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Engineering Update #10: Smart home robots & the printable bionic ear
May 9, 2013 11:20 am | Videos | CommentsThis episode of Engineering Update from ECN is brought to you by Mouser Electronics. In this week's headlines: Honda has recently announced that it is teaming up with Japan's Sekisui to design model households using smart technologies. So far, the robotics program has created humanoid robots and a personal mobility vehicle.
Huawei founder gives first ever media interview
May 9, 2013 11:17 am | by NICK PERRY, Associated Press | News | CommentsDuring 26 years at the helm of Chinese tech giant Huawei, founder Ren Zhengfei has never once agreed to be interviewed by a journalist. Until Thursday. During a visit to the company's New Zealand operations, Ren sat down with four local journalists at a Wellington hotel. The rules were strict: no international media, no photos.
World's first handheld sound camera ready for market
May 9, 2013 10:55 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsMost car drivers have had the experience of hearing a buzzing, squeaky, or rattling sound while driving but not being able to figure out where the noise is coming from. The problem could be simple, requiring a quick fix, or could be serious enough to bring a car to a mechanic.
Wearable robots getting lighter, more portable
May 9, 2013 10:47 am | by CARLA K. JOHNSON, AP Medical Writer | News | CommentsWhen Michael Gore stands, it's a triumph of science and engineering. Eleven years ago, Gore was paralyzed from the waist down in a workplace accident, yet he rises from his wheelchair to his full 6-foot-2-inches and walks across the room with help from a lightweight wearable robot.
Improved material for 'laser welding' of tissue in intestinal surgery
May 9, 2013 10:46 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsA new "solder" for laser welding of tissue during surgical operations has the potential to produce stronger seals and expand use of this alternative to conventional sutures and stapling in intestinal surgery, scientists are reporting. Their study, which involves use of a gold-based solder...
Batteries that bend and flex will transform electronics, transportation
May 9, 2013 10:41 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsImagine a TV screen that hangs on the wall like a poster and rolls up like a window shade — or a smartphone that can fold up and fit into a pocket. It may sound like science fiction, but those technological marvels are moving closer to reality, thanks to advances toward development of flexible batteries....
Tiny, thin-film 10-W, 3 dB directional couplers target wireless applications
May 9, 2013 10:37 am | Avx Corporation | Product Releases | CommentsAVX Corporation has introduced what it says are the smallest thin-film 10W 3dB directional couplers available in today’s market. Based on the company’s thin-film technology, the new 0603 3-dB 90° couplers exhibit desirable high-frequency performance in ranges spanning
Booster pack lets users jumpstart and explore sensor fusion applications
May 9, 2013 9:50 am | Texas Instruments | Product Releases | CommentsTexas Instruments announced the Sensor Hub BoosterPack for its Tiva C Series TM4C123G LaunchPad. This plug-in daughter card that allows ARM Cortex-M4 MCU developers create products with up to seven types of motion and environmental sensing capabilities. The board and software enables
Engineers fine-tune the sensitivity of nano-chemical sensor
May 9, 2013 9:42 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsResearchers have discovered a technique for controlling the sensitivity of graphene chemical sensors. The sensors, made of an insulating base coated with a graphene sheet--a single-atom-thick layer of carbon--are already so sensitive that they can detect an individual molecule of gas.
Study shows that people organize daily travel efficiently
May 9, 2013 9:38 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsStudies of human mobility usually focus on either the small scale — determining the origins, destinations and travel modes of individuals' daily commutes — or the very large scale, such as using air-travel patterns to track the spread of epidemics over time.
NSF joins Intel and GE to move the needle in producing US engineers and computer scientists
May 9, 2013 9:32 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsImagine a young athlete arriving at a university with the potential to win big over the next four years. Now imagine this athlete sitting out an entire season while practicing with the team and getting the lay of the land. This strategy is called redshirting....
Royal Holloway awarded multi-million pound grant for cyber security research training
May 9, 2013 9:28 am | by EurekAlert! | News | CommentsRoyal Holloway University today received a grant of £3.8million from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to host a new Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in cyber security.
Cast of Broadway's 'Matilda' chat with astronaut
May 9, 2013 9:23 am | by MARK KENNEDY, AP Drama Writer | News | CommentsThe cast members of the Tony Award-nominated "Matilda" are arguably all stars. This week, they chatted with a man closer to the actual cosmic ones. About three dozen cast members - including many children - packed a small room near Times Square on Tuesday to speak to an astronaut aboard the International Space Station
Europe Bans Certain Pesticides, USA Just Keeps Looking, Bees Keep Dying
May 9, 2013 4:06 am | by Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog | Blogs | CommentsFor years the bee colony collapse disorder has been showing the difficulty of the scientific inquiry process. And that difficulty often becomes more difficult if interests with lots of money at stake want to block certain conclusions. One-Third of U.S. … Continue reading →
Student Spotlight: Richard Lu on Undergraduate Research
May 9, 2013 12:00 am | by Georgia Institute of Technology | News | CommentsRichard Lu, a second year undergraduate student in the Stewart School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, is going beyond his required IE coursework, and tackling real world problems through undergraduate research....
