Kayak paddles, snowshoes, skateboards. Outdoor sporting goods used to be a tough market for 3D printing to break into, but fused particle fabrication (FPF) can change that. A team led by engineers from Michigan Technological University and re:3D, Inc. developed and tested the Gigabot X, an open source industrial FPF 3D printer, which can use…
Spiky Ferrofluid Thrusters Can Move Satellites
Brandon Jackson, a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at Michigan Technological University, has created a new computational model of an electrospray thruster using ionic liquid ferrofluid — a promising technology for propelling small satellites through space. Specifically, Jackson looks at simulating the electrospray startup dynamics; in other words, what gives the ferrofluid its characteristic spikes.…
Streamlining the Internet of Things and Other Cyber-Physical Systems
Sometimes referred to as the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems vary from phones to self-driving cars, from airplane controls to home energy meters. They are both touchable objects and invisible code. However, as streamlined as cyber-physical systems appear, the technology developed within manufacturing systems that were not designed to accommodate it. To change that, researchers…
‘Robotic Falcon’ Can Capture, Retrieve Renegade Drones
In January 2015, a Washington, DC, hobbiest accidentally flew his DJI Phantom quadcopter drone over the White House fence and crashed it on the lawn. Two years earlier, a prankster sent his drone toward German prime minister Angela Merkel during a campaign rally. Small drones have also proven to be effective tools of mischief that…
Developing Graphene-Nanotube Hybrid Switches
Graphene has been called a wonder material, capable of performing great and unusual material acrobatics. Boron nitride nanotubes are no slackers in the materials realm either, and can be engineered for physical and biological applications. However, on their own, these materials are terrible for use in the electronics world. As a conductor, graphene lets electrons…
Bringing Back the Magic in Metamaterials
A single drop of blood is teeming with microorganisms–imagine if we could see them, and even nanometer-sized viruses, with the naked eye. That’s a real possibility with what scientists call a “perfect lens.” The lens hasn’t been created yet but it is a theoretical perfected optical lens made out of metamaterials, which are engineered to…
Changing Recycling Standards as 3D Printing Expands
The 3-D printing revolution has changed the way we think about plastics. Everything from children’s toys to office supplies to high-value laboratory equipment can be printed. The potential savings of producing goods at the household- and lab-scale is remarkable, especially when producers use old prints and recycle them. Buying plastic filament for printing can be…
‘Virtual’ Breast Could Improve Cancer Detection
Next to lung cancer, breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women, according to the American Cancer Society. That’s why so many medical professionals encourage women to get mammograms, even though the tests are imperfect at best: only a minority of suspicious mammograms actually leads to a cancer diagnosis. That results in…