Electric motors account for about half of all energy consumption in the US. They can be found just about everywhere; in fact, motors control the majority of moving parts in machines. Being so widespread, it is possible to see substantial energy savings with just a small improvement in efficiency. A very comprehensive overview of electric motors can be found on the Machine Design Web site (1). It...

A task force of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is investigating the possibility of feeding power over Ethernet data lines. Although computer systems will not be able to be run from one all-purpose Ethernet/ power outlet, many other small Internet-enabled devices could be. For example, access points for wireless local area networks could be installed without requiring a...

The Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) is a subsidiary of Xerox Corporation. One of its most intriguing areas of study is "modular reconfigurable robotics," which is a technology that allows a robot to take itself apart and put itself back together again in a new form. This lets the robot customize its design for a given task. Several different models of robots have been constructed at the PARC, and...

Electronic sensors exist in many facets of our lives, from measuring operating conditions of our vehicles to adjusting the temperature of our homes. They can even mean the difference between life and death when used to monitor patients in emergency rooms. Even though sensors work transparently in their multitude of functions, their importance cannot be understated. Sensorland (1) has basic...