A Dutch company called Aito is offering a touch control technology that can be used to create a configurable user interface of up to 11 touch buttons that can replace conventional mechanical switches. It claims that the technology overcomes problems with other touch technologies that need a significant button travel or will not operate with gloved hands or through metal panel overlays.

Researchers at GE Global Research in the US are developing a technology that will allow machine designers to use special “inks” to print miniature sensors inside machinery and in other hot, harsh and hard-to-reach places. They say that the technology, called Direct Write, will allow them to put sensors where they’ve never been before, and could speed up the transition to link up machines to the Internet of Things.

A Florida company claims to have developed “the world’s lightest electric vehicle” – a 9.9lb (4.5kg) skateboard powered by a 2kW brushless DC motor which can propel the board at speeds of up to 20mph (32km/h) for an hour or more. In less than a month, a Kickstarter campaign to back the development has more than doubled its initial funding target of $90,000.

A group of German organisations – including Festo and the fortiss research institute – have developed an open software architecture for automation systems that allows factory production components to network and configure themselves intelligently and autonomously.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK have developed a way of teaching robots to pick up unfamiliar objects without dropping or breaking them.

Toyota and the automotive parts supplier Denso have developed a silicon carbide (SiC) power semiconductor for use in automotive power control units (PCUs) which, they say, will boost hybrid vehicle (HV) efficiencies by 10% and reduce PCU sizes by 80%, compared to systems based on silicon devices. Toyota plans to start test-driving vehicles fitted with the new PCUs within a year.

US researchers have developed a switched reluctance motor with two stators that, they claim, produces significantly more power and torque for a given size and weight than traditional motor technologies, without using permanent magnets or rare-earth materials.

A British manufacturer of electric golf trolleys has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise £28,000 ($47,000) to design and build a universal motor controller for DC brushed and brushless motors. The company, called CompactCaddy, realised the need for such a controller when it could not find a suitable controller for testing an axial flux motor that it had developed.