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Taking Measure Blog Posts

Manufacturing

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Displaying 51 - 57 of 57

Diagram of green and gray human-shaped mechanical figures

Making 'The Technology' for Exoskeletons a Reality

February 28, 2017

Bill Billotte

I grew up in a small farming community in southern Georgia. My main exposure to new technology was through the annual farm equipment exposition, science fiction books and television. One of my favorite shows was The Six Million Dollar Man. Do you remember the famous opening lines? "Steve Austin

Man holding handheld console and yellow robot arm

Helping Robots Be Less Robotic

November 16, 2016

Craig Schlenoff

Whether they’re behind the scenes assembling products or helping you parallel park your car, robots are already playing a big role in our day-to-day lives. And robots will only become a more pervasive part of our lives in the coming decades. But they aren’t good at everything ... yet. For instance

A Little Light Construction: Laser Welding in Three Acts

November 7, 2016

Brian Simonds

Welding is said to be more art than science. In part, this is a nod to the vital, skilled work that welders perform. It’s also recognition of the fact that the physics of the process is really, really difficult to understand. I joined a NIST project on laser welding about two years ago. Before this

Connected gray boxes with x's at each intersection of red and yellow and yellow arrow across the design

Revolution by Design: The Materials Genome Initiative

August 17, 2016

Jim Warren

The creation of a new material has long been either an accident or a matter of trial and error. Steel, for instance, was developed over hundreds of years by people who didn’t know why what they were doing worked (or didn’t work). Generations of blacksmiths observed that iron forged in charcoal was

Man in blue shirt working at computer looking at device in lab

Additive Manufacturing Equals Excitement

June 23, 2016

Jarred Heigel

I research additive manufacturing, which some people call solid freeform fabrication, but most people know as 3-D printing. Additive manufacturing covers a wide range of processes that we can use to build parts and whole structures by strategically adding material only where we need it. Building

National Inventor’s Month: You Can Make It If You Try!

May 5, 2016

Mark Esser

Depending on whom you ask, May (or August or April, it would be great if someone were to standardize this … we’re going with May) is National Inventor’s Month. Lots of people have dreams of being a famous inventor. Even I’ve had “ideas” for inventions before. For instance, back in the 1990s, after

May with brown ponytail and safety glasses working in lab

Making a Lasting Impression on the Auto Industry

April 6, 2016

Adam Creuziger

Today in Taking Measure we asked Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) recipient Adam Creuziger a few questions about his life and work. Adam was recognized for his impact on U.S. automobile manufacturing because of his expertise in the measurement and analysis of

Manufacturing

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