Interesting Engineering✓

You've seen IE on your feed. You've only seen part of it. The IE App has every story, every video (even the ones that never make it to social) and a new engineering puzzle every day. Out now on iPhone and Android. ⏩ iOS: ⏩ Android:

A drop-in replacement for standard electric water heater elements has been developed that contains 20 ASIC Bitcoin mining chips drawing up to 600W. The chips run at 34 trillion hash calculations per second, and the heat they generate warms the water tank rather than being wasted. Water cooling keeps the chips stable, since water conducts heat far more efficiently than air. A companion app monitors tank temperature, hashrate, and earnings, and learns usage patterns to ensure hot water is ready when needed. Heatbit, the company behind the device, estimates earnings of approximately $1.35 per day before electricity costs. The first batch is priced at $899, shipping in Q1 2027, with subsequent units at $1,299, compared to around $180 for a comparable conventional element.

Gravity Industries has demonstrated its Jet Suit at more than 300 events worldwide and tested its potential for mountain rescue with NATO units.

Eight electric waterjets drive the ferry across the River Plate.

MIT researchers have developed a scalable, origami-based construction system.

ETH Zurich's Robotic Systems Lab has built a control system that lets Unitree's G1 humanoid climb ladders, cross stepping stones, crawl, vault and stand back up after falls. An attention-based contact planner predicts where nine body parts should touch the terrain next, and in simulation the system cleared eight composite obstacle courses 92.5% of the time, against 58.8% for a baseline method.

Researchers suggest that the heaviest neutrino was 100 trillion times heavier than a proton.

ROKAE reaches 10,000 force-controlled arms delivered as its Helios humanoids assemble robot components at Schaeffler’s factory.

Lockheed Martin's PrSM Increment 4 aims to double missile range using advanced L3Harris propulsion.

Electra's hybrid-electric demonstrator completed a landmark flight at Downtown Skyport.

Researchers at the University of Michigan and Paul Scherrer Institute have developed a physics-based Bayesian framework that can identify radioactive materials, estimate their activity within two percentage points of true values, and pinpoint their location within two meters during a single six-second helicopter flyover. Previous methods required hours or days of computation to generate the spectral templates needed for analysis. The team solved this by splitting the radiation journey into two parts, atmospheric scattering and aircraft scattering, allowing simulations that once took hours to run in microseconds. In field tests in Switzerland, the method successfully identified single and mixed radioactive sources from 30 meters altitude, even with weak and heavily distorted signals. In a radiological emergency, such capabilities could help first responders determine evacuation zones and protective measures in real time. The research is published in Nature Communications.

South Korea developed a new method to improve the stability of perovskite solar cells in extreme heat and humidity.

The technology lets the battery-less low-temperature sensor operate for at least 24 hours during a power outage.

The approach could image samples about 27 times faster than a conventional point-by-point scan while collecting a complete spectroscopy dataset in about 220 seconds.

Berlin sign workshop Heerlein Werbetechnik turns a digital file into graphics printed directly onto the wall instead of onto wallpaper. The machine, which appears to be a wallPen, is a German-built mobile UV printer that uses laser sensors to follow the wall's surface, cures its ink instantly and prints up to 4 metres high with no limit on width.

Four military families shared reunions in a new docuseries.

OpenAI's latest research targets the Kakeya conjecture, computational complexity and the mathematical foundations of quantum field theory.

A 77-inch humanoid robot with 39 degrees of freedom, silicone skin, and optional on-device vision? Meet Realbotix's Echo.

The U.S. Army is putting its Patriot battalions through a full readiness check in Texas.

The US Army tests Patriot battalion readiness in Texas, focusing on launcher deployment, communications, missile resupply and maintenance—the essential elements behind an operational air defense system.

NASA’s Mars Sample Return was effectively canceled in January 2026 after projections reached $11 billion. Japan’s MMX mission launched last week with a simpler approach: land on Phobos, scrape some dust, return in 2031. It could become the first mission to bring a Martian sample home.

Researchers at Nanyang Technological University have developed a solar-powered device that generates hydrogen from seawater while breaking down hydrazine, a highly toxic industrial wastewater pollutant. The device combines a perovskite photocathode that generates its own electricity from sunlight with a special anode catalyst that degrades hydrazine into nitrogen gas rather than producing oxygen, a process that requires significantly less energy than conventional electrolysis. In tests, the device produced hydrogen at 466 micromoles per square centimeter per hour, reduced hydrazine concentration from 1.6% by weight to 0.5 parts per billion in 30 hours, and operated stably for over 72 hours without external power. The system is designed specifically for hydrazine-contaminated industrial wastewater rather than general seawater electrolysis, and remains at proof-of-concept stage. The research is published in Nature Communications.

Elbit Systems’ acquisition of Canada’s ISE adds underwater robotics expertise to its maritime portfolio, including autonomous vehicles for surveillance and mine detection.

Fraunhofer IGB has developed an Edge Device that connects to existing biogas plant control systems and layers AI-driven operational optimization on top without requiring changes to current infrastructure. The device consolidates sensor data, operating histories, electricity price forecasts, and weather data to recommend when a plant should store gas and when it should run its combined heat and power unit to maximize revenue. With a 2027 amendment to Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act expected to reward flexible generation, biogas plants will increasingly need to supply electricity specifically when solar and wind output is low. Germany operates nearly 10,000 biogas plants, and for many, the timing of grid feed-in will determine economic viability. The system processes all data locally without requiring cloud transfer, giving operators full control over what leaves the plant.

Elbit Systems has acquired Canadian underwater robotics specialist ISE, expanding its expertise in autonomous underwater vehicles, maritime surveillance, mine countermeasures and anti-submarine warfare technologies.