World economic growth will lead to strong energy demands and consumption. U.S. Energy Information Administration’s latest International Energy Outlook 2017 (IEO2017) projects that world energy consumption will grow by 28% between 2015 and 2040. Most of this growth is expected…
We are on the verge of new transitions that will transform robotics. One is already underway—the miniaturization of robots, to the point where invisible, microscopic robots could be around us and inside us, performing monitoring or even life-saving functions. We…
From fighter jets to lumbering aircraft carriers, the armed forces produce substantial emissions: the estimated 59 million metric tonnes of CO2 the US Department of Defense emits each year is more than the annual emissions of many European countries. In…
3D printing or additive manufacturing is ongoing revolution in manufacturing with its potential to fabricate any complex object and is being utilized from aerospace components to human organs, textiles, metals, buildings and even food. Additive manufacturing is defined by ASTM…
Electromagnetic propulsion (EMP) is the principle of accelerating an object by the utilization of a flowing electrical current and magnetic fields. The term electromagnetic propulsion (EMP) can be described by its individual components: electromagnetic – using electricity to create a…
Large UAVs, such as Global Hawk, General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper, and predecessor MQ-1 Predator have already become indispensable to modern militaries in providing intelligence, near-real-time reconnaissance and surveillance to commanders, and offering warfighters greater battlespace awareness. They have proven effective…
The emerging field of soft robotics aims to improve robot/human interactivity promising to bring robots into all aspects our daily lives, including wearable robotics, surgical robots, micromanipulation, search and rescue, and others. Soft robotics differ from traditional counterparts in some…
Vehicle manufacturing has come a long way since 1908 when Henry Ford began production of the Model T automobile using a mass production assembly line.
Today 1.35M people die each year in automobile crashes globally; 38,000 in the U.S. alone, the equivalent of two 747s crashing in mid-air every single week. Counterintuitively, despite the COVID-19 pandemic leading to fewer drivers on the roads and a…
A big push has been to increase the efficiency of aircraft engines, mainly to make them go faster, to fly higher and use less fuel. Now a new concern has come to the fore, that of environment. We have…