5 Things For August

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5 Things for August (News Items You May Have Missed!, brought to you by SME's Knowledge & Research Specialist, Carol Tower)

McDonald’s and Starbucks Teaming Up to Create Completely Recyclable Cup — McDonald’s and Starbucks, two major players in the food and beverage industry, have joined forces in developing a completely recyclable drinking cup.
Popcorn-Powered Robots — Popcorn's unique qualities can power inexpensive robotic devices that grip, expand, or change rigidity.
Test-drive your knowledge of push-button parking brakes — Traditional human-powered mechanical parking brakes are giving way to a push-button age. An option in a number of new cars puts an electric motor to work by pulling a cable that squeezes the brake or, in another iteration, directly activates little motors connected to the brake calipers.
A look at innovative warehouse robotics technologies — Automated storage and retrieval systems, autonomous mobile robots and other robotic technology are bringing a new level of efficiency and productivity to warehouses and distribution centers. This article looks at three such technologies.
Self-driving ride-hail vehicles go to work in Texas — Autonomous vehicles are on the road and at work in the Texas community of Frisco. The seven vehicles from the startup Drive.ai are available for public use and can be hailed with a mobile app along a restricted 2-mile route.
3D printing as a full-fledged manufacturing process — Additive manufacturing applications can call on plastics, composites and metals as usable materials, which means 3D printing has become the sixth manufacturing process, Bradford Goldense writes. Assembly parts are already being replaced with 3D-printed ones, he notes, and managers must use caution not to overuse the technology.