivery within in the human body, as well as other applications.
Blog: Energy
UW researchers have developed a flexible, durable electronic prototype that can harvest energy from body heat and turn it into electricity that can be used to power small electronics.
Blog: Design
Researchers have demonstrated that their smartphone-based digital holographic microscope can capture, reconstruct, and display holograms in almost real time.
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
By harnessing mycelia’s innate electrical signals, the researchers discovered a new way of controlling "biohybrid" robots that can potentially react to their environment better than their purely synthetic counterparts.
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
My opinion: There is much to learn that is useful, practical, and important by studying swarms.
Blog: Nanotechnology
A new study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities is providing new insights into how next-generation electronics, including memory components in computers, breakdown or degrade over time.
Blog: Materials
The chemical process can essentially vaporize plastics that currently dominate the waste stream and turn them into hydrocarbon building blocks for new plastics.
Blog: Design
NASA engineers partnered with digital manufacturer Protolabs for a generative design experiment at the recent PowerSource Global Summit, a technology conference held in Orlando. Read on to learn more about the space-ready parts that came out of it.
Blog: Design
UCLA researchers have developed a new type of metamaterial, a material engineered to possess properties with applications for soft robotics, reconfigurable architectures, and space engineering.
Blog: Materials
A research team has developed a new generation of lithium metal batteries, representing a significant advancement in the field. Their innovation centers on microcrack-free polymer electrolytes which promise extended lifespan and enhanced safety at elevated temperatures.
Blog: Imaging
URDFormer takes images of real environments from the internet and quickly creates physically realistic simulation environments where robots can train.
Blog: Robotics, Automation & Control
A team developed a pinhole compound vision system by adopting new materials and structures. This system features several key characteristics, including an inherent hemispherical perovskite nanowire array imager with high pixel density to enlarge the imaging field and a 3D-printed lens-free pinhole array.
Blog: Green Design & Manufacturing
A research team at Rice University is tackling the environmental issue of efficiently recycling Li-ion batteries amid their increasing use.
Blog: Motion Control
Researchers have demonstrated miniature soft hydraulic actuators that can be used to control the deformation and motion of soft robots that are less than a millimeter thick.
Blog: AR/AI
My opinion: AI can be a great tool to solve urgent problems, but we must be careful to minimize its negative impacts.
Blog: Design
To address the needs of wheelchair accessible vehicle (WAV) users in the U.K.’s transition to electric, Motability Operations has revealed eVITA. It’s an accessible and versatile concept electric wheelchair accessible vehicle (eWAV), designed in collaboration with CALLUM.

Videos

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