Industrial

The future is self-constructing, with new innovations from MIT promising a world where robots and even buildings can design and repair themselves.

A recent breakthrough could take 3D electronic printing into the fast, easy, and reliable future.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) published guidelines that clarify how FCC rules apply to RF LED products. RF LED lighting devices are classified as unintentional radiators and are therefore are subject to the FCC’s Part 15 rules.

A new technique uses lasers to create plasma that can detect chemicals in the air. This new method could be used for environmental monitoring, since the colors of the plasma filaments can indicate the presence a wide range of molecules, including biohazards and pollutants.

3M Company is recalling 7,500 vented hard hats. The hard hats were marketed to protect against electric shock, but they do not provide this protection.

Although today’s 3D printers are capable of some amazing things, researchers in MIT’s Media Lab are rethinking the technology and expanding its capabilities. They have found a way to bypass a time-intestive step in 3D printing so that hair-like structures can be printed. They have used their new technique to print “hairs” that can perform sensing, adhesion, and actuation.

Soft robotics is a growing field involving flexible robots that have several advantages over their rigid predecessors. Soft robots can squeeze into tight spaces, maneuver uneven terrain, and they are safer around humans. An international team of researchers is now developing artificial muscles to give robots the ability to grasp, stretch, and squish objects.

Soft actuators are emerging in robotics because they are small, affordable, and could potentially be safer around humans than traditional rigid robots. However, elastic actuators (stretchy membranes that get filled with air) usually must be connected to pumps and compressors in order to work. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany have developed an alternative.

A new technique combines 3D printing with laser annealing to produce intricate conductive metallic...

Roads and sidewalks could soon be lit without electricity, using a new type of...