Design News is pleased to present the finalists in the Electronics & Test and Automotive categories of our 2012 Golden Mousetrap Awards. These are the products that are in the running to be named the winner of our annual contest -- in their respective categories.
For the first time ever, the winners will be announced during a live ceremony held during the Pacific Design & Manufacturing Show in Anaheim, Calif., on Tuesday, February 12, and on Designnews.com following the ceremony.
Congratulations to our finalists and good luck!
Click the image below to see the Electronics & Test and Automotive finalists.
Click here to read about the finalists in the Automation & Control category.
Click here to read about the finalists in the Materials & Assembly category.
Click here to read about who made the cut in our Design Tools: Hardware & Software category.
I like that Lift Buddy (slide 4)--we could use a modified version around here. I wish firewood hauling tool makers would integrate the lift function into their products. Aside from log bags, they make wheelbarrow-like devices something like this, but those are worthless on anything but flat surfaces, and tough to control even there. Incorporating this could at least help loading and unloading at both ends.
I agree Ann - after reading your post, I could hardly wait to see the Lift Buddy. I have had a similar prototype in the works for years that we call the "Saddle-Jack." Being a horsewoman, I have seen a need for something that would help folks who are prone to back problems to be able to saddle their horses by themselves. We have the two wheeler but are still in the brainstorming stage for making it work in a cost-effective manner. That Lift Buddy is a great idea for lots of applications!
Nancy, that sounds like an other great app for Lift Buddy. It's been several years since I had to lift a saddle, but I'd probably have problems now getting one onto a horse's back.
I would like to know how high the Lift Buddy can lift. Most of the toughest tasks (for example, in my garage) require a reach of about eight feet. If the Lift Buddy can do that, they've got a customer.
It's amazing to see how many peripherals Microchip is able to integrate onto an 8-bit chip. I suppose that's why, after numerous predictions of ther demise of 8-bit, it's still going strong.
I agree Charles - love 8 bit microcontrollers and leave it to Microchip to expand on its peripheral capabilities. Seems like there is a PIC for every task!
Over the years, we've heard many prognosticators predict the demise of 8-bit, Nancy. The folks at Microchip always laugh about it. Seems like they've always had the last laugh.
Reminds me of a funny story, Charles. When I was a kid, I interviewed my neighbor who happened to be an engineer for Texas Instruments for a school assignment. He told me that when the transistor first came out - they said it was just a fad...
When it comes to technology, most pronosticators have been notoriously inaccurate. Here's one of my favorites from Popular Science in 1949: "In the future, computers may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
TI's gas sensing platform is another interesting one. Gas sensing systems are a growing market for the home. Emission testing stations can also use them for measuring exhaust gases. On the inside of the vehicle, there could also be a growing market in alcohol (breathalyzer) sensing, as well as carbon monoxide sensing. I've always wondered when someone would develop a CO sensor for inside the car. Anyone who's ever driven an old beater knows the importance of that.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
The push to achieving more intelligent, integrated manufacturing is putting a strong focus on networking and connectivity as key enabling technologies.
Now that solar and wind harvesting technologies are a thriving market, researchers are seeking other environmentally related energy sources for which they can create harvesting devices.
Surveillance, reconnaissance, and search and rescue in military and first responder situations are popular applications for aerial robots. Yet not all the robots are considered unmanned aerial vehicles.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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