Magazine Articles - SAE Mobilus
One of the biggest goals for companies in the field of artificial intelligence (AI) is developing “agentic” systems. These metaphorical agents can perform tasks without a guiding human hand. This parallels the goals of the emerging urban air mobility industry, which hopes to bring autonomous flying vehicles to cities around the world. One company wants to do both and got a head start with some help from NASA.
Robots may soon have a new way to communicate with people. Not through words or screens, but with light and images projected directly onto the world around them.
The U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) achieved a major milestone during a demonstration event in August, showcasing the Joint Antenna Marketplace (JAM) and successfully transferring the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory’s (NRL) Transmit/Receive Enterprise (TREx) Service from a research and development project into an SSC operational prototype.
Battery technology is at the center of global innovation. From electric vehicles and off-highway machinery to consumer electronics and grid storage, demand for high-performing, reliable batteries has never been higher. This acceleration creates pressure on manufacturers to scale production while safeguarding quality and throughput.
A new material might contribute to a reduction of the fossil fuels consumed by aircraft engines and gas turbines in the future. A research team from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has developed a refractory metal-based alloy with properties unparalleled to date. The novel combination of chromium, molybdenum, and silicon is ductile at ambient temperature. With its melting temperature of about 2,000 degrees Celsius, it remains stable even at high temperatures and is at the same time oxidation resistant. The results are published in the journal Nature.
It is not easy to transmit individual photons precisely from an aircraft, capture them in a ground station and detect them successfully. Researchers have, however, now managed to do exactly that. They have even measured, multiple times, various quantum channels between an aircraft and a ground station, sent photons to an ion trap and tested technologies for quantum key distribution (QKD).
Minimally invasive and interventional platforms increasingly demand smaller profiles, tighter tolerances, and components that maintain performance under thermal, chemical, and mechanical stress. Polyimide (PI) has emerged as a workhorse within these parameters because it combines high strength, thermal stability, chemical inertness, dielectric performance, and biocompatibility in thin-wall formats suitable for catheters, electrophysiology tools, and neurovascular systems. 1- 3
All-solid-state batteries are safe, powerful ways to power EVs and electronics and store electricity from the energy grid, but the lithium used to build them is rare, expensive, and can be environmentally devastating to extract. Sodium is an inexpensive, plentiful, less-destructive alternative, but the all-solid-state batteries they create currently don’t work as well at room temperature.
By flipping a foundational belief in battery design, Hailong Chen, an Associate Professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, and his team, found that charging zinc-ion batteries at higher currents can make them last longer. This surprising result, recently published in Nature Communications, challenges core assumptions and offers a path toward safer, more affordable alternatives to lithium-ion technology.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) researchers have overcome a barrier to using a more affordable, dry process for manufacturing the Li-ion batteries used in vehicles and electronic devices. The resulting batteries provide greater electricity flow and reduced risk of overheating.
As advanced technologies reshape the medical device landscape, the demands placed on contract manufacturers are evolving. Today’s partners are expected to do more than deliver components — they must anticipate disruptions, adapt quickly, and bring a level of technical and strategic depth that supports faster development without compromising quality.
Finland-based Metos Oy, a manufacturer of professional stainless steel kitchen equipment, needed a welding solution that could deliver flawless, pressure-rated welds for small batches of high-spec products, which feature tubular structures and circular shafts that required continuous, precision welding.
Today’s electric vehicle boom is tomorrow’s mountain of electronic waste. And while myriad efforts are underway to improve battery recycling, many EV batteries still end up in landfills. A research team from MIT wants to help change that with a new kind of self-assembling battery material that quickly breaks apart when submerged in a simple organic liquid. In a new paper published in Nature Chemistry, the researchers showed the material can work as the electrolyte in a functioning, solid-state battery cell and then revert back to its original molecular components in minutes.
Like octopi squeezing through a tiny sea cave, metatruss robots can adapt to demanding environments by changing their shape. These mighty morphing robots are made of trusses composed of hundreds of beams and joints that rotate and twist, enabling astonishing volumetric transformations.
From sorting objects in a warehouse to navigating furniture while vacuuming, robots today use sensors, software control systems, and moving parts to perform tasks. The harder the task or more complex the environment, the more cumbersome and expensive the electronic components.
Missions to the moon and other planets will require large-scale infrastructure that would benefit from autonomous assembly by robots without on-site human intervention. Modular and reconfigurable structures, such as those built from lattice-based building blocks, are reusable and easy to manufacture. Furthermore, reconfigurable systems have the potential to outperform traditional, fixed infrastructure in applications that require high levels of flexibility in addition to structural strength and rigidity. NASA Ames Research Center has developed a novel and efficient mobile bipedal robot system to construct low-mass, high precision, and largescale infrastructure.
Researchers at the University of California San Diego have developed a soft robotic skin that enables vine robots that are just a few millimeters wide to navigate convoluted paths and fragile environments. To accomplish this, the researchers integrated a very thin layer of actuators made of liquid crystal elastomer at strategic locations in the soft skin. The robot is steered by controlling the pressure inside its body and temperature of the actuators.
To develop spacecraft that can “maneuver without regret,” the U.S. Space Force is providing $35 million to a national research team, including engineers at the University of Washington. It will be the first to bring fast chemical rockets together with efficient electric propulsion powered by a nuclear microreactor.
PACCAR provided the executive leadership guiding this year's SAE COMVEC conference held in mid-September in Schaumburg, Illinois. It was fitting, then, that John Rich, senior vice president and chief technology officer at PACCAR, kicked off the event as the featured keynote speaker. His presentation centered around the event's theme: “Shaping the Future Together” by embracing advancement, empowerment and exploration in the commercial vehicle industry. He also answered a range of questions during a sit-down with Phil Stephenson, general manager of PACCAR Technical Center, who served as the COMVEC executive chair. Following are a few of the key insights Rich shared with attendees in the packed venue.
Thor Industries introduced what it claims is the world's first extended-range Class A motorhome. The company claims the Embark by Entegra Coach offers up to 450 miles (725 km) of real-world driving range thanks to an integrated range extender. “Electrification will play a central role in the future of mobility, including RVing,” said Thor Industries president and CEO Bob Martin. “This first-of-its-kind electric Class A motorhome reinforces Thor's innovation leadership and offers unparalleled product differentiation for the Entegra Coach brand.”
Komatsu has launched a new excavator, the PC220LCi-12, that features its latest intelligent machine control technology. IMC 3.0 incorporates automation enhancements and a reported “construction-industry first” technology - factory-integrated 3D boundary control - designed to boost operator productivity. The intelligent machine, displayed previously at Bauma 2025 in Munich, Germany, has many of the same features as the new PC220LC-12 excavator, including a cab that is 28% larger, with 30% more legroom and 50% improved visibility compared to the PC210LC-11 model. Other advantages the new machines offer are up to a 20% increase in fuel efficiency thanks to a new electrohydraulic system and 129-kW (173-hp) next-generation engine, and up to a 20% reduction in maintenance costs due to longer replacement intervals for hydraulic oil and oil filters and longer cleaning intervals for the particulate filter.
Custom electrohydraulic solutions can address unique demands not satisfied by standard components. As mobile equipment is pushed to perform in increasingly demanding and challenging environments - ranging from frozen construction sites to harsh marine applications - some OEMs are discovering that customized solutions can provide significant advantages. Standard electronic controls and hydraulic components are carefully engineered to meet the requirements of a broad range of typical applications. For many OEMs, these components provide a dependable and cost-effective foundation, especially in environments and duties that don't push operational boundaries.
As I'm wont to do come December, with work well underway on the first issue of the new year, I like to take stock of upcoming venues for innovative product reveals and thought-provoking presentations on emerging trends and technologies. Come the first week of January, that means CES in Las Vegas. Traditional equipment manufacturers have increasingly used the event to demonstrate to the broader public that they not only deal in metal but also the digital realm. For example, earlier this year at CES, John Deere revealed its second-generation tech stack featuring camera pods, Nvidia Orin purpose-built processors and Deere's VPUs (vision processing units), along with four new autonomous machines including the 9RX 640 tractor for open-field ag operations. The company is exhibiting again this coming year.
When manufacturers seek to leverage specialized expertise, advanced processing capabilities, or proprietary technologies without assuming the financial burden of acquiring and maintaining dedicated equipment or facilities, they often turn to toll processing.
In the race toward practical quantum computers and networks, photons — fundamental particles of light — hold intriguing possibilities as fast carriers of information at room temperature. Photons are typically controlled and coaxed into quantum states via waveguides on extended microchips, or through bulky devices built from lenses, mirrors, and beam splitters. The photons become entangled — enabling them to encode and process quantum information in parallel — through complex networks of these optical components. But such systems are notoriously difficult to scale up due to the large numbers and imperfections of parts required to do any meaningful computation or networking.
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy represents a breakthrough in cancer treatment. By harnessing the body’s immune system, CAR T therapy provides a powerful, personalized treatment option that can be particularly effective for treating blood cancers like leukemia — potentially offering patients a second chance at life when other treatments have failed.
Researchers have created a simulation model to analyze how coastal management activities meant to protect barrier islands from sea-level rise can disrupt the natural processes that are keeping barrier islands above water.
Raytheon East Hartford, CT corporatepr@rtx.com
Leonardo DRS Arlington, VA mmount@drs.com
Researchers at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and Brazil’s Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA) will combine forces on one of the main challenges of electric aircraft — controlling the heat spikes they generate at takeoff.
Dangling from a weather balloon 80,000 feet above New Mexico, a pair of antennas sticks out from a Styrofoam cooler. From that height, the blackness of space presses against Earth’s blue skies. But the antennas are not captivated by the breathtaking view. Instead, they listen for signals that could make air travel safer.
Moog Inc. East Aurora, NY kgibas@moog.com
In this Q&A, Audrey Turley, director of lab operations – biosafety at Nelson Laboratories, spoke with Medical Design Briefs about the critical importance of monitoring and managing material changes in medical devices. Even seemingly minor shifts — such as switching suppliers or altering processing steps — can introduce unknown additives or variations that impact biocompatibility and, ultimately, patient safety. Turley discusses how manufacturers can effectively document and justify changes, maintain regulatory compliance, and strengthen supplier relationships to ensure ongoing device safety. She also shares insights into trends shaping post-pandemic supply-chain strategies and the growing emphasis on proactive risk assessment and communication across the product lifecycle.
Automating harvesters started out as a necessary solution to a severe labor shortage in 1990, Trebro Manufacturing states on its website. The Billings, Montana-based manufacturer has been producing turf harvesting machines since 1999, and its automated sod harvesters and entire harvesting process feature self-driving, automated-control functions. The company's tag line, “The Future of Turf Harvesting,” refers to its position of being the first in the industry to offer automated turf harvesting products. Trebro's AutoStack 3 harvester is an automated combine for turf that steers itself while an operator monitors and performs quality control actions when needed. The harvesting process combines several automated control processes.
Stoneridge displayed its vision for the future of commercial vehicle technology on the SAE COMVEC 2025 exhibit floor. The Innovation Truck showcases the Tier 1 supplier's next-generation vision and driver-assistance technologies designed to enhance driver safety and fleet optimization. Mario Gafencu, product design and evaluation specialist at Stoneridge, gave Truck & Off-Highway Engineering a tech truck walkaround at the event. The first technology Gafencu detailed was the second-generation MirrorEye camera monitor system that's designed to replace the glass mirrors on the sides of a truck.
Combining simulation with probabilistic ML enables engineers to chart the full design landscape, quantify uncertainty and uncover viable options that intuition and brute force alone would miss. Components and systems are routinely designed and validated virtually through tools like CFD and FEA before any physical prototype is built. The benefits are obvious: faster iteration, reduced cost and better products. But simulation is not cheap. Each run can take hours, consume costly GPU/CPU resources and require highly skilled engineers who are already in short supply. Licenses and compute costs can easily reach tens of thousands of dollars per seat, and most teams can complete only a few runs per day.
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