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As the Internet of Things has developed throughout the years, different industries are exposed to its advancements at different times. The oil and gas industry is currently experiencing the “big data” revolution like the manufacturing sector had undergone years prior. Robello Samuel, Ph.D., is a chief technical advisor and technology fellow at Halliburton since 1998. He will be speaking on “Hu: The Human Element in Data-Driven Digital Transformation” panel on how the human element and data-driven digital transformation will change the outlook of the oil and gas industry.

As an aerospace pioneer, Don Kinard, who is a senior fellow in production operations at the aeronautics business unit of Lockheed Martin, has been using digital twins for product applications even before the term was coined. In this podcast, he discusses the challenges of extending digital twins into operational environments and shares lessons learned at Lockheed that the engineering community can apply in the digital lifecycle. Kinard has been at Lockheed Martin from the early days of the F-35 program and served in both engineering and manufacturing roles for the F-22 development.

Additive manufacturing is starting to make inroads into the fabrication of wind turbines as well as their towers. 3D printing of turbine blades as well as their concrete towers is expected to lower costs and allow them to rise over their present heights of 80 meters to 100 meters. GE Renewable Energy’s Matteo Bellucci talks about the impact additive manufacturing is having on the development of wind energy systems.

On-demand digital manufacturing ecosystems look to become the future of manufacturing. By transitioning away from traditional supply chains, stockpiles of inventory, and excess materials, on-demand manufacturing can offer companies robust and flexible supply chains, reducing inventory and raw material costs. On-demand manufacturing also looks to reduce the effects of supply disruption by allowing companies to shift manufacturing sites at a moment’s notice. Todd Taylor is the vice president of application engineering at Fictiv, a digital manufacturing ecosystem that rapidly delivers custom mechanical parts through its quote-to-order platform and distributed network of global partners. He discusses how on-demand manufacturing will benefit not just startups and smaller firms but also how larger manufacturing firms do business.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the education of many young students. Due to the necessity of distance education, it has been challenging to keep children interested in science, technology, engineering, and math subjects. Jay Flores, CEO and founder of Invent the Change, has spent his entire career trying to inspire young STEM minds. Over the last 10 years, he has worked with the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Rockwell Automation, and FIRST Robotics to mentor and educate young people, exploring the power of STEM. On this episode of ASME TechCast, he speaks with us about the current state of STEM, how the pandemic has impacted education, and the disparities found in today’s STEM society.

As vice president at HearstLab Lisa Burton O’Toole, evaluates and invests in women-led startups and strongly believes that we need diverse teams working on technical problems. Burton is passionate about promoting entrepreneurship among technically minded women. In this episode of ASME TechCast, Burton discusses why mentoring is valuable for women and shares advice on how to find a mentor. In 2020, Burton received ASME’s Kate Gleason Award honoring women entrepreneurs who make a significant contribution to the engineering community. 

Additive manufacturing has long been a tool used by the aerospace industry to manufacture parts. The latest advancements within AM are now shifting production toward end-use parts. There are still many challenges including quality, productivity, repeatability, and materials availability. Hauke Schultz, the Additive Manufacturing Roadmap leader at Airbus, is building a vision and roadmap to enhance AM technologies and applications within its three business units: Airbus Commercial, Helicopters, and Defense and Space. Schultz talks about the journey of AM in aerospace, how the last year impacted the industry, and how the future of AM in aerospace will impact engineers.

One of the best places to build railways and highways is underground, away from people on the surface. But tunneling is a costly process that involves small armies of workers and giant tunnel boring machines. But a contractor working on a subway project in Kuala Lumpur has devised a system for self-driving tunneling that could revolutionize the industry. Mechanical Engineering magazine editor in chief Jeffrey Winters asked senior editor John Kosowatz to explain how the system works. Kosowatz researched the technology for his article, “Big Data Spurs Autonomous Tunneling” for the February/March 2021 issue of Mechanical Engineering.

Digital manufacturing is an ever-growing, expanding world that is leaving the world of design and permeating into the world of manufacturing. Fictiv’s platform introduces a digital ecosystem that directly connects designers and makers with manufacturing facilities, eliminating the traditional back and forth of production quotes, lengthy design iterations, and long lead times. In the last seven years, Fictiv has manufactured over 12 million parts for some of the world’s most innovative companies — building the next rockets, self-driving cars, medical devices, and IoT devices. On this episode of ASME TechCast, Dave Evans, co-founder and CEO, highlights Fictiv’s journey from conception through the COVID-19 pandemic and shares tips for how engineers can accelerate development cycles by transitioning to a digital sourcing workflow.

As Joe Biden becomes the 46th President of the United States, his administration promises big changes in policies affecting science, energy, environment, trade, and more. He will have to work with the new 117th Congress, which also brings new faces as the Democrats take control of the Senate by the slimmest of margins. The House of Representatives continues to be led by Democrats but their majority has been greatly reduced. Paul Flakes, ASME's senior manager of government relations, talks about these changes and how they will impact the industries in which engineers participate.

Artificial intelligence has seen a rapid implementation in several industries. When talking about AI in automotive engineering, the first thought that comes to mind is autonomous vehicles. What role do mechanical engineers play in this intersection of AI and autonomy and what are the opportunities for them? What skills will become increasingly valued in automotive companies with the advancement of AI? Dragos Machuca, executive technical director at Ford’s Research and Innovation Center, answers these questions, and more, in this episode of ASME TechCast. 

The editors of Mechanical Engineering magazine tried something different this year with the annual Emerging Technology Awards. Listen as editor in chief Jeffrey Winters talks with editors John Kosowatz and Carlos González about five innovations that are taking on COVID-19.

The Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s new report shows offshore wind generation growing in the U.S. and globally. Turbines are getting larger and developers want to site them in ever deeper water. Design of floating foundations has advanced to where deepwater sites are feasible, while fixed foundations may prove more economical in deeper water. NREL’s Walt Musial, principal engineer and offshore wind lead, talks about the offshore market and what can be expected in the coming year in this podcast.

Technology writer Jean Thilmany has followed software-enabled engineering for decades. In this episode of ASME TechCast, Thilmany talks with Jeffrey Winters, editor in chief of Mechanical Engineering magazine, about how digital engineering is expanding into the manufacturing sector.

The CEO of Protolabs, Vicki Holt, has almost 40 years of experience in world-class manufacturing companies in various executive roles. In this episode of ASME TechCast, she provides insights into the digital trends shaping manufacturing and how companies can prepare the current and future workforce for this rapid transition accelerated by the pandemic.

Lockheed Martin designed and built the new OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft. The spacecraft will collect samples from the asteroid Bennu which may provide insight into our solar system’s early formation. To help construct the spacecraft, Lockheed Martin Space utilized the power of the digital twin. Lockheed’s journey with the digital twin can serve as an example of how other organizations can adopt the digital twin methodology for a more efficient design. Noah Fehrenbacher, digital twin portfolio manager for Lockheed Martin Space, speaks with ASME TechCast on how Lockheed Martin uses the digital twin as an advanced design tool.

The term "fluid power" was adopted more than sixty years ago to describe hydraulic and pneumatic systems for transmitting power. Often, engineers learn about mechanical and electric power transmission as part of their formal education. Unfortunately, most engineering schools in North America do not fully cover the capabilities and strengths of fluid power. Fluid power is a versatile method of transmitting power, capable of moving satellite dishes and heavy construction equipment, and refined enough to operate aircraft and automation systems. Alan Hitchcox, longtime editor-in-chief of Hydraulics and Pneumatics magazine and recent inductee into the International Fluid Power Society 2020 Fluid Power Hall of Fame, sits down with Mechanical Engineering magazine to discuss the strength of fluid power and how engineers are using it today.

A collaboration between Cornell and Penn Engineering has resulted in the first microscopic robots that incorporate semiconductor components, allowing them to be controlled—and made to walk—with standard electronic signals. In future, these microbots could be injected into human blood for medical treatments. In this podcast, Itai Cohen, professor of physics, who is leading the research at Cornell, discusses the cross-disciplinary research that led to this breakthrough.

Chinese factories produce a huge chunk of the world’s manufactured goods. Recently, global companies have begun to reconsider their dependence on China. Some have looked at bringing critical manufacturing to the United States, while others have set up factories in Vietnam and Mexico. Mechanical Engineering magazine editor in chief Jeffrey Winters asked senior editor John Kosowatz to explain the issues and whether it was possible for multinational firms to leave the China market. 

NASA recently recognized Robo-Glove, a soft robotic exoskeleton for the hand, as its commercial invention of the year. Its original application was meant to assist astronauts by making it easier to perform simple tasks that become more cumbersome in space. Its potential, however, is beginning to be realized in manufacturing and health care. General Motors co-developed the system, now being commercially produced as IronHand by Sweden’s Bioservo. In this episode, Stephen Krajcarski, GM’s senior manager of global ergonomics, talks about how the company is testing the glove and other exoskeletons on the factory floor.