While it may be worthwhile programming robots to paint many identical objects, the painting of smaller-run items is still done manually. That could be about to change, however. Scientists are developing a system which will allow robots to figure out how to paint individual objects.
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Audi has teamed up with the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering to explore how people will spend their time in autonomous cars, and how manufacturers can best tailor their cabins for work, rest or play.
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As many of us know from personal experience, accessing a smartphone's touchscreen can be difficult when your hands are full. That's why scientists have developed a hands-free system that lets you control a phone via facial gestures – and those gestures are detected in your ear.
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If you want to incorporate protruding features into a sheet of glass, the typical way of doing so involves using molds. Those molds are costly to manufacture, however. That's why the Fraunhofer Institute has developed a laser-based alternative technique that promises to be cheaper and faster.
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Consumer-grade 3D scanners tend to only handle small items, or scan with a low resolution. Now Fraunhofer has unveiled its new 3D scanner that uses infrared rays to capture objects and people in more detail, snapping up to 36 three-dimensional images per second.
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With an average range of only 100 mi (161 km) per charge, all-electric vehicles still can't compete with more conventional cars. To level the playing field a bit, Fraunhofer is working on a new battery design that could increase an electric car's range to 1,000 km (621 mi).
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Researchers in Germany have worked with Daimler to develop new X-ray technology for crash testing, which provides a new perspective on interior car components during impact, and better forecasting for real-life crashes as a result.
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Servicing the bathrooms in a large building can be a daunting task, and not just because of the cleaning. Custodians also have to check the levels of things like toilet paper and soap. It was with this in mind that the Fraunhofer Institute created the automated CWS Washroom Information Service.
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Although smartphones may be getting thinner all the time, their cameras still present a bit of a problem. Scientists at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute, however, have developed a flat camera that's just 2 mm thick … and it has 135 tiny lenses instead of one "big" one.
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Researchers have created OLED (organic light-emitting display) electrodes from graphene. This could lead the way to a range of new components, including better touchscreens and much more efficient solar cells
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