August Hardware Roundup: Mega Chips & Origami Robots

Our roundup host this month is Swetha, a manufacturing engineer on our operations team! This month, we’re taking a look at origami robots, stick-on health sensors, and autonomous flight.

Hardware Knowledge

• These origami-like soft robots are fully untethered and move in response to external stimuli. + A tiny, two-legged PCB robot.
• The Air Force is testing a robot that can autonomously pilot the military’s existing fleet of aircraft with minimal modifications. + Starhopper’s final test flight.
• A look into the making of a New Balance sneaker. The 990 Sport was re-released with a 3D printed heel made of a photopolymer resin.
• Cerebras has developed a mega chip that’s about the size of a tablet. It’s designed to be used in data centers where heavy duty processing for cloud-based AI is carried out.
• As electronics become more compact, researchers are working to develop thinner heat shields. + A stick-on rubber health sensor.
• Incoterms 101: Everything you need to know about international logistics. + 5 reasons why manufacturing should implement project management methods.
• A mini-model of the Eiffel Tower that took almost 80 hours to machine.

Industry News

• Funding & Acquisition: Amazon’s potential acquisition of Rivian in the next 5 years. Starship Technologies has raised $40 million in Series A funding to expand its robot delivery services. + Peloton files for IPO.
• Toyota, Ford, General Motors, and Volkswagen: Differing strategies over the best path to full electrification.
• Waymo has released a free open dataset from 1,000 autonomous driving segments. Spin is working to gather data from its scooters to improve rider safety.
• Globalfoundries is suing Taiwan’s dominant chip manufacturer for infringement. They account for 50% of the market for outsourced chip production. + December tariff delay.
• What does the new “manufacturing stack” look like? Here’s an in-depth model. 
• Onshape’s first-ever research report focuses on the current state of product development.

Events + Community

• ElectroSpit’s mobile talkbox is featured on songs from award-winning artists. Learn more about their crowdfunding campaign!
• Fictiv is currently hiring a Director of Business Operations and Systems. To see this and other roles, visit our careers page!
• Future Factory is hosting a 5-day program in September. The Smart Manufacturing Summit is being held at Tesla’s Fremont Factory on September 10. 

For the Love of Robotic Arms

Multiply Labs has a fully automated robotic facility that’s able to mass personalize pharmaceutical products.