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What are Onshape Custom Features?

Certified Onshape Professional Too Tall Toby explains how to supercharge your workflow using community-created tools. In this insightful tutorial, he dives into the world of FeatureScript -- the powerful coding language behind Onshape. Learn where to find new scripts and how to use them. Save time. Learn new skills, shortcuts, and maybe even better ways to do things. Incorporate Custom Features into your everyday work. Very useful.
View the video.

What can you do with touchless magnetic angle sensors?

Novotechnik has put together an informative video highlighting real-world applications for their RFC, RFE, and RSA Series touchless magnetic angle sensors. You may be surprised at the variety of off-highway, marine, material handling, and industrial uses. You'll learn how they work (using a Hall effect microprocessor to detect position) and their key advantages, including eliminated wear and tear on these non-mechanical components. We love when manufacturers provide such useful examples.
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What can the new Autodesk Inventor AI Assistant do for you?

Autodesk Assistant brings industry-specific context to help execute tasks and orchestrate actions across your 3D models -- not just answer questions. Designed to understand your workflows, Assistant appears as a dockable panel alongside your Inventor workspace and includes the ability to perform complex tasks or gather information from your designs without writing a single line of code. Find out what this new AI "colleague" can do for you.
Watch this informative Autodesk video.

Useful! Snap-together LED enclosure lighting

Seifert StripLite SL 4000 Series LED enclosure lighting provides bright illumination to 700 lumens. On/off switch and motion sensor models are available. Easily daisy chain up to 16 light strips. Magnetic or clip mounting. See video/info on website or contact Bristol Instruments for more information.
Learn about snap-together lighting.

Next-gen multi-touch panels

Beckhoff's Next line of multi-touch control panels and panel PCs is engineered for demanding human-machine interface and control tasks. These panels offer convenient operation with advanced multi-touch technology, a high-quality look and feel, anti-glare and anti-ghosting effects, and a wide choice of formats (from 7 to 23.8 in.) and options. A main draw is the line's attractive pricing.
Learn more.

Most powerful handheld 3D laser scanner on the market

Creaform, a business of AMETEK, has launched HandySCAN 3D|EVO Series, the most powerful handheld 3D laser scanning solution on the market. This innovative series features a built-in touchscreen display and an integrated high-res 12-MP photo camera, incorporating augmented reality (AR) and advanced on-scanner visualization. Users can streamline repetitive inspections and enhance quality control processes using the new auto-alignment feature. Powered by 46 blue laser lines with accuracy of 0.020 mm. The Creaform Metrology Suite includes four application software modules: Scan-to-CAD, Inspection, Automation, and Dynamic Tracking. So many more features.
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Continental develops first sensor to measure heat in EV motors

Global automotive supplier Continental has developed a new sensor technology that measures the temperature inside permanently excited synchronous motors in electric vehicles directly on the rotor for the first time.
Read the full article.

LEDs with highest output power available

The new OCI-460 SWIR LED series from EPIGAP OSA Photonics features markedly improved output power compared to the company's previous OCI-480 package and all competitive SMD SWIR LED devices. For example, model OCI-460 ID1550-XS operates at 1,550 nm and features drive current up to 1.5A to deliver approximately 13% higher output efficiency over EPIGAP's OCI-480 package. This impressive advancement features 96% higher output power compared to any other SWIR SMD LED currently on the market. Ideal for use in sensing, machine vision, and more.
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AI and collaboration in SOLIDWORKS

Discover AURA, the new AI assistant built into SOLID-WORKS, in this informative video from TriMech Group. What can AURA do for you? It can streamline workflows and make collaborating on and tracking projects even easier, for starters. Other top features of SOLIDWORKS Design 2026 are also covered. Some good tips here.
View the TriMech Group video.

Solutions for weighing and force measurement

Automation-Direct now offers Sensy 2172L series single point, 5510 series shear beam, and 2782 series tension/compression load cells that deliver flexible solutions for weighing and force measurement. They are ideal for applications ranging from small packaging scales to rugged industrial tanks and conveyor systems. Built from aircraft-grade aluminum or stainless steel, these models feature built-in overload protection, accuracies down to 0.03% of full scale, protection ratings up to IP67, and capacities up to 2,000 kg.
Learn more.

Top Product: Future-proof enclosure cooling

Seifert's new SLIMLINE NEO ushers in next-generation industrial cooling with natural refrigerant R290 (GWP 0.02) and high-efficiency inverter technology. It cuts energy costs with EER up to 3.6, reduces refrigerant charge by 75%, and extends electronics life. A fully redesigned, lighter, smaller enclosure delivers lower vibration, better component protection, and easier handling. Available in two elegant surfaces: stainless steel and mild steel, powder coated.
Learn more.

Coin cell supercapacitors: High capacity, quick release

Coin cell supercapa-citors are compact, high-capacity energy storage devices that rapidly charge and discharge and endure far more cycles than rechargeable batteries. They're ideal for high switching loads such as real-time clock and battery back-up power, battery-swap ride-through, and LED or audible alarms. SCHURTER's latest versions support up to 5.5 V and 100 to 1,500 mF.
Learn more.

Tech Tip: Mastering sheet metal bend calculations in Onshape

Mastering bend calculations in sheet metal design is a key skill that can impact the accuracy and manufactur-ability of your designs significantly. Explore the various options available to become a pro in this Onshape Tech Tip: K Factor, bend allowance, and bend deduction, with guidance on when each should be used. You will probably learn something even if you don't use this software.
Read the Onshape blog.

Digital Engineering: How a private jet gets a high-end refurb

Ever wonder how private jets get overhauled from standard OEM layouts to exotic, artful interiors? It takes engineering expertise, specialty design skills, and true craftspeople. Increasingly, it also takes automation provided by middleware to weave a digital thread through CAD, BOM, ERP, and PDM software.
Read the full article.

How AI is quietly transforming simulation

Is AI really useful, or is it just a passing trend? Balavignesh Vemparala, an R&D Engineer II at ANSYS, lays out a compelling case for how artificial intelligence is already hard at work in the simulation world with real results for users. From faster solves to accelerated workflows, improved quality and traceability, generative models, and more, discover what you might be overlooking when it comes to real-world AI application. Worth the read.
Read this informative ANSYS blog.

MIT researchers show how to create 'humble' AI

Artificial intelligence holds promise for helping doctors diagnose patients and personalize treatment options. However, an international group of scientists led by MIT cautions that AI systems, as currently designed, carry the risk of steering doctors in the wrong direction because they may overconfidently make incorrect decisions.

One way to prevent these mistakes is to program AI systems to be more "humble," according to the researchers. Such systems would reveal when they are not confident in their diagnoses or recommendations and would encourage users to gather additional information when the diagnosis is uncertain.

"We're now using AI as an oracle, but we can use AI as a coach. We could use AI as a true co-pilot. That would not only increase our ability to retrieve information but increase our agency to be able to connect the dots," says Leo Anthony Celi, a senior research scientist at MIT's Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, a physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.

Celi and his colleagues have created a framework that they say can guide AI developers in designing systems that display curiosity and humility. This new approach could allow doctors and AI systems to work as partners, the researchers say, and help prevent AI from exerting too much influence over doctors' decisions.

Celi is the senior author of the study, which appeared Mar. 24 in BMJ Health and Care Informatics. The paper's lead author is Sebastian Andres Cajas Ordonez, a researcher at MIT Critical Data, a global consortium led by the Laboratory for Computational Physiology within the MIT Institute for Medical Engineering and Science.

Instilling human values
Overconfident AI systems can lead to errors in medical settings, according to the MIT team. Previous studies have found that ICU physicians defer to AI systems that they perceive as reliable even when their own intuition goes against the AI suggestion. Physicians and patients alike are more likely to accept incorrect AI recommendations when they are perceived as authoritative.

In place of systems that offer overconfident but potentially incorrect advice, healthcare facilities should have access to AI systems that work more collaboratively with clinicians, the researchers say.

"We are trying to include humans in these human-AI systems, so that we are facilitating humans to collectively reflect and reimagine, instead of having isolated AI agents that do everything. We want humans to become more creative through the usage of AI," Cajas Ordonez says.

To create such a system, the consortium designed a framework that includes several computational modules that can be incorporated into existing AI systems. The first of these modules requires an AI model to evaluate its own certainty when making diagnostic predictions. Developed by consortium members Janan Arslan and Kurt Benke of the University of Melbourne, the Epistemic Virtue Score acts as a self-awareness check, ensuring the system's confidence is appropriately tempered by the inherent uncertainty and complexity of each clinical scenario.

With that self-awareness in place, the model can tailor its response to the situation. If the system detects that its confidence exceeds what the available evidence supports, it can pause and flag the mismatch, requesting specific tests or history that would resolve the uncertainty, or recommending specialist consultation. The goal is an AI that not only provides answers but also signals when those answers should be treated with caution.

"It's like having a co-pilot that would tell you that you need to seek a fresh pair of eyes to be able to understand this complex patient better," Celi says.

Celi and his colleagues have previously developed large-scale databases that can be used to train AI systems, including the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC) database from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. His team is now working on implementing the new framework into AI systems based on MIMIC and introducing it to clinicians in the Beth Israel Lahey Health system.

This approach could also be implemented in AI systems that are used to analyze X-ray images or to determine the best treatment options for patients in the emergency room, among others, the researchers say.

Toward more inclusive AI
This study is part of a larger effort by Celi and his colleagues to create AI systems that are designed by and for the people who are ultimately going to be most impacted by these tools. Many AI models, such as MIMIC, are trained on publicly available data from the United States, which can lead to the introduction of biases toward a certain way of thinking about medical issues, and exclusion of others.

Bringing in more viewpoints is critical to overcoming these potential biases, says Celi, emphasizing that each member of the global consortium brings a distinct perspective to a broader, collective understanding.

Another problem with existing AI systems used for diagnostics is that they are usually trained on electronic health records, which weren't originally intended for that purpose. This means that the data lack much of the context that would be useful in making diagnoses and treatment recommendations. Additionally, many patients never get included in those datasets because of lack of access, such as people who live in rural areas.

At data workshops hosted by MIT Critical Data, groups of data scientists, healthcare professionals, social scientists, patients, and others work together on designing new AI systems. Before beginning, everyone is prompted to think about whether the data they're using captures all the drivers of whatever they aim to predict, ensuring they don't inadvertently encode existing structural inequities into their models.

"We make them question the dataset. Are they confident about their training data and validation data? Do they think that there are patients that were excluded, unintentionally or intentionally, and how will that affect the model itself?" Celi says. "Of course, we cannot stop or even delay the development of AI, not just in healthcare, but in every sector. But, we must be more deliberate and thoughtful in how we do this."

Source: MIT

Published April 2026

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