News by Subject Technology & Engineering

Robotics researchers have found a way for autonomous underwater vehicles to navigate strong currents with greater energy efficiency, which means the AUVs can gather data longer and better.

A ground-breaking new study challenges the assumption that moral decisions are strongly context dependent and cannot be modeled or described algorithmically, finding that human behavior in dilemma situations can be modeled by a simple value-of-life-based model. The research suggests that human moral behavior can be well-described by algorithms and used by machines to manage moral dilemmas on the road.

The hype around hydrogen fuel cells has died down, but scientists have continued to pursue new technologies that could enable such devices to gain a firmer foothold. Now one team has developed an electrocatalyst to replace the currently dominant, but expensive, one of choice -- platinum -- that could help boost the fledgling fuel-cell industry. Their report appears in the journal ACS Nano.

While the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) Safety Measurement System (SMS) used to identify commercial motor vehicle carriers at high risk for future crashes is conceptually sound, several features of its implementation need improvement, says a new congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

Researchers at the University of Waterloo have developed a system for service vehicles that could reduce emissions and save companies and governments millions of dollars per year in fuel costs.