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dateMore Than a Year Ago
subjectHardware
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An edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.


Medibots: The World's Smallest Surgeons
From ACM News

Medibots: The World's Smallest Surgeons

A man lies comatose on an operating table. The enormous spider that hangs above him has plunged four appendages into his belly. The spider, made of white steel,...

From ACM News

Quantum Computers Are Coming

WHATEVER happened to quantum computers? A few years ago, it seemed, it was just a case of a tweak here, a fiddle there, and some kind of number-crunching Godzilla...

Electronics 'Missing Link' ­nited With Rest of the Family
From ACM TechNews

Electronics 'Missing Link' ­nited With Rest of the Family

Memristors were identified by Hewlett-Packard (HP) as the missing link of electronics 18 months ago, and since then the same team of HP researchers has upgraded...

Fly-By-Wireless Set For Take-Off
From ACM TechNews

Fly-By-Wireless Set For Take-Off

Aircraft manufacturers eager to reduce the weight of planes are looking into the replacement of copper wiring with wireless networks. Imbuing fly-by-wireless networks...

Lobsters Teach Robots Magnetic Mapping Trick
From ACM TechNews

Lobsters Teach Robots Magnetic Mapping Trick

Computer scientist Janne Haverinen reports that a small wheeled robot was able to use a magnetic map to determine where it was in a hospital and move along a corridor...

New Microprocessor Runs on Thin Air
From ACM TechNews

New Microprocessor Runs on Thin Air

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor researchers Minsoung Rhee and Mark Burns have developed a series of channels and valves that process binary signals by sucking...

'spiderbots' Talk Amongst Themselves Inside Active Volcano
From ACM TechNews

'spiderbots' Talk Amongst Themselves Inside Active Volcano

A group of "spiderbots" released inside Mount St. Helens in Washington is the first network of volcano sensors capable of automatically communicating with each...

From ACM TechNews

Robots to Get Their Own Operating System

Robots are limited by the fact that they are often designed and built in isolation for specific functions, and roboticists have started to consider what aspects...

Space Probe to Sport 'transforming' Hardware
From ACM TechNews

Space Probe to Sport 'transforming' Hardware

A new satellite, planned for launch in 2012, will contain a flight computer built with field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) that can be completely reconfigured...

Dark Flash Camera Takes Photos Without the Glare
From ACM TechNews

Dark Flash Camera Takes Photos Without the Glare

New York University researchers have developed a camera that uses ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) light to take photos in the dark without the use of a traditional...

From ACM TechNews

Robo-Wheels Go Where Caterpillar Tracks Fear to Tread

Rescue robots could be more useful in snowy conditions thanks to an adjustable wheel that has been developed by researchers in Japan. A team led by Taro Iwamoto...

Cyborg Crickets Could Chirp at the Smell of Survivors
From ACM TechNews

Cyborg Crickets Could Chirp at the Smell of Survivors

Research supported by the U.S. Pentagon is attempting to turn insects into search-and-rescue systems capable of locating trapped victims in earthquake rubble and...

Memristor Minds: The Future of Artificial Intelligence
From ACM TechNews

Memristor Minds: The Future of Artificial Intelligence

The lack of a rigorous mathematical foundation for electronics impelled engineer Leon Chua to develop one, which led to the formulation of the memristor — a theoretical...

Laser Light Switch Could Leave Transistors in the Shade
From ACM TechNews

Laser Light Switch Could Leave Transistors in the Shade

Researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have developed an optical transistor that uses one laser beam to control another, potentially forming...

From ACM TechNews

Building a Crash-Proof Internet

The Internet's susceptibility to earthquakes, accidents, and other disruptions appears to be greater than people originally assumed, and a great deal of the Net's...

From ACM TechNews

Physics Brings Realism to Virtual Reality

The latest multi-core processors and smart software are enabling physicists and engineers to simulate the real world with unprecedented accuracy to create more...

Virtual Power Plants Could Tame Coming Grid Chaos
From ACM News

Virtual Power Plants Could Tame Coming Grid Chaos

Fears over energy security and climate change have led to record investment in renewable energy. But a major problem threatens to stall progress towards a more...

Robots Rolling Toward Farm Revolution
From ACM TechNews

Robots Rolling Toward Farm Revolution

Carnegie Mellon University roboticist Tony Stentz says that in the near future the farming industry may undergo a significant change as robotic farmhands become...

From ACM TechNews

The Mobile Future of the Keyboard

Touchscreen keyboards could stand some improvement before they become the norm in smartphones and make their way to desktop computers, gaming devices, and even...

From ACM TechNews

First Superconducting Transistor Promises Pc Revolution

Andrea Caviglia and colleagues at the University of Geneva in Switzerland have applied a voltage to a single crystal containing strontium titanate and lanthanum...
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