Engineering news

Engineering

Scalable aluminum surfaces method enables advancements in cooling, self-cleaning and anti-icing technologies

An international team of engineers has developed an innovative, scalable method for creating topography-patterned aluminum surfaces, enhancing liquid transport properties critical for applications in electronics cooling, ...

Engineering

Zigzags for greener construction: Design avoids concrete and steel waste

Concrete is the most widely used construction material in the world. Made from cement, water, sand and gravel, this relatively cheap mixture can be shaped as needed and withstand high forces in compression. Yet it performs ...

Engineering

Self-adjusting shading system mimics pine cones for energy-autonomous weather response

Using pine cones as a model, researchers at the universities of Stuttgart and Freiburg have developed a new, energy-autonomous facade system that adapts passively to the weather. The journal Nature Communications has published ...

Engineering

Precise positioning in challenging environments: A new anchor approach to ultra-wideband-assisted navigation

A new study has introduced an advanced method for visual-inertial navigation, utilizing a single Ultra-Wideband (UWB) anchor with an unknown position to achieve exceptional positioning accuracy and robustness in environments ...

Engineering

Stress tests for the Swiss power system

Researchers from ETH Zurich and ZHAW Winterthur are simulating in a new study how the future Swiss power system could be structured to withstand a drastic fall in gas and electricity imports. By doing so, they aim to contribute ...

Engineering

Engineers 3D print tiny, intricate antennas

Today, nearly all personal electronic devices rely on antennas to send and receive data. In fact, demand is also rising for lightweight antennas for new applications, including the latest in 5G/6G networks, advanced wearable ...

Engineering

The new age of infrastructure maintenance using data from space

The concentration of the population in cities is accelerating, and difficulties in maintaining various infrastructures are arising due to extreme weather. Extensive infrastructures like waste landfill facilities face significant ...

Engineering

3D-printed fungal fuel cell offers biodegradable power solution

A battery that needs feeding instead of charging? This is exactly what Empa researchers have achieved with their 3D-printed, biodegradable fungal battery. The living battery could supply power to sensors for agriculture or ...

Robotics

Teaching robots to use color in moving objects

Research at Michigan State University is focused on teaching robots to use colors to perceive, visualize, and interpret interactions when manipulating objects. A force-interpreting optical system is being developed so robots ...

Robotics

Versatile microscale robots can fold into 3D shapes and crawl

Cornell University researchers have created microscale robots less than 1 millimeter in size that are printed as a 2D hexagonal "metasheet," but with a jolt of electricity, morph into preprogrammed 3D shapes and crawl.

Engineering

Bio-inspired wick enhances electronic chip cooling

A research team led by Prof. Ye Hong from the University of Science and Technology of China has developed an alumina ceramic bionic wick with finger-like pores inspired by the stomatal array of natural leaves. Their research ...

Engineering

New analysis to boost port efficiency

Container ports are important hubs in the global trade network. They have seen enormous growth in their roles over recent years and operational demands are always changing, especially as more sophisticated logistics systems ...