COVID-19 Tech Bits


Tech companies, consortiums and universities are jumping in to help fight COVID-19, deploying everything from massive computing capabilities to developing new technologies that can protect medical workers and first responders. Nearly all of these have ramped up over the past several weeks, as the tech world begins to take on a global challenge to combat the deadly virus. Compute resources... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Feb. 10


Balancing battery capacity and stability Researchers at Rice University are working to develop batteries that are better geared toward electric cars and more robust off-grid energy storage by digging into why lithium gets trapped in batteries, thus limiting the number of times it can be charged and discharged at full power. The team found that by not maxing out a battery's storage capacity,... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 3


Microscopic movie star Using a 3D printer and a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a group has created a short animated film featuring the world’s smallest 3D figurine. The stop motion film, called Stardust Odyssey, features a 3D human-like figurine with a height of 300 microns, or close to the size of a grain of dust. This beat the previous record for the smallest figure in a film. N... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Oct. 1


3D balloon printing Using an elastomeric or stretchy balloon, the University of Houston and the University of Colorado have developed a new 3D printing method as a means to develop three-dimensional curvy electronic products. The technology involves the field of 3D printing, sometimes known as additive manufacturing (AM). In 3D printing, the goal is to develop parts layer-by-layer using mat... » read more

3D Metal Printing: Does It Add Up?


Prolific Renaissance artist Michelangelo said, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block before I start my work. ... I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.” I wonder what the great visionary would think of exchanging his chisel for an additive-manufacturing tool such as today’s 3D printers. 3D printing has been around since the 1980s, when it was first kn... » read more

March’19 Startup Funding: Money Springs Forth


Another month, another couple of billion-dollar rounds. Singapore-based Grab raised nearly $1.5 billion from the SoftBank Vision Fund, bringing its total private funding to more than $4.5 billion and valuing the company at around $14 billion. Grab has acquired Uber’s ride-hailing business in Southeast Asia and now competes chiefly with Go-Jek of Indonesia in Thailand and other emerging mar... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Feb. 19


Computed Axial Lithography Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and the University of California at Berkeley have developed a 3D printing method to produce a new class of polymer parts. The technology, called Computed Axial Lithography (CAL), projects photons on a resin in a vial within a 3D printer. In total, researchers have demonstrated the ability to shine 1,440 different proje... » read more

System Bits: Feb. 5


Rubbery material for stretchable electronics Researchers at the University of Houston came up with a rubbery semiconducting material that they say could find applications in stretchable electronics, such as human-machine interfaces, implantable bioelectronics, and robotic skins. Cunjiang Yu, Bill D. Cook Assistant Professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Houston and correspo... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Nov. 6


Camera for object recognition Researchers from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign developed a new camera that could improve object detection in vehicles. Inspired by the visual system of mantis shrimp, the camera detects the polarization of light and has a dynamic range about 10,000 times higher than today's commercial cameras. "In a recent crash involving a self-driving car, th... » read more

Digital Fabrication’s Promise And Potential Pitfalls


Semiconductor functionality continues to expand, enabling robotic machines to analyze problems, make decisions and communicate information better than ever. These capabilities open the door for new applications such as Industry 4.0, a term now commonly used throughout Europe and the U.S. (more on Japan’s interpretation to follow). By integrating the performance capabilities of the Internet of... » read more

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