Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

15 Apr 24

German EV Motor Could Break Supply-Chain Deadlock

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Among the countless challenges of decarbonizing transportation, one of the most compelling involves electric motors. In laboratories all over the world, researchers are now chasing a breakthrough that could kick into high gear the transition to electric transportation: a rugged, compact, powerful electric motor that has high power density and…

14 Apr 24

The Tiny Ultrabright Laser that Can Melt Steel

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

In 2016, the Japanese government announced a plan for the emergence of a new kind of society. Human civilization, the proposal explained, had begun with hunter-gatherers, passed through the agrarian and industrial stages, and was fast approaching the end of the information age. As then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe put…

14 Apr 24

Getting the Grid to Net Zero

Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

It’s late in the afternoon of 2 April 2023 on the island of Kauai. The sun is sinking over this beautiful and peaceful place, when, suddenly, at 4:25 pm, there’s a glitch: The largest generator on the island, a 26-megawatt oil-fired turbine, goes offline. This is a more urgent problem…

12 Apr 24

Video Friday: Robot Dog Can’t Fall

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.RoboCup German Open: 17–21 April 2024, KASSEL, GERMANYAUVSI XPONENTIAL 2024: 22–25…

12 Apr 24

Pogo Stick Microcopter Bounces off Floors and Walls

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

We tend to think about hopping robots from the ground up. That is, they start on the ground, and then, by hopping, incorporate a aerial phase into their locomotion. But there’s no reason why aerial robots can’t approach hopping from the other direction, by adding a hopping ground phase to…

12 Apr 24

Caltech’s SSPD-1 Is a New Idea for Space-Based Solar

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The idea of powering civilization from gigantic solar plants in orbit is older than any space program, but despite seven decades of rocket science, the concept—to gather near-constant sunlight tens of thousands of kilometers above the equator, beam it to Earth as microwaves, and convert it to electricity—still remains tantalizingly…

12 Apr 24

Marco Hutter Wants to Solve Robotics’ Hard Problems

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Last December, the AI Institute announced that it was opening an office in Zurich as a European counterpart to its Boston headquarters, and recruited Marco Hutter to helm the office. Hutter also runs the Robotic Systems Lab at ETH Zurich, arguably best known as the origin of the ANYmal quadruped…

10 Apr 24

Ukraine Is the First “Hackers’ War”

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Rapid and resourceful technological improvisation has long been a mainstay of warfare, but the war in Ukraine is taking it to a new level. This improvisation is most conspicuous in the ceaselessly evolving struggle between weaponized drones and electronic warfare, a cornerstone of this war.Weaponized civilian first-person-view (FPV) drones began…

10 Apr 24

Enhance Your Tech and Business Skills During IEEE Education Week

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

No matter where professionals are in their tech career—whether just starting out or well established—it’s never a bad time for them to reassess their skills to ensure they are aligned with market needs.As the professional home for engineers and technical professionals, IEEE offers a wealth of career-development resources. To showcase…

10 Apr 24

Intel’s Gaudi 3 Goes After Nvidia

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Although the race to power the massive ambitions of AI companies might seem like it’s all about Nvidia, there is a real competition going in AI accelerator chips. The latest example: At Intel’s Vision 2024 event this week in Phoenix, Az., the company gave the first architectural details of its…

German EV Motor Could Break Supply-Chain Deadlock

The Tiny Ultrabright Laser that Can Melt Steel

Getting the Grid to Net Zero

Video Friday: Robot Dog Can’t Fall

Pogo Stick Microcopter Bounces off Floors and Walls

Caltech’s SSPD-1 Is a New Idea for Space-Based Solar

Marco Hutter Wants to Solve Robotics’ Hard Problems

Ukraine Is the First “Hackers’ War”

Enhance Your Tech and Business Skills During IEEE Education Week

Intel’s Gaudi 3 Goes After Nvidia

Google won two major awards at MWC Barcelona 2025.

Expanding AI Overviews and introducing AI Mode

This MRI Can Run on Batteries

The Tiny Star Explosions Powering Moore’s Law