Topic

Motion in Space: Astrobee Breakthrough

NASA’s Astrobee free-flying robots are taking motion control to the next frontier. Using reinforcement learning, a Naval Research Lab team trained Astrobee to perform autonomous docking in...

The Duke Humanoid Advances Efficient Locomotion

The Duke Humanoid is a 1-meter-tall, open-source platform designed to push the limits of humanoid motion control. Featuring 10 degrees of freedom and human-like leg proportions, it combines...

NASA’s CADRE Rovers Prepare for Launch

NASA’s CADRE (Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration) mission is putting motion control to the test—on the lunar surface. Three suitcase-sized rovers, developed at JPL, are headed to...

Showcasing Tomorrow’s Breakthroughs: Innovations at the 2025 Create the Future Design Contest

The 23rd annual Create the Future Design Contest was held November 7 in New York City. Read on to find out who took home the $25,000 grand prize!

2026 Nissan Sentra Review: Putting the Pieces Together

The Nissan Sentra has provided straightforward behavior and performance for sedan shoppers in the U.S. for over forty years. For 2026, Nissan took the solid 2025 model and made enough mechanical tweaks and visual changes to call it an all-new vehicle. Read on to learn more about it.

Bailey Electrohydraulics and Specialized Scenarios

As mobile equipment is pushed to perform in increasingly demanding and challenging environments – ranging from frozen construction sites to harsh marine applications – some OEMs are...

PACCAR CTO Offers Insights on SDVs, AVs and BEVs

PACCAR provided the executive leadership guiding this year’s SAE COMVEC conference held in mid-September in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was fitting, then, that John Rich, senior vice president and chief technology officer at PACCAR, kicked off the event as the featured keynote speaker. Read on for a few of the key insights Rich shared with attendees in the packed venue.

A New Way to Build Soft Robots That Can Walk on Water

Imagine a tiny robot, no bigger than a leaf, gliding across a pond’s surface like a water strider. One day, devices like this could track pollutants, collect water samples or scout...

Berkeley Alums Develop At-Home Robotic Rehabilitation Device

Berkeley alumni Todd Roberts (MEng’20 ME) and Owen Kent (B.A.’17 Film) have shown how an idea can turn into a product that makes a difference. The pair first developed Reflex,...

Using Generative AI to create Realistic Virtual Training Environments for Robots

Chatbots like ChatGPT and Claude have experienced a meteoric rise in usage over the past three years because they can help you with a wide range of tasks....

Autonomous Drones Harness Wind for ISR and Counter UAS

Rob Creighton, Windlift Founder & CEO, is the guest on this episode of the Aerospace & Defense Technology podcast to explain how Windlift's autonomous tethered drone system leverages wind to power a wide variety of defense applications.

Robotic Skin Allows Tiny Robots to Navigate Complex, Fragile Environments

Researchers have developed a soft robotic skin that enables vine robots a few millimeters wide to navigate convoluted paths and fragile environments. To accomplish...

Using Cosmic Rays to See Inside Materials

At Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a mobile muon-tomography system leverages naturally occurring cosmic-ray muons that pass through dense materials and strike scintillators, triggering photons...

High-Performance, Carbon-Negative Cement from Agricultural Waste

Researchers at Penn State are developing carbon-negative concrete by repurposing waste materials and agricultural by-products like rice hulls, corn husks, and wheat straw. Their...

How Supercomputers and Quantum Tech Are Revolutionizing Materials Science

At Lawrence Livermore, cutting-edge supercomputing drives rapid, high-fidelity predictions of material properties, accelerating the design of batteries, capacitors,...

How Much Do You Know About the History of 3D Printing?

It seems like there are new applications for 3D printing every day. How much do you know about its history?

Wireless Light Pill Controls Gut Neurons

An ingestible device uses light to activate neurons in the gut, providing a new noninvasive way to study and potentially treat digestive and metabolic disorders. The technology, called ICOPS...

New Material Extends Life of Orthopedic Implants

A pioneering liquid metal combination is shaping up as a potential secret weapon in the global fight against antimicrobial resistance and promises to outlast existing implant materials.

Engineering Flexibility into EV Powertrains

When developing specialist and performance EVs, the challenge goes far beyond selecting an off-the-shelf powertrain. Each manufacturer brings unique performance targets, packaging constraints, and...

Cutting-Edge Computing Goes Spaceborne

Hewlett Packard Enterprise worked with Ames Research Center to send a computer to space that was radiation-hardened with software. Now the approach is making fast, low-cost radiation hardening available to commercial space companies, allowing the use of cutting-edge computers in space.

First Drive: Drifting in the Electric 2027 Mercedes GLC 400

All the tech results in a vehicle doing something it shouldn't: gliding over sand. The vehicle never felt like it was about to sink into the dunes, gracefully drifting without issue.