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Hardware

New memristor design uses built-in oxygen gradient to bring stability to reinforcement learning

In a recent study published in Nature Communications, researchers created a memristor that uses a built-in oxygen gradient to produce slow, stable conductance changes, enabling a reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm to learn ...

Energy & Green Tech

Breaking fuel cell barriers: New platinum catalyst brings high-efficiency hydrogen vehicles closer to commercialization

A research team has developed a next-generation platinum-based catalyst that improves both activity and durability in hydrogen fuel cells. The study is published in Advanced Materials. The team was led by Professor Sang Uck ...

Engineering

This paint changes colors when hit, revealing location and strength of impact

Imagine a paint that changes color depending on how hard its surface is hit. It could be used on football helmets to monitor concussion-level impacts, to record the handling history of shipped packages, or placed on insoles ...

Robotics

Introducing MirrorBot, a robot designed to foster human connection

While technology has made the world "smaller," it has also pulled individuals apart, thanks to mobile phones and other devices that command our attention. Cornell University researchers are using technology, in the form of ...

Technology news

Energy & Green Tech

How electric vehicles could back up the power system

Electric vehicles (EVs) could do more for our environment than simply replace gasoline. Published in Joule, a new assessment of EV charging strategies suggests that EVs could serve as a vast network of mobile batteries, storing ...

Computer Sciences

New AI testing method flags fairness risks in autonomous systems

Artificial intelligence is increasingly being used to help optimize decision-making in high-stakes settings. For instance, an autonomous system can identify a power distribution strategy that minimizes costs while keeping ...

Energy & Green Tech

Researchers measure traffic emissions, to the block, in real-time

In a study focused on New York City, MIT researchers have shown that existing sensors and mobile data can be used to generate a near real-time, high-resolution picture of auto emissions, which could be used to develop local ...

Robotics

Aerial microrobot can fly as fast as a bumblebee

In the future, tiny flying robots could be deployed to aid in the search for survivors trapped beneath the rubble after a devastating earthquake. Like real insects, these robots could flit through tight spaces larger robots ...

Machine learning & AI

Taming chaos in neural networks: A biologically plausible way

A new framework that causes artificial neural networks to mimic how real neural networks operate in the brain has been developed by a RIKEN neuroscientist and his collaborator. In addition to shedding light on how the brain ...

Robotics

New control system teaches soft robots the art of staying safe

Imagine having a continuum soft robotic arm bend around a bunch of grapes or broccoli, adjusting its grip in real time as it lifts the object. Unlike traditional rigid robots that generally aim to avoid contact with the environment ...

Robotics

Artificial tendons give muscle-powered robots a boost

Our muscles are nature's actuators. The sinewy tissue is what generates the forces that make our bodies move. In recent years, engineers have used real muscle tissue to actuate "biohybrid robots" made from both living tissue ...