Featured Image

AMT Tech Report: Issue #156

Apr 30, 2021

Print additive designs you’ve only dreamt of! Autonomous vehicles and robots. Do robots dream of price matching? Deep sea exploration with fish-inspired robots. New, customized steel grades for wind turbines on the open sea.


1. Corrugated Additive 

Adding ribs and textures to your 3D prints adds strength and endurance to your part as well as prevents warping. This allows you to generate shapes, geometries, and positions you only ever dreamt of before! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-ygdNQThAs 

2. These New Robots Have Gas 

I’m not even being hyperbolic when I say Tech Trends has blessed me with this article. I’ve been asked a few times now about autonomous vehicles and robots for inspection and testing purposes, and I never have a decent reference on hand. This article takes one of the highest honors I can award: bookmarked. 

https://jpt.spe.org/emerging-robotic-technologies-for-oil-and-gas-operations 

3. Robot Cross Shop 

You ever wish there were an industrial automation version of Thumbtack.com? I use Thumbtack every time I move to hire professional movers for the best price. I also used it to hire the awesome maid service I have. Anyway! What if I told you there’s a similar website for robot components, service, and training? HowToRobot.com has your back! 

https://www.roboticstomorrow.com/news/2021/04/27/digital-platform-launches-first-service-to-compare-prices-on-robots/16739/ 

4. “It's a Sicilian message. It means radar sleeps with the robot fishes.” 

Don’t be fooled. It’s a common misconception that we know more about space than we do Earth’s oceans. This is wrong. Don’t say this. Water on earth is finite; space is ever expanding, as proven by the red shift, and thus infinite. Rant over. We’re about to learn even more about the ocean, thanks to this soft robot! Up until recently, we’ve only been able to roughly map the ocean floor using radar with poor resolution. Now we might be getting some pictures! 

https://theconversation.com/fish-inspired-soft-robot-survives-a-trip-to-the-deepest-part-of-the-ocean-159734 

5. Making Wind 

Specialty alloy nerds rejoice! “Materials researchers at Saarland University and mechanical engineers at RWTH Aachen University want to work together with steel specialist Dillinger and other companies to develop new, customized steel grades.” 

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-04/su-rwt042721.php 


Subscribe today to get the Tech Report delivered to your inbox!

To access Tech Trends, login to or register for an MTInsight account.

PicturePicture
Author
Stephen LaMarca
Senior Technology Analyst
Recent technology News
It’s not just about speed on the racetrack. It’s about precision, repeatability, and empowering people with the tools and insights to do the job right the first time.
Cobots are reshaping the shop floor. DLP or SLA? Yes! Tooling like clockwork. Welcome to Walmart! The dust has settled.
Corn-fed smartphone. Robot arms — in space! Sandvik acquires Verisurf. The harmony of art and technology. Fox 3… D
The drape. The cream rises to the top. ML in photovoltaics. Toy production coming back stateside? Dashboard wine.
The drape. The cream rises to the top. ML in photovoltaics. Toy production coming back stateside? Dashboard wine.
Similar News
undefined
Technology
By Stephen LaMarca | Jun 27, 2025

Less carbon, more boom. Smells like coffee; prints like plastic. Steelin' time. solid-state batteries that may actually ship. Carbohydrate fiber.

6 min
undefined
Technology
By Stephen LaMarca | Jun 20, 2025

Atoms for development. Birdie bots and smash hits. Metal moves. Open source. Double edged. Pantogroph poetry.

6 min
undefined
Technology
By Stephen LaMarca | Jun 13, 2025

Moving on from Kaizen. Foxconn flirts with Louisville. Hold my Deere. Headless but not brainless. Stars, stripes, and imported silicon.

6 min