https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/engineering-news/ en-us The latest news on engineering technology, engineering science, computer engineering , civil engineering, chemical engineering, aerospace engineering and environmental engineering. A new method for controlling groups of drones, technically known as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), could make formation flying smoother and reduce energy consumption and mechanical wear, according to research in the International Journal of Systems, Control and Communications. The work combines fuzzy logic processing with a self-adjusting control system, known as a self-coupling proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-adjusting-drone-smoother-formation-flying.html Robotics Wed, 28 Oct 2026 16:40:15 EDT news712423322 Multiferroics are a promising class of materials for making computer chips and other electronic components that can operate at much lower power than today's devices. The materials have coupled electrical and magnetic properties that can be manipulated simultaneously with a relatively tiny electrical voltage. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-ultrathin-dead-layer-effect-enable.html Engineering Wed, 28 Oct 2026 13:40:13 EDT news712410602 The periodic table contains more than 100 elements. Combine them in different ways, and the possibilities quickly multiply. For researchers designing materials for advanced nuclear reactors, the abundance presents an opportunity: Could entirely new combinations of elements produce stronger alloys capable of withstanding the extreme heat, radiation and mechanical stress inside a nuclear reactor? https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-nuclear-alloys-element.html Engineering Wed, 28 Oct 2026 13:00:13 EDT news712408325 A team of University of Toronto Engineering researchers has developed a flexible foot pad for the "Hopcopter"—a one-legged, hopping robot they developed—significantly enhancing its performance on sand, ice and other difficult terrain. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-flexible-foot-pad-enables-legged.html Robotics Wed, 28 Oct 2026 11:40:04 EDT news712405682 A new engineering method could be the difference between a building surviving a failed support column and a chain reaction that causes the entire structure to collapse, according to research led by the University of Surrey. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-method-collapsing-column-failure.html Engineering Wed, 28 Oct 2026 07:40:08 EDT news712390880 Flying insects, such as fruit flies, bees, dragonflies and mosquitoes, can dart through narrow spaces and survive collisions with various objects. In contrast, many flying robots fall, suffer damage or even break down when they hit nearby surfaces or objects. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-insect-flying-robot-collisions.html Robotics Wed, 28 Oct 2026 07:40:01 EDT news712229150 Gathering lithium, a crucial element in batteries for smartphones, electric cars and the electrical grid, is a time-consuming and energy-intensive process, but new technology could make it much easier. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-cells-tiny-channels-lithium-batteries.html Engineering Tue, 27 Oct 2026 16:00:13 EDT news712334821 MIT researchers have developed a new type of origami-based construction method that could be used to build complex structures that are cheaper and easier to assemble and use less material than those built with some conventional techniques. This scalable system simplifies the process of designing lightweight, rigid structural shells from modular components that can be fabricated from flat sheets of material and then folded into shape. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-origami-based-method-yields-lightweight.html Engineering Tue, 27 Oct 2026 09:40:08 EDT news712312381 The Photovoltaic Research Department of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) has developed a catalytic process that extends the lifespan of perovskite solar cells. The findings were published in Advanced Science. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-lithium-perovskite-solar-cell-lifespan.html Engineering Mon, 26 Oct 2026 16:40:05 EDT news712250401 Researchers from China have developed a new 3D-printing process capable of building titanium-alloy rods more than a meter (3.3 feet) tall composed entirely of a single crystal. The new method, described in the team's recently published study in Nature, eliminates some of the constraints associated with conventional crystal-growing methods and opens up new opportunities for technical applications, ranging from reactor components to laser mirrors. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-pulsed-3d-resistant-crystals-meter.html Engineering Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:40:13 EDT news712234833 A new radiation detection method correctly identified single and mixed radioactive sources during six-second helicopter flyovers, according to a University of Michigan Engineering and Paul Scherrer Institute study. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-faster-accurate-airborne-helicopter-flyovers.html Engineering Mon, 26 Oct 2026 12:20:27 EDT news712234801 Florida International University researchers have developed a new way to detect incoming drones using the unique magnetic signatures generated by their motors—offering a detection method that is stealthier, safer and cheaper than traditional radar. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-stealthy-tech-drones.html Engineering Sun, 25 Oct 2026 10:20:01 EDT news711981849 Manufacturing aircraft components, battery materials, cutting tools, biomedical implants and other precision-engineered parts often involves metals in powder form. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-metal.html Engineering Sat, 24 Oct 2026 09:00:05 EDT news711976724 Hydrogen's ability to power a cleaner future hinges not only on finding materials capable of efficiently storing and releasing it, but also on understanding the trade-off between storage capacity and practical operating conditions. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-curated-hydrogen-database-reveals-links.html Engineering Fri, 23 Oct 2026 10:20:01 EDT news711967896 Almost every sensor in a digital photography device, from a smartphone to a digital camera, relies on color filters to separate incoming light into red, green and blue before it reaches the sensor. Substantial light is lost through the process, however, and in dim conditions, this results in images with higher noise, longer exposures and more motion blur. The most conventional configuration, a Bayer filter array, transmits only about a third of the light striking it. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-tiny-3d-routers-enable-sharper.html Engineering Thu, 22 Oct 2026 16:20:16 EDT news711902641 Colored polyester is difficult to recycle because the dyes are hard to remove without using large quantities of chemicals, water or energy. Researchers have developed a supercritical carbon dioxide treatment that redistributes existing dyes between polyester fibers, creating uniform colors without removing the original dyes. By controlling fiber proportions, they tuned shades and developed a model that accurately predicted color strength. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-recoloring-polyester-supercritical-fiber-recycling.html Engineering Thu, 22 Oct 2026 16:20:02 EDT news711904141 The rare earth elements that help power electric vehicles, wind turbines, medical imaging machines and other advanced technologies may be hiding in an unlikely place: industrial wastewater. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-porous-material-recovers-valuable-rare.html Engineering Thu, 22 Oct 2026 16:00:08 EDT news711902101 Researchers from Skoltech have found a way to assemble and repair structures made from thermoplastic polymer composites—a type of glass fiber–reinforced plastic—in the field. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-rust-free-infrastructure-portable-polymer.html Engineering Thu, 22 Oct 2026 13:00:14 EDT news711892292 Engineering students at the University of Cincinnati are developing an easy-to-use system to deploy autonomous drones in warehouses to take inventory and alert workers about leaks from containers. UC College of Engineering and Applied Science doctoral students Deepak Antony David and Luke Busse are working with Valvoline to use drones to log inventory and detect leaks that could damage entire pallets. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-drone-vr-warehouse.html Engineering Thu, 22 Oct 2026 07:28:23 EDT news711872724 Engineers at the University of Cincinnati are using sound to help NASA detect if a drone's motors or propellers are damaged to prevent a crash. UC College of Engineering and Applied Science doctoral student Prissha Chawla and her research partners recorded the various sounds that drones make when their propellers get chipped or cracked or their motor becomes damaged or begins to fail. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-potential-catastrophic-drone-failures.html Engineering Thu, 22 Oct 2026 07:00:01 EDT news711862517 It's important for a robot not just to learn a task optimally, but to complete it without going off the rails of reasonable expectations. Until now, roboticists could have one or the other. Aerospace engineering researchers in The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, combined reinforcement learning with control theory to guarantee robot stability and improve tracking performance by up to 15% compared with existing methods. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-wheeled-flying-legged-robots-stay.html Robotics Wed, 21 Oct 2026 15:20:10 EDT news711814381 Could a magnetic field be used to identify in advance which OLEDs will keep smartphone and TV screens bright the longest? A KAIST research team has developed a technique that predicts OLED lifetime by analyzing small changes in brightness caused by a magnetic field. The technique reduces the need for long operating tests and is expected to support the development of longer-lasting displays. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-magnetic-field-blue-oled-lifetimes.html Engineering Wed, 21 Oct 2026 11:20:01 EDT news711798901 Self-driving electric taxi fleets could make transportation more efficient and sustainable, but only if vehicles can continuously make smart decisions about where to drive and when to recharge. Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have now developed a new optimization method that enables near-optimal large-scale fleet control while accounting for uncertainties that arise in real-world transportation systems. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-method-driverless-electric-taxi-fleets.html Engineering Wed, 21 Oct 2026 10:20:01 EDT news711795475 Stanford researchers recently revealed how a seemingly physics-defying wireless communication technology works. The new technology, called thermal noise communication, harnesses background static that normally is the bane of radio, cellular and other wireless signals. In their new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team showed how a transmitter could deliver data to a receiver without any actively produced signal by manipulating tiny oscillations in voltage. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-background-static-wireless-generated-radio.html Engineering Tue, 20 Oct 2026 15:20:01 EDT news711725283 Reducing carbon dioxide emissions from steelmaking requires more efficient ways to turn iron ore into iron. While hydrogen-based technologies offer a promising path toward lower-carbon steel production, conventional blast furnaces will remain important during the transition. Understanding how iron ore behaves inside these furnaces could help improve their efficiency and stability. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-method-iron-ore-behavior-carbon.html Engineering Tue, 20 Oct 2026 15:00:04 EDT news711725041 RMIT researchers have turned coffee waste into 3D-printed architectural forms, opening a potential pathway towards more sustainable, low-carbon construction. The project brings together scientific, architectural and engineering expertise. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-coffee-3d-architectural.html Engineering Tue, 20 Oct 2026 13:40:21 EDT news711719649 Research by Columbia University faculty in the Arts and Sciences and the School of Engineering and Applied Science has revealed a new insight that challenges long-held assumptions about the fundamental chemistry of lithium-ion batteries. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-lithium-ions-unexpected-clusters-battery.html Engineering Tue, 20 Oct 2026 13:20:20 EDT news711719294 The twin earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24, 2026, collapsing buildings across northern Venezuela, from Yaracuy state to Caracas, have revived a question that follows every major quake: Why do some buildings fall while others nearby remain standing? https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-collapse-earthquake-stay.html Engineering Tue, 20 Oct 2026 13:00:05 EDT news711719194 If you are inside the John D. Tickle Engineering Building at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and think you hear a semitruck slamming into a highway overpass, your ears aren't deceiving you. You've just stopped by during an experiment that promises to improve Tennessee's bridges. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-safety-conscious-tower-tn-bridges.html Engineering Tue, 20 Oct 2026 12:50:02 EDT news711718352 A small stream of liquid flows quietly in midair, horizontally, as if inside an invisible tube. Nothing touches it. About 5 centimeters (2 inches) away, a cylinder lined with hundreds of tiny speakers surrounds the stream, yet there is no sound. The liquid simply keeps flowing. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-10-ultrasound-tube-air.html Engineering Tue, 20 Oct 2026 09:40:08 EDT news711707485