DIGITAL ISSUES

THE RESILIENCY OF MECHANICAL POWER TRANSMISSION What a difference a year makes. Last year at this time, as we were putting the finishing touches on the Power Transmission Reference Guide, much of the country was shut down as the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic swept through the nation and the world. Uncertainty reigned, with…

The new social media is more than just noise Several members of our editorial staff have tried out Clubhouse, the newest social media site that’s been gaining traction. Clubhouse is more LinkedIn than Instagram, with more appeal to corporate types and more professional profile pictures. You have to use your real name, and people can…

Worst suspicions confirmed: The terrible security of internet routers Here’s the latest IDT security nightmare: All of the wireless routers through which most loT traffic passes are probably vul­nerable to botnets and other kinds of security breaches. That’s the conclusion of researchers at Fraunhofer FKIE in Germany who analyzed 127 different routers sold by seven…

Engineering Doesn’t Accommodate Personal Opinions One of the most refreshing things about the field of engineering is how the laws of physics underpinning the technologies we create are not up for debate. Acceleration due to gravity? Not up for debate. Speed of light? Not up for debate. Nuclear forces? Not up for debate. Conservation of…

Back to the engineering “Super Bowl” Some of the in-person events I’m most eager to get back are the local, regional and national FIRST Robotics championships. For three decades, these competitions have encouraged young kids to get excited about robotics and engineering. Founded by masterful inventor Dean Kamen, FIRST aims to reorient our kids’ focus…

The economy: Moving forward in 2021? Our parent company recently hosted a webinar with renowned economist Alan Beaulieu, of ITR Economics; it offered an interesting look at the economy over the coming months and years. And the outlook Beaulieu gave was quite positive in nature, something we all could use after the stressful 2020 we…

Battery breakthrough fatigue For some cheap thrills, try Googling the words “battery breakthrough.” You’ll be presented with page after page of articles breathlessly chronicling one research result after another in energy storage. But you might wonder why, with so many earth-shattering developments, electric vehicles can’t travel 1,000 miles before needing a recharge. The reason: It…

Leadership in Engineering When a manufacturing company listens to and truly partners with its customers, its engineers will design and build the kind of products that can accelerate innovation. Engineers want to solve problems, whether with custom or off-the-shelf solutions—but they want their products to be reliable. After all, no one would build himself or…

IEEE conferences: Another reason not to believe everything you read The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers got some notoriety from its research activities when it retracted more than 7,300 abstracts, most from authors in China. It turned out that most of the retractions stemmed from numerous technical conferences in Asia that were fake, set…

Seismic shifts in manufacturing? Sometimes, it takes a seismic-level event to change our way of thinking about workplace issues. We’ve had the capability to allow huge swaths of professionals to work remotely for years. Yet, it took the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic — and its forcing so many workforces into working at home —…

What will events look like in 2021? We’ve all heard, “necessity is the mother of invention.” The pandemic has certainly brought out some creative ideas regarding trade shows. With all the digital versions of nearly everything — meetings, education, tradeshows — one wonders if these changes will be permanent? A few months ago, I spent…

In this issue… Toyota Research Institute demonstrates household robot prototypes While most automakers have focused on robotics for manufacturing or on developing autonomous vehicles, Toyota Motor Corp. has also been investigating service robots for household use. Last month, Toyota Research Institute conducted a virtual open house of its research and development facilities in Los Altos,…

Spotlight on motion system applications It’s here – our annual Motion System Applications special issue. Each year our editorial team here at Design World puts together four special issues on motion control, with the last one of the year focusing on the many and varied applications for motion systems. This special issue highlights some top…

The slow rise of women in medtech leadership The gender disparity in medtech leadership is slowly shrinking as companies enlist more women to C-suite roles. That’s the takeaway from this year’s Women in Medtech issue. While women still make up a small percentage of medtech leadership roles, their numbers are up from 2019. Just 20%…

What geopolitical issues will most affect manufacturing? At the recent National Fluid Power Association’s International Economic Outlook Conference — this one held virtually, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sam Potolicchio of Preparing Global Leaders Forum, spoke about some of the key geopolitical trends likely to impact business in the coming months and years. Potolicchio explained…

Why lithium batteries won’t fill up landfills Consumers with an inclination toward sustainability have been bummed out over recent revelations that most of the plastics they have carefully separated, washed, and placed in recycling bins typically end up in the local dump. So it may come as good news that dead lithium batteries are increasingly…

Social change and the engineering world While this is an opinion column, I generally stay away from things of a political nature. Instead, here I mostly focus on engineering, manufacturing and management topics. But the social upheaval and protests in the wake of the killing of George Floyd have surely caused many of us to…

Disruption! The year 2020 will be remembered for many things: a global pandemic that disrupted global supply chains, digital-based jobs shifting from offices to Work From Home (WFH), shortages in needed medical equipment, not to mention disrupted economies, educational institutions, travel, and so on. So many systems have been upended. A bright spot, however, is…

Terminology: A modest proposal Just what exactly am I talking about? I’m talking about some common terminology used in the software, industrial controls and IT worlds, specifically two words that refer to control and networking functions. Two words so frequently used that it’s easy to not notice them or think twice about using them. The…

What will engineers want from their jobs tomorrow? For many of us, our jobs have changed in some significant ways over the last five months. A lot of us are working at home, either part time or full time. Meetings with our teams have become mostly virtual. Travel to other manufacturing facilities or job sites…

Latest connected car feature: Germicidal lights A year ago, had you brought up the idea of adding germicidal lights to a connected car, you probably would have gotten back facial expressions suggesting you’ d lost your mind. Today, the same idea would be more likely to engender a lot of head nodding. Who knew a…

Why can’t we have innovation all the time? Recently, while listening to the excellent Freakonomics Podcast, one of the guests provided some great insight into our current situation. Marshall Burke, an Associate Professor at Stanford University explained that many times it takes an outside event to force society to move in directions that it had…

COVID-19 and its effects on industrial events The era of social distancing has not been a good one for trade shows and conferences, including those that we attend across the design engineering, fluid power, R&D and related spaces. The big news earlier this Spring was Hannover Fair moving from its traditional April dates to mid-July.…

Will your good samaritanism in the pandemic buy you a lawsuit? IF YOU ARE ONE OF THE INDIVIDUALS voluntarily spending your time on technology to help abate the COVID 19 pandemic, consider the experience of the vacuum cleaner company Dyson in the UK. Company founder James Dyson estimates his firm spent about $25 million and…

Maintaining a sense of positivity — 8 takeaways from Alan Beaulieu’s economic discussion First off , I hope that you are staying healthy and sane in these challenging times. What we’re all going through is difficult for all of us, to varying degrees, based on our jobs, our financial situation, our health, and more. I’d…