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3D Graphene Boosts New Batteries Beyond Lithium-Ion

Lyten’s materials innovation enables lithium-sulfur cell chemistry to surpass lithium-ion and set the stage for an EV production debut later this decade.

Engineering the 2022 Toyota Tundra

Chief engineer Mike Sweers talks structure, materials and a different approach to hybrid power for the all-new, third-generation pickup.

“Smart” Shirt Monitors the Heart

Flexible carbon nanotube fibers woven into clothing gather accurate EKG and heart rate.

DC Drives as Replacements for AC Servos

Low-voltage DC stepper and servo drives offer space-saving options for applications traditionally handled by AC servo drives.

Q&A: Self-Healing Polymers Create Water-Resistant Coatings

Jingcheng Ma, along with a team of researchers at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, found a way to make ultra-thin water-resistant surface coatings robust enough to survive...

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Aerospace & Defense Category Winner — How to Keep Drones Flying When a Motor Fails, without GPS

A vision-based control algorithm saves a quadrotor after the complete loss of a single motor.

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Consumer Product Design Category Winner — Aira FreePower

Learn about "FreePower" charging stations.

Deployable Composite Boom

Applications include space structures, emergency shelters, backpack solar collectors, and inspection of hazardous environments.

Facility Focus: U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center

The "ERDC" helps solve problems in civil and military engineering, geospatial sciences, water resources, and environmental sciences.

Soft Robots Use Camera and Shadows to Sense Human Touch

An off-the-shelf USB camera captures the shadows made by hand gestures on the robot’s skin.

Laser Jolts Microscopic Electronic Robots into Motion

Incorporating semiconductor components, microscopic robots are made to walk with standard electronic signals.

ARTEMIS II: Astronauts on Board

With Artemis II — the first crewed flight of SLS and Orion — four astronauts will travel to the lunar environment in 2024.

Special Section: The Winners of the 2021 'Create the Future' Design Contest

See this year's product designs from engineers, students, and entrepreneurs worldwide.

Nanosheets of Borophane are Stronger Than Steel

The 2D materials boost device performance for electronic devices, solar cells, batteries, and medical equipment.

Robot Locates and Retrieves Buried Items

This robotic arm fuses data from a camera and antenna to locate and retrieve items buried under piles and completely out of view.

Why 3D Artificial Intelligence with AR and VR is More Important Today

Deep learning-based AI allows users to identify 3D objects of arbitrary shape and size in various orientations with high accuracy in the 3D space.

5 Ws of the Electronics-Powering Finger Wrap

The wearable device turns the touch of a finger into a source of power for small electronics and sensors.

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Manufacturing/Robotics/Automation Category Winner — Electronics-Free Soft Walking Robot

Av four-legged soft robot walks, without requiring any electronics.

Color-Changing Dyes Visualize Stress in Plastics

Directly visualizing external stresses of plastics is useful in development of materials with improved mechanical properties.

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Automotive/Transportation Category Winner — Afreecar E-kit

The e-kit promises to be a low-cost solution in the developing world.

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Medical Category Winner — Halo Speculum

The Halo replaces all metal retractors with one simple, one-size-fits-all design.

ARTEMIS III: Return to the Surface

The third flight of SLS and Orion will carry the first woman and first person of color to the Moon.

Stable Polymeric Ink with High Conductivity

This paves the way for innovative and more energy-efficient printed electronics.

Keeping Warmer in the Great Outdoors

A long-time apparel insulator develops its own takes on popular NASA spinoff material.

ARTEMIS: Back to the Moon

With the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, NASA will return humans to the lunar surface.

New on the Market: November 2021

Power supply ICs, temperature sensors, DC-DC converters, and more.

Concrete-Like Material from Space Dust and Astronaut Blood

The material could be used to create housing in outer space.

Optimizing Wireless Test Systems and Antennas for High-Speed Communication

Easy-to-use reverberation test systems (RTS) measure the performance of wireless devices and antennas.

2021 Create the Future Design Contest: Sustainable Technologies/Future Energy Category Winner — Multifunctional Bionanocomposite Fruit Coatings

The invention could capture the potential of the edible packaging market.