Two new articles document progress in neuroprosthetic technology that lets people feel the shape and movement of objects moving over the 'skin' of a bionic hand.
Posted: January 16, 2025, 9:13 pm
The chemical composition of a material alone sometimes reveals little about its properties. The decisive factor is often the arrangement of the molecules in the atomic lattice structure or on the surface of the material. Materials science utilizes this factor to create certain properties by applying individual atoms and molecules to surfaces with the aid of high-performance microscopes. Using artificial intelligence, a new research group now wants to take the construction of nanostructures to a new level.
Posted: January 16, 2025, 6:41 pm
The robotics industry should be creating robots that could be reprogrammed and repurposed for other tasks once its life span is completed, researchers have advised.
Posted: January 16, 2025, 6:38 pm
Researchers applied the mathematical theory of synchronization to clarify how recurrent neural networks (RNNs) generate predictions, revealing a certain map, based on the generalized synchronization, that yields correct target values. They showed that conventional reservoir computing (RC), a type of RNN, can be viewed as a linear approximation, and introduced a 'generalized readout' incorporating further order approximations. Using a chaotic time-series forecasting task, they demonstrated that this approach dramatically enhances both prediction accuracy and robustness.
Posted: January 16, 2025, 6:38 pm
Paper-thin optical lenses simple enough to mass produce like microchips could enable a new generation of compact optical devices. Researchers have fabricated and tested flat lenses called Fresnel zone plates (FZPs), but did so for the first time using only common semiconductor manufacturing equipment, the i-line stepper, for the first time. These flat lenses currently lack the efficiency of in-production lenses, but have the potential to reshape optics for industries ranging from astronomy to health care and consumer electronics.
Posted: January 16, 2025, 6:37 pm
Data collected by wearable technology can identify disease flare-ups up to seven weeks in advance.
Posted: January 16, 2025, 6:35 pm
Researchers have developed a novel 6D pose dataset designed to improve robotic grasping accuracy and adaptability in industrial settings. The dataset, which integrates RGB and depth images, demonstrates significant potential to enhance the precision of robots performing pick-and-place tasks in dynamic environments.
Posted: January 16, 2025, 6:35 pm
For decades there has been near constant progress in reducing the size, and increasing the performance, of the circuits that power computers and smartphones. But Moore's Law is ending as physical limitations -- such as the number of transistors that can fit on a chip and the heat that results from packing them ever more densely -- are slowing the rate of performance increases. Computing capacity is gradually plateauing, even as artificial intelligence, machine learning and other data-intensive applications demand ever greater computational power.
Posted: January 15, 2025, 9:53 pm
New insect-scale microrobots can fly more than 100 times longer than previous versions. The new bots, also significantly faster and more agile, could someday be used to pollinate fruits and vegetables.
Posted: January 15, 2025, 9:51 pm
A new initiative is challenging the conversation around the direction of artificial intelligence (AI). It charges that the current trajectory is inherently biased against non-Western modes of thinking about intelligence -- especially those originating from Indigenous cultures. Abundant Intelligences is an international, multi-institutional and interdisciplinary program that seeks to rethink how we conceive of AI. The driving concept behind it is the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge systems to create an inclusive, robust concept of intelligence and intelligent action, and how that can be embedded into existing and future technologies.
Posted: January 15, 2025, 9:49 pm
Scientists describe their construction of complementary, internal, ion-gated, organic electrochemical transistors that are more amenable chemically, biologically and electronically to living tissues than rigid, silicon-based technologies. The medical device based on these transistors can function in sensitive parts of the body and conform to organ structures even as they grow. The result is a biocompatible sensor that can monitor brain functions in pediatric patients as they develop and grow.
Posted: January 14, 2025, 11:17 pm
Researchers have published a study describing how quasiparticles called polarons behave in tellurene, a nanomaterial first synthesized in 2017 that is made up of tiny chains of tellurium atoms and has properties useful in sensing, electronic, optical and energy devices.
Posted: January 14, 2025, 11:17 pm