Iowa State University

Ultra- Precision Agriculture Uses Machine Learning, Robots

A gardener hoping for a crop of the juiciest summer tomatoes might tend to each and every plant in a plot. But a farmer working to feed the world? Researchers believe that may be possible. They're applying and integrating layers of technologies - including sensors, machine learning, artificial intelligence, high-throughput phenotyping platforms such as drones and small-scale rolling robots that can also fertilize, weed and cull single plants in a field - with the ultimate goal of replacing farmers' reliance on heavy machinery and broadcast spraying in operations of all sizes.

Researchers Print, Tune Graphene Sensors to Monitor Food Freshness

Researchers dipped their new, printed sensors into tuna broth and watched the readings. It turned out the sensors - printed with high-resolution aerosol jet printers on a flexible polymer film and tuned to test for histamine, an allergen and indicator of spoiled fish and meat - can detect histamine down to 3.41 parts per million.

SEMI-FlexTech Launches Six New Projects

SEMI-FlexTech announced the launch of six projects to accelerate sensor and sensor system innovations for new applications in industries including healthcare, automotive, industrial and defense.

Finalists Announced for 2019 R&D 100 Awards

Finalists for the venerable R&D 100 Awards have been announced by R&D World magazine and its new parent company, WTWH Media, LLC.

SAFI-Tech's No-Heat SAC305 Receives Investment

The electronics manufacturing world has long been searching for a low-heat or no-heat solder solution. Advanced electronics designs with lightweight flexible substrates or sensitive miniaturized components require a dramatic reduction in processing heat while still meeting high operating temperature requirements.

Heat-free tech for flexible electronics

The latest application of undercooled metal technology features liquid metal (in this case Field's metal, an alloy of bismuth, indium and tin) trapped below its melting point in polished, oxide shells, creating particles about 10 millionths of a meter across.

Flexible, water-repellent graphene circuits for washable electronics

New graphene printing technology can produce electronic circuits that are low-cost, flexible, highly conductive and water repellent.

Wearable sensors for plants

Researchers have developed a process for fabricating intricate graphene patterns on tape.

Scientists able to "see" light-to-energy transfer in new solar cells

Scientists are now able to capture the moment less than one trillionth of a second a particle of light hits a solar cell and becomes energy, and describe the physics of the charge carrier and atom movement for the first time.

Money doesn't grow on trees, but electricity might

Scientists have built a device that mimics the branches and leaves of a cottonwood tree and generates electricity when its artificial leaves sway in the wind.

Glass in batteries to increase performance and safety

Professor believes using glassy solids as the electrolytes in batteries would make for safer, more powerful batteries.

New steel for better electric motors

Within a few years, the U.S. Department of Energy wants plug-in electric vehicles to be just as affordable and convenient as the internal-combustion machines most of us drive today.

Printed graphene treated with lasers to enable paper electronics

Treating inkjet-printed, multi-layer graphene electric circuits and electrodes with a pulsed-laser process improves electrical conductivity without damaging paper, polymers or other fragile printing surfaces.

Scientists develop quick-destructing battery for transient devices

Self-destructing electronic devices could keep military secrets out of enemy hands. Or they could save patients the pain of removing a medical device. Or, they could allow environmental sensors to wash away in the rain.

Flexible skin that traps radar waves, cloaks objects

Engineers have developed a new flexible, stretchable and tunable "meta-skin" that uses rows of small, liquid-metal devices to cloak an object from the sharp eyes of radar.

Autonomous agricultural vehicles

True to its name, the IDTechEx report, Autonomous Vehicles Land, Water, Air 2015-2035 gives the full picture. Here we share some of the latest entries as it is continuously updated to reflect the rapid progress in this sector.

INDA - RISE & n3m 2015

INDA, the industry association for non-woven fabrics focused the keynotes of its RISE & n3m 2015 conference on emerging technologies and the way they could influence the future of non-wovens. To that end, presentations focused on the potential for innovation in fabrics and textiles and the way emerging technologies are expected to be integrated in traditional fabric technologies. Here IDTechEx provides a summary of its key learnings.

Developing materials and electronics that dissolve when triggered

A medical device, once its job is done, could harmlessly melt away inside a person's body.