Using hardware similar to what enables autonomous cars to “see” the world around them, researchers have developed a system that can see through clouds and fog. They enhanced the system with an algorithm that can reconstruct three-dimensional hidden scenes based on the movement of individual particle

Simple home medical tests consist of a deck of various silicon chips coated in special film — one that could detect drugs in the blood, another for proteins in the urine indicating infection, and another for bacteria in water and the like. Add the bodily fluid to be tested, take a picture with a sma

Researchers have developed a new sensor that could allow practical and low-cost detection of low concentrations of methane gas. Measuring methane emissions and leaks is important to a variety of industries because the gas contributes to global warming and air pollution. Agricultural and waste indust

Stethoscopes are used to diagnose the noises produced by the heart and lungs. Used in the conventional way, vibrations from the surface of the body are transmitted to a membrane in the chest piece and then to the user’s eardrum where they are perceived as sounds. Acoustic stethoscopes are comparativ

A cochlear implant enables people with severe hearing loss to hear again. An audiologist adjusts the device based on the user’s input, but this is not always easy. Think of children who are born deaf or elderly people with dementia. They have more difficulty assessing and communicating how well they

Rule-based systems seem natural for runtime verification (RV)/program monitoring. From a specification notation point of view, rule-based systems appear quite suitable for expressing the kind of properties the runtime verification community normally writes. Specifications written in a rule system ha

The idea of implantable sensors that continuously transmit information on vital values and concentrations of substances or drugs in the body has fascinated physicians and scientists for a long time. Such sensors enable the constant monitoring of disease progression and therapeutic success. However,

Fracture testing drives material selection and design considerations for virtually all structural components. The conventional method for sample preparation and Mode I Fracture Testing involves using bonding hinges or loading blocks to apply the opening peel force to the specimen surface. Achieving

Hydrogen as a clean, renewable alternative to fossil fuels is part of a sustainable-energy future, and very much already here. However, lingering concerns about flammability have limited the widespread use of hydrogen as a power source for electric vehicles. Previous advances have minimized the risk

Increasing use of electronic devices in consumables and new technologies for the Internet of Things will increase the amount of electronic scrap. To save resources and minimize waste volumes, an eco-friendlier production and more sustainable lifecycle will be needed. Researchers have demonstrated th

Aresearch team developed a soft tactile sensor with skin-comparable characteristics. A robotic gripper with the sensor mounted at the fingertip could accomplish challenging tasks such as stably grasping fragile objects and threading a needle. A main characteristic of human skin is its ability to sen

Additive manufacturing offers tremendous benefits but consistency and accuracy on mass-produced 3D-printed parts can be an issue. As with any production technology, parts built should be as close to identical as possible, whether it is 10 parts or 10 million. Researchers developed a generalized line

Engineers have created a four-legged soft robot that doesn’t need any electronics to work. The robot only needs a constant source of pressurized air for all its functions including its controls and locomotion systems. Applications include robots that can operate in environments where electronics can

Researchers have printed complete integrated circuits with more than 1,000 organic electrochemical transistors. Printing electronic circuits with a line width of approximately 100 micrometers places high demands on print technology. To solve the problem, the team developed screen-printing frames wit

A fully functional nanosized robot requires electronic circuits, photovoltaics, sensors, and antennas. But if the robot needs to move, it must be able to bend. Researchers have created micron-sized shape memory actuators that enable atomically thin two-dimensional materials to fold themselves into 3

Geckos and many other animals have heads that are too small to triangulate the location of noises the way humans do: with widely spaced ears. Instead, they have a tiny tunnel through their heads that measures the way incoming sound waves bounce around to figure out which direction they came from. A

For remote sensing spectrometers, wavelength-scanned laser emissions are used to capture the absorption spectrum of targets to perform measurement of soil and/or gas. Previous techniques to accomplish these measurements have involved combining multiple fixed-wavelength lasers to detect a single spec

Roboticists aim to mimic what natural biological entities have achieved — actions like moving, adapting to the environment, or sensing. Beyond traditional rigid robots, the field of soft robotics has recently emerged using compliant, flexible materials capable of adapting to their environment more e

Dr. David Lary of the University of Texas at Dallas is leading a research group that has developed a team of autonomous robotic devices that can be used at hazardous or difficult-to-reach sites to make surveys and collect data — providing more and faster insights than human beings are able to delive

If you tell people that exterminators use temperature sensors to eliminate bedbugs, it prompts questions, and people want to know more. You can get the same reaction when you mention that landfill, entomology labs, and banana-ripening managers use sensor data to automate and optimize their operation