News and Updates

Displaying 1 - 25 of 58

A black and white image of the aluminum alloy under a microscope. Most of the image is light grey, but there are many small black spots that have lines extending out from them like cracks.

Rare Crystal Shape Found to Increase the Strength of 3D-Printed Metal

April 7, 2025

NIST researchers have found special atomic patterns called quasicrystals in 3D-printed aluminum alloys.

NIST Researchers Meet with NHTSA Experts to Share Approaches to Assessment of Automated Vehicle System Performance

January 1, 2025

Measurement science and standards are needed to support the safe and predictable operation of future automated vehicles (AVs), and to realize their potential to

NIST Researchers Hold an Automated Vehicle Research Day

October 1, 2024

On Thursday Sept 26, 2024, NIST held its first Automated Vehicle (AV) Research Day as an internal celebration of NIST research in automated driving. The morning

Mahima Arora sits in a red car that is outfitted with special equipment for autonomous vehicle testing.

Spotlight: Mahima Arora and Autonomous Vehicle Testing

September 24, 2024

As a robotics engineer at NIST, Mahima works on systems interactions of autonomous vehicles.

NIST Publishes Automated Vehicles Workshop Report

June 4, 2024

NIST held a virtual workshop in September 2023 on Standards and Performance Metrics for On-Road Automated Vehicles, attracting over 600 attendees from industry

NIST Automated Vehicles Team Visits Virginia Tech Transportation Institute to Discuss Collaborative Efforts

March 1, 2024

On February 28-29, 2024, the NIST Automated Vehicles team , representing multiple NIST laboratories, visited the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI)

Spotlight: Coders Wanted for Robotics Prize Challenge Offered by NIST

February 1, 2024

If you’re a coder with working knowledge of C++, Python and ROS, we have a prize challenge for you.

Omar Aboul-Enein poses next to a silver and blue robotic arm in a lab setting.

Spotlight: Mobile Robots Traversing the Factory Floor

October 25, 2022

In manufacturing plants, robotic arms are typically fastened down in one spot, repeating a single task over and over. While stationary machines are already

A woman in a face mask works at a laptop behind a curving prototype robot arm.

Spotlight: Jennifer Case and Soft Robots, the New Bots on the Block

October 12, 2021

Through squishy and flexible materials and systems of cords and cables, robots can pull off some of the remarkable body movements that animals like octopuses

New Research Could Help Manufacturers Avoid 3D-Printing Pitfall

May 19, 2021

A research team has found that a method commonly used to skirt one of metal 3D printing’s biggest problems may be far from a silver bullet. For manufacturers

A man wearing a safety visor poses in front of lab equipment.

Spotlight: Highlights From Dave Deisenroth's Postdoctoral Experience at NIST

January 12, 2021

How would you assess the success of a postdoctoral associateship? We turn to the experiences of our own researchers, including Dave Deisenroth. Here at NIST

NIST Designs a Prototype Fuel Gauge for Orbit

November 12, 2020

Liquids aren’t as well behaved in space as they are on Earth. Inside a spacecraft, microgravity allows liquids to freely slosh and float about. This behavior

A person wears an exoskeleton and 3D-printed knee apparatus fashioned with reflective markers.

Exoskeleton Research Marches Forward With NIST Study on Fit

August 20, 2020

A shoddily tailored suit or a shrunken T-shirt may not be the most stylish, but wearing them is unlikely to hurt more than your reputation. An ill-fitting

Spotlight: 3D Perception Systems

March 4, 2020

When you pick up one pencil from a pile on a table, how does your hand know where to go or what to grab? Your eyes help out. For robots to do the same, they

Robot arm picks up a red widget off a table

Spotlight: The Robot Workcell Checkup

August 28, 2019

Your toe bone is connected to your foot bone, then your heel bone, then your ankle bone … so when something hurts, doctors at your checkup can go down the line

An aerial drone sits on a launch pad before lifting off to start the NIST performance test course. Three sections of the course, poles with white bucket-shaped targets attached, are seen in the background.

NIST Performance Tests for Aerial Response Robots Become National Standard

December 4, 2018

Tracking the spread of a wildfire. Searching for a missing person. Detecting toxic fumes after an explosion before sending in rescue workers. These are just

Tucking in to NIST’s ‘3D Printer’ Testbed

May 25, 2017

3D printing of metal objects is a booming industry, with the market for products and services worth more than an estimated $2.3 billion in 2015 – a nearly five

Artifact with six reflective spheres at each end used in NIST’s new standard test method for evaluating the performance of optical tracking systems.

New Standard Helps Optical Trackers Follow Moving Objects Precisely

November 22, 2016

Throwing a perfect strike in virtual bowling doesn’t require your gaming system to precisely track the position and orientation of your swinging arm. But if you

NIST Launches International Competition to Make Robots More Agile

January 20, 2016

Manufacturers, robot suppliers and researchers, here's your chance to get in on the ground floor of an upcoming international competition intended to help make

What's the Prognosis? New Research Roadmap Aims for Fault-Free Manufacturing Processes

August 26, 2015

In today's increasingly complex manufacturing operations, Murphy's Law is only an unexpected hiccup away—anything from a data error to an errant vibration to a

NIST Releases Update of Industrial Control Systems Security Guide

June 5, 2015

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has issued the second revision to its Guide to Industrial Control Systems (ICS) Security. It includes

Standard Knowledge for Robots

May 19, 2015

What do you know? There is now a world standard for capturing and conveying the knowledge that robots possess—or, to get philosophical about it, an ontology for

Get Ahold of This: NIST to Demonstrate Tests of Grasping by Robot Hands

May 19, 2015

The act of grasping and shaking hands is a defining human ritual, with the grip intimating traits of each person involved. But what about our android

NIST Aims for Tool to Help Manufacturers Select Wireless Network That's Right for Them

May 14, 2015

Going wireless is appealing to a growing number of manufacturers. Using wireless sensor networks to monitor and control equipment and processes eliminates the

NIST Contributes to IEC White Paper on Wireless Sensor Networks, IOT

May 6, 2015

A new white paper by an international team surveys the role of wireless sensor networks in the evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT). The report catalogs

Advanced communications
-Open Radio Access Network (Open-RAN)
-Quantum communications
-Spectrum sharing
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Bioscience
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Buildings and Construction
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Forensic Science
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Information technology
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Materials
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Nanotechnology
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Physics
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Public safety
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Resilience
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