The Engineer (magazine)

Category: Young Innovator Project: AI-driven cancer diagnosis: testing image analysis software. Niamh Price, Lucy Turner and Megan Joyce from Freman College For over a decade, health services have faced many struggles with the number of people waiting for possible cancer diagnosis. In the UK, on average one person is diagnosed with cancer every 90 seconds, and evidence shows that delays in a cancer diagnosis may decrease the chances of recovery or remission.

The UK’s race to net-zero is reshaping the construction industry, elevating the structural and civil engineer’s role in the early design stages to a critical new level. The focus is now moving beyond a building’s operational efficiency to the carbon embedded in its very DNA. Beyond operational carbon While sustained efforts have successfully driven down operational carbon (emissions released over a building’s 50+ year life), a new challenge has emerged: embodied carbon.

Sponsored by AlbaTruss United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority with Space Solar Drone Spine ISS Aerospace with The Structural Battery Company, Marshall Aerospace, Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) Operational Authority for the UK’s first beyond visual line of sight drone flights over the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure Drone Major Group with Central Aviation Authority and Network Rail SPECTRAL PROPHET Defence Science and Technology Labs - UK MOD with BAE Systems, Leonardo, Roke...

Laser processing has quietly become one of the most strategically important technologies in UK manufacturing. Once considered niche, it now sits at the heart of high-growth sectors, from batteries and semiconductors to hydrogen, and could contribute over £170bn to the UK economy by 2035. But realising this potential depends on whether we treat laser manufacturing as a national priority or continue to let global competitors outpace us.

NPL offer a comprehensive suite of tests, analysis and consultancy support to help customers understand the processing and performance behaviour of materials through their full life cycle. A lack of standards can be a barrier to the uptake of new materials and processes, so NPL is leading the development of best practice and standards across the world.

Researchers from Glasgow University’s James Watt School of Engineering have used off-the-shelf hardware to build a 4G LTE mobile network which connects a haptic controller to a robot arm. The system allows users to direct the arm’s movements with very low latency, enabling a high level of control. In a new paper published in Communications Engineering, they demonstrate how they used the system to perform mock dental exams on a pair of dentures.

The Washington State University-led researchers used 3D printing, the processor, and an ink made from copper nanoparticles to create the flexible antenna arrays. Their work is detailed in Nature Communications.

Established in July 2019 as a tribute to Professor Lord Kumar Bhattacharyya, founder of Warwick Manufacturing Group, the £25,000 Bhattacharyya Award is bestowed to a team whose sustained partnership demonstrates how universities and industry can work together to address complex challenges and create real-world benefits.

By infusing rubber-like elastomers with ferromagnetic particles, the team at North Carolina State University produced a flexible magnetic film that can be attached to folded origami structures. When exposed to a magnetic field, the film acts as an actuator, powering precise movement without disrupting the delicate mechanics of the origami itself. The research is detailed in Advanced Functional Materials.

Skills shortages are continuing to put pressure on the UK engineering sector – holding back growth and making it harder for businesses to respond to demand.