Hi Tech & Innovation news

Consumer & Gadgets

Ultrasound and AI turn off-the-shelf smartwatch into full-body tracker without cameras

For the first time, researchers can track the movement of a person's entire body with ultrasonic sound waves, using just an off-the-shelf smartwatch and a lightweight artificial intelligence model—all while ensuring privacy ...

Engineering

3D-printed robotic frog swims using six artificial muscles powered by light

A small robotic frog developed at Aarhus University can swim using six artificial muscles activated by light. Behind the achievement is a systematic approach that could help researchers develop muscles for the next generation ...

Robotics

Extra robotic thumb lets wearers complete two-handed tasks with one hand

To complete many everyday tasks and chores, humans typically use both of their hands. For instance, when opening a bottle, they use one hand to hold the bottle and the other to twist its cap. Researchers at the University ...

Consumer & Gadgets

Radar wristband turns your arm into a smartwatch trackpad

Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed technology that turns a smartwatch user's forearm into a trackpad, allowing the user to scroll, zoom, click on icons and so on. The system relies on a radar system ...

Robotics

China touts tech, AI cred at world Web Summit

China is flexing its technological muscles at the global Web Summit in Lisbon starting Tuesday, showcasing dancing robots and low-cost artificial intelligence models as Beijing weathers claims that it spied on the AI chip ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Directional VR passwords improve recall with a sense of place

Researchers have demonstrated a new password authentication technique for use in virtual reality (VR) settings, which allows users to choose directions rather than numbers. The approach supports the same number of possible ...

Robotics

Advanced coating can alter a drone's radar signature

Drones have become a crucial element in modern security and defense. The ability to manipulate the signals reflected from drones—so that, for example, it is possible to fly close to a radar without being detected—is therefore ...

Energy & Green Tech

Engineers adapt laser physics trick to deliver heat on demand

When a process needs a burst of heat, a steady supply may not be enough. Storing thermal energy and delivering it quickly are challenges for applications such as sterilization, cleaning or starting up distillation systems. ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

AI helps find better recipes for 3D-printing titanium parts

Engineers can 3D-print high-performance titanium parts for aircraft, medical implants and advanced machinery, but finding the right printing settings can still require costly and time-consuming trial and error. A new study ...

Energy & Green Tech

Rechargeable battery prototype runs on vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is essential for the body's proper functioning and is found in foods of animal origin. It is produced by certain bacteria that, in addition to being found in nature, are cultivated at industrial facilities for ...

Hi Tech & Innovation

Researchers teach football to AI models

The NFL has given Carnegie Mellon University researchers access to official film and on-field data to develop new technologies that can enhance the way coaches, players and fans annotate, analyze and understand games.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Video: Electrical control of a metal-mediated DNA memory

DNA stores our genetic code. What if it could also be integrated with electronics to store and read other information? Scientists have been investigating how to store data in DNA, but retrieving the information remains a ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

New 3D device harnesses living brain cells for computing

Princeton researchers have combined brain cells and advanced electronics into a single 3D device that can be programmed to recognize patterns using computational techniques. Past attempts at using brain cells to do computation ...

Robotics

Tiny, knotted robots jump, fly and plant seeds

When a knot lets go, it doesn't just fall apart. It snaps. That simple observation led Penn Engineers to rethink what a knot can do. Instead of treating it as something that holds tension, they asked a different question: ...

Energy & Green Tech

Creating green materials with light could transform clean energy

Metal-organic frameworks, better known as MOFs, are among the most intensely studied materials for addressing major environmental challenges. Their highly ordered, ultra-porous architecture enables applications ranging from ...

Energy & Green Tech

Colored films enable patterns on photovoltaic modules

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have succeeded in creating colored films with transparent cutouts, thereby producing realistic-looking designs on photovoltaic modules. In this way, roof ...

Electronics & Semiconductors

Lasers turn parchment paper into high-performance electronic circuits

What if the next generation of disposable electronics—the sensors in your food packaging, the diagnostic strips in a medical clinic, the environmental monitors scattered across a farm—were built not on silicon or plastic, ...