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Automotive

Innovations for Lightweighting: FCA slashes Pacifica mass with magnesium, hot-stamped steel

For the past 20 years, the steel industry has parried the most aggressive thrusts of its aluminum competitors and outpaced them in real-world...

Briefs

Robotics, Automation & Control

Experimental Confirmation of an Aquatic Swimming Motion Theoretically of Very Low Drag and High Efficiency

It has been established theoretically that self-propulsion of deformable bodies in ideal fluid can occur with a careful specification of...

Briefs

Robotics, Automation & Control

Gesture-Based Controls for Robots: Overview and Implications for Use by Soldiers

Afuture vision of the use of autonomous and intelligent robots in dismounted military operations is for soldiers to interact with robots as teammates, much like...

Articles

Defense

Fast-Tracking Autonomous Vehicles with Simulation

Artificial intelligence developments are set to fundamentally transform mobility, whether it is mobility of weapon payloads, supply deliveries, urban commuters, warehouse goods, delivery...

Products

Aerospace

New Products

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Robotics, Automation & Control

Developing a Multi-Modal UGV Robot Control Interface

Unmanned ground vehicles (UGV) are currently being used or developed for operational maneuvers (e.g., reconnaissance and IED defeat), maneuver support (e.g., route clearance), and sustainment...

Briefs

Aerospace

A Guide for Developing Human-Robot Interaction Experiments in the Robotic Interactive Visualization and Experimentation Technology (RIVET) Simulation

ARL's Intelligent Systems Enterprise vision is to enable the teaming of autonomous intelligent...

Articles

Energy

Solar Powering UAVs

One of the largest problems facing the aerospace industry involves size, weight, and power (SWaP) analysis and the increasing size of payloads with typically a finite amount of power to drive ever more demanding systems....

Articles

Aerospace

Deploying COTS Subsystems in UUVs

In December, 2016 the newest class of unmanned vehicles, Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV) made international headlines after China, in an unprecedented act, seized an unclassified “ocean glider” operated...

Briefs

Robotics, Automation & Control

Identifying the Flow Physics and Modeling Transient Forces on Two-Dimensional Wings

The main objective of this research was to better understand the flow physics of aircraft wings undergoing highly unsteady maneuvers. Reduced-order models play a central role in this study, both to elucidate the overall dynamical mechanisms behind various flow...

Briefs

Aerospace

The Scaling of Loss Pathways and Heat Transfer in Small Scale Internal Combustion Engines

The rapid expansion of the remotely piloted aircraft market includes an interest in 10 kg to 25 kg vehicles (Group 2) for monitoring, surveillance, and...

Articles

Unmanned Systems

Interoperability Standards Pave the Way for Modular Robotic Manipulators

Unmanned vehicles have long been used by the military to handle situations characterized by the three Ds: dull, dirty, and dangerous. As the use of unmanned ground...

News

Defense

Aurora Flight Sciences Partners with Uber in Contested Airspace

Uber announced in late April a partnership with Aurora Flight Sciences to develop electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft for its Uber Elevate Network....

News

Aerospace

How NASA Tracks the Asteroids Flying by Earth

On Wednesday, April 19, an asteroid missed Earth by 1.1 million miles – a distance closer than you might think. This week, Tech Briefs spoke with NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer about the...

News

Automotive

Engineering Chevy's Lighter, Stronger CUV

Chevrolet’s Equinox has become a serious profit-spinner for General Motors.

INSIDER

Data Acquisition

NASA Tests Robotic Ice Tools

Since 2015, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, has been developing new technologies for use on future missions to ocean worlds. That includes a subsurface probe that could burrow through...

INSIDER

Defense

New Robotic System Finds and Destroys Explosive Threats

In combat, land mine and improvised explosive device (IED) clearance is a slow, painstaking, stressful job that physically and mentally drains soldiers and military working dogs....

INSIDER

Robotics, Automation & Control

Swarms of Autonomous Aerial Vehicles Test New Dogfighting Skills

Aerial dogfighting began more than a century ago in the skies over Europe with propeller-driven fighter aircraft carried aloft on wings of fabric and wood. An event held...

News

Electronics & Computers

Preview: SAE Readies New Connect2Car Conference for Fusion of Auto, Tech Sectors

Calling its upcoming Connect2Car Executive Leadership Forum “the perfect opportunity for automotive and technology executives to discover, collaborate, and...

News

Propulsion

Axellent Progress

Traditional beam-type drive axles as used in most pickups and full-size SUVs are simple, robust, relatively inexpensive—and a hefty chunk of cast-iron and steel. Benchmark axles for a typical ½-ton pickup weigh 180 lb...

News

Energy

Medium-Duty Engines, Transmissions Shift Focus to Software

New engines and transmissions for medium-duty truck applications are evolving rapidly in response to ongoing demands for improved fuel consumption. Software is playing a major role...

News

Propulsion

VW I.D. CROZZ Makes World Debut at Auto Shanghai 2017

Possibly one of the most significant things to so far come out of Auto Shanghai 2017 was courtesy of Volkswagen with the introduction of the I.D. CROZZ concept—the company’s first...

Articles

Test & Measurement

More Automation for ECU Testing

Testing safety-related Electronic Control Units (ECUs) is as much about software testing as hardware. Increased intelligence within ECUs to control braking, prevent rollovers and ensure that power is applied...

News

Materials

Mass Flow Meter

The MicroTRICOR TCM-100 Coriolis mass flow meter from AW-Lake Company (Oak Creek, WI) is the smallest TRICOR Coriolis meter designed for the accurate measurement of very low flow rates. It is suitable for dosing, blending and...

News

Connectivity

SAE Collaborates on Clean Cars Project

In early 2016, the Washington State Department of Ecology issued a request for proposals for the Puget Sound Clean Cars Stormwater Partnership, a collaborative research project concerning vehicle...

INSIDER

Aerospace

Morphing Wings Make Jets More Efficient

University of Michigan engineers have developed improved wing designs capable of burning less fuel, as well as tools that help the aerospace industry build more efficient aircraft. In areas where new...

INSIDER

Aerospace

Heated Concrete Could Pave the Way for Ice-Free Runways

Iowa State University tested slabs of electrically conductive concrete at Des Moines International Airport. The test slabs are made up of 1 percent carbon fiber and a special mix of...