Future of Manufacturing

The Short History of the Future of Manufacturing

Future of Substance: New Materials Promise Better Batteries, Stronger Steel

Seven next-generation materials promise to change the way the world is made

Atomic Toolbox: Manufacturing at the Nanoscale

Scientists are building the next generation of atomic-scale devices

Breaking the Mold: Could Additive Manufacturing Resuscitate a Once-Proud U.S. Industry?

This week key players from government, business and academia meet at Penn State to discuss new technologies and techniques they hope will lead to a resurgence in U.S. manufacturing

Yes, Robots Are Coming for Our Jobs--Now What?

Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Erik Brynjolfsson explains how technology has affected economic growth and productivity--and how human workers can adapt

Waxing Innovative: Researchers Pump Up Artificial Muscles Using Paraffin

Artificial muscles have mostly been flaccid as a replacement for motors. Could carbon nanotube yarns soaked in paraffin wax change this?

Obama Administration Announces 3 Advanced-Manufacturing Innovation Institutes

A $200-million investment will fund development in digital manufacturing technology, lightweight composites and new power sources

NASA Plans for 3-D Printing Rocket Engine Parts Could Boost Larger Manufacturing Trend [Video]

The space agency is testing alternative manufacturing processes for faster, cheaper ways to make parts for its new Space Launch System

Need a Hug? Baxter the Human-Friendly Robot Debuts at M.I.T.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—Baxter stayed behind in the lobby of the M.I.T. Media Lab, diligently picking up miniature boxes of Junior Mints and teacup candles and putting them in a pumpkin-shaped plastic bucket, as most attendees of Technology Review 's Emerging Technologies (EmTech) conference here filed into the main auditorium on Wednesday morning.Don't feel bad for Baxter, though, it was simply performing the picking and placing operations it had been programmed to do.

Plastic Electronics Cease Stretching Credulity

An experimental electronic plastic's liquid-metal interior keeps electrical connections intact even after the plastic stretches to more than four times normal size. Larry Greenemeier reports

3-D Printing Software Helps Designers Avoid Rookie Mistakes [Video]

Bedrich Benes, an associate professor of computer graphics at Purdue University It seems the future of 3-D printing is limited only by one's imagination.

Mobile Apps Offer 3-D Printing Via the Cloud [Video]

As 3-D printing has matured over the past decade, the process has proved an effective way for artists, entrepreneurs and academics to produce custom-designed parts and prototype models.

Supercomputers Can Save U.S. Manufacturing

The key to reviving manufacturing in the U.S. may lie in the nation's supercomputers

The Once and Future Nanomachine

Biology outmatches futurists' most elaborate fantasies for molecular robots

Nanoscale Printing Has Big Implications for Science and Technology

IBM researchers arrange 60-nanometer gold particles to re-create a work of Renaissance art

Who’s the Boss? Next-Gen Factory Robots Could Call the Shots

Humans and robots will work elbow to elbow on the shop floor, but you'll be surprised by who's giving the orders

A Brighter Future for Manufacturing, 3-D Printed 1 Layer at a Time

Will 3-D printing transform conventional manufacturing?

High-Powered Computing Heralds Digital Industrial Revolution

Digital simulations have become so powerful that companies send their products through the wringer—sometimes literally—before ever building a prototype