REEs are a series of chemical elements found in the Earth’s crust that are essential components of many technologies, including electronics, computer and communication systems, transportation, health care, and national defense. Rare Earths Elements (REE) are incorporated into many sophisticated technologies with both commercial and defense applications including smartphones and …

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 in electronic combat support, battle damage assessment, and even in …

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 have seen systematic bio-inspired efforts to create microbe-like, microscopic robots. …

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 important ways: Soft robots have little or no hard internal …

Whether in the field of battle, search-and-rescue or humanitarian aid efforts, the ability to share real-time, networked information between ground, sea and airborne forces is rapidly becoming the defining factor in a mission’s success. However modern  satellite and other  communications systems in higher frequecies are under constant threat from adversaries …