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Why a soccer kick bends the ball path: SOLIDWORKS simulation

With SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation, you can virtually test a ball's flight path and see the science behind its amazing trajectory. Visualize anything you want to test, including the physics that make a ball curve and dip, to optimize performance and reduce physical testing. See the SOLIDWORKS Flow Simulation study setup and learn about the Magnus effect where a spinning object moving through a fluid curves away from its straight path. [Credit: Screenshot courtesy of SOLIDWORKS]
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Lightning-fast in-line verification, high-performance barcode reading

The Omron VHV5 Barcode Reader now combines high-performance barcode reading and calibrated ISO verification in one device. Replacing offline sample checks, it delivers 100% inline verification at production speeds up to 1,200 parts per minute. With flexible lighting, the VHV5 easily inspects labels and Direct Part Marks, even on challenging curved or irregular surfaces.
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How to choose the right industrial Ethernet switch

Antaira Technologies breaks down 10 mission-critical capabilities separating industrial-grade switches from commercial compromises. Even if you aren't in IT engineering, you will find valuable networking knowledge in this guide to protect vital infrastructure.
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New CAM software cuts robotic machining deployment

At Automate (Booth #4476), RoboDK will showcase RoboDK CAM, which generates robotic machining programs directly from CAD files. Designed for easy deployment, it cuts setup time by up to 40%. Live demonstrations will show users how to create collision-free robot motion straight from CAD data, eliminating manual line-by-line coding.
Learn more about RoboDK CAM.

AI Tools You Can Use: What is OpenClaw? How do I get it and use it?

OpenClaw is trending big time right now, but what is it? The YouTubers over at Create a Pro Website run through the basics of what you need to know and how to implement it. Basically, OpenClaw is a next-gen 24/7 AI assistant that lives on your computer and can perform actions for you. You talk to it through a chat app. You can set it up to do real work such as alert you to important emails, answer emails for you, manage your calendar and travel, and so much more. There is a great intro video here and also a longer, very thorough step-by-step video to setting up OpenClaw.
View the OpenClaw intro video.
View the OpenClaw setup video.

New! 6-digit programmable display/controller

Bristol Instruments has released the OM 403UNI Series displays/ controllers, allowing users to monitor two or three simultaneous functions. Configured via OM Link software or front-panel buttons, they feature four- or six-digit displays with +/-0.05% of f.s. range accuracy. They function as numeric/bar-graph displays, controllers, data recorders, or accumulators. Additionally, they detect and alert users to error conditions like broken sensor wires.
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Mini edge AI systems for vision, generative AI

As enterprises transition from PoC to real-world edge AI deployment, Aetina has launched its Mini Series Edge AI systems. Powered by NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano and NX modules, these compact, fanless systems deliver high-performance vision and generative AI inference. Engineered for demanding industrial environments, they offer flexible camera connectivity, space-saving designs, and long-term reliability to accelerate smart infrastructure.
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Thermal imaging on the quality control line

On a high-speed food and beverage line, what you can see is not always what is happening. Thermal imaging adds a different layer of control. Instead of relying on surface appearance, it measures heat distribution as seals are formed and products move through the line, providing continuous, 100% in-line inspection instead of just sampling.
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Built for the test bench, ready for the field

FUTEK's IDC150 Signal Conditioner packages high-performance signal conditioning in a rugged aluminum enclosure. Built for engineers needing accurate, synchronized data from strain gauge sensors, it fits prototyping and lab environments. The device connects seamlessly to existing setups and pairs with SENSIT software and Python APIs. It is ideal for compact, high-performance digital sensor evaluation.
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Automotive lighting systems simplified, optimized

The new MLX81119 from Melexis is an 18-channel LIN RGB LED controller with an integrated DC/DC converter, designed to simplify and optimize automotive lighting systems. By generating the LED supply voltage locally on chip, this unit significantly reduces power dissipation, external components, and space requirements in increasingly dense vehicle applications such as door panels, dashboards, and charge-port lighting.
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How healthy is your machine? Moisture-in-Oil Sensor

iST's Moisture-in-Oil Sensor is a compact, digital RH/T module that accurately and continuously monitors the water content in oils and fuels. This sensor does not simply measure the absolute water content -- it measures the relative saturation level in % RH or water activity aw in %. This means you get a direct picture of the current oil quality and can react in time. Applications include: marine engines and gearboxes, commercial and rail vehicles, wind turbines and generators, drilling and paper machines, and more. Eval kit available.
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World's first native color lidar sensors

Ouster Rev8 features the world's first patented native color lidar sensors. For the first time, a single lidar sensor can understand road signs, interpret brake lights, or simply capture the richness of planet Earth in survey-grade, colorized maps. Based on patented Ouster Silicon with embedded Fujifilm color science, the L4 chip boasts 42.9 GMACs of processing power, detection of up to 20 trillion photons per sec, and a 40-kHz measurement rate with picosecond timing precision. Sees up to 200 m.
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Real-world applications: 3D camera ensures precise aircraft cabin drilling

In modern aircraft production, precision is everything. In this application article, learn how an Ensenso 3D camera integrated into an automated process chain ensures accurate detection and alignment of drilling positions in aircraft cabin assembly using the CAD data of the aircraft frame.
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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.
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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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Superconducting temperature record set at ordinary pressures

A new record for superconductivity without extreme pressure could pave the way for more efficient energy systems and next-generation technologies.

By Joseph E. Harmon, Argonne National Laboratory

For more than 30 years, a record in science held firm: minus 220 degrees Fahrenheit. It defined the highest achieved temperature for any material to become superconducting -- able to carry electricity with no resistance -- without the need for crushing pressures. In a field known for slow, steady progress, the record had come to seem almost immovable.

That limit has always been daunting, because most known superconductors work only at temperatures close to absolute zero -- hundreds of degrees below zero Fahrenheit. Keeping materials so ultracold requires complex and costly cooling systems. This limits where and how these materials can be applied to niche technologies, such as MRI scanners and particle accelerators.

Now, the record has shifted. Researchers from the University of Houston and the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have raised that temperature by 30 degrees, to minus 190 degrees Fahrenheit. They did so with a carefully designed oxide made of mercury, barium, calcium, and copper, known as a cuprate superconductor.

Schematic of a sample in a diamond anvil cell showing superconducting temperature before compression, under high pressure, and after pressure release. The pressure-quench process leaves the sample with a higher superconducting temperature at ambient pressure. [Credit: Image by University of Houston]

 

 

 

 

Higher-temperature superconductors could allow far more efficient generation, delivery, and use of electricity. They could also eventually lead to new technologies, such as more practical fusion energy systems and quantum devices.

In earlier work using Argonne's Advanced Photon Source (APS), a DOE Office of Science user facility, scientists reported on a different material that becomes superconducting at temperatures close to room temperature. The drawback was that it worked only under pressures so intense that the material remains impractical outside specialized laboratories.

In the present project, the University of Houston team developed a method known as a pressure-quench protocol to address that challenge. They compressed a cuprate sample inside a diamond anvil cell to pressures approaching 30 gigapascals, about 300 times the pressure at the ocean bottom. Once there, the researchers rapidly released the pressure while preserving the material's superconducting properties.

"This is a major step toward practical superconductors that operate at room temperature and pressure," said Hua Zhou, an Argonne physicist and co-author in the study, "and with this material still superconducting at normal pressure, scientists can study it with widely available instruments and begin developing technologies that work under everyday conditions."

However, breaking the record is only part of the story. Understanding why it broke also matters. That is where the APS played a critical role.

The APS beamline 16-ID-B is one of the few in the world able to study materials under such extreme conditions. Its intense, tightly focused X-ray beams allowed scientists to detect subtle changes in the cuprate's internal structure at microscopic scales during the pressure-quench process. These measurements revealed details that would otherwise remain hidden.

As explained by Maddury Somayazulu, an APS group leader at Argonne, applying such high pressure changes the distances between atoms in a material, effectively forcing them into a new arrangement. That process stores energy in the system. If the pressure is released slowly, the atoms have time to relax and return to their normal structure. However, when the pressure is removed very quickly, the material can become trapped in a temporary state known as metastable. In that condition, the structure does not fully relax and instead forms many small defects.

These flaws in the orderly arrangement of atoms appear to stabilize the superconducting state. As a result, the cuprate sample can superconduct at higher temperatures without the need for continued pressure.

"That was a key insight in understanding how the pressure-quench process stabilizes the superconducting state," Zhou said.

The findings also highlight the growing importance of advanced light sources such as the APS in modern materials science. Following a major upgrade completed in recent years, the facility now produces X-ray beams up to 500 times brighter and more tightly focused than ever before. These beams can be concentrated to sizes thousands of times smaller than a human hair, allowing researchers to map variations within materials with remarkable precision.

"With the upgraded APS, we can much better connect what happens inside a material at the microscopic level to how it performs in real-world conditions," Somayazulu said, "and that's a big deal."

The research first appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Published July 2026

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