System Bits: June 18


Another win for aUToronto Photo credit: University of Toronto The University of Toronto’s student-led self-driving car team racked up its second consecutive victory last month at the annual AutoDrive Challenge in Ann Arbor, Mich. The three-year challenge goes out to North American universities, offering a Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicle to outfit with autonomous driving technology.... » read more

The Growing Promise Of Printed Electronics


Printing electronics using conductive ink rather than lithography is starting to move out of the research phase, with chipmakers now looking at how to commercialize this technology across a broad range of sensor applications. Unlike traditional semiconductors, which use tiny wires as circuits, printed electronics rely on conductive inks and often flexible films, although they can be printed ... » read more

Manufacturing Bits: Dec. 4


Probing Mars Equipped with a CCD camera, a temperature probe and a seismic instrument, NASA's robotic system or lander recently landed on Mars. On Nov. 26, the robotic system--dubbed the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight)--landed on Mars after nearly a seven-month, 300-million-mile (485-million-kilometer) journey from Earth. The lander t... » read more