Samsung introduced its vision of robots as “life companions” at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show – a tiny, ball-shaped AI device that rolls around the house and responds to commands like a pet dog. Unveiled on 6 January 2020 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Samsung’s small, yellow Ballie robot is designed to act as a personal […]

For the past 45 years, SIGGRAPH, the renowned annual conference for all things computer graphics, has been a great place to look if you want a sneak peak at the future. In the 1980s, it was the place animation enthusiasts Ed Catmull and John Lasseter crossed paths for one of the first times. A decade later they had created Toy Story, […]

The US Navy is not only developing robotic warships, but it also wants to teach them how to speak. In a request for proposals, the Navy has outlined how it wants its autonomous surface vessels to be able to have back-and-forth verbal radio communications with the crew of other ships to avoid collisions. If Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) are ever […]

A new type of ultrasound technology promises to make a touch-sensitive surface out of just about any common material – metal, glass, wood, plastic – which could open up a number of new ways to interact with our gadgets. UltraSense Systems, the company behind the tech, says its ultrasound system-on-a-chip (about the size of a pen tip) is cost-effective, ready […]

Lithium-ion batteries are seen as a vital technology in our pursuit of sustainable energy, but there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to their impact on the Earth. The construction of these devices involves sourcing of heavy metals like cobalt, which are expensive and come at significant environmental and humanitarian cost. IBM has this week unveiled a […]

Ordinarily, when biological samples are being tested to see which (if any) viruses are present, it can take up to several days to get results. An inexpensive new tool, however, is claimed to capture and identify viruses within minutes. Developed by scientists at Pennsylvania State University and New York University, the handheld VIRRION device is just a few centimeters in […]

Although small amounts of fluoride in drinking water may help to strengthen teeth and bones, too much can be dangerous, potentially causing a disease known as skeletal fluorosis. With that in mind, a simple new test has been designed to determine if fluoride levels are too high. Of course, it is already possible to measure fluoride levels in water. Doing […]

In a quest for safer lithium-ion batteries, a team of engineers at the University of Illinois (UI) has come up with a solid polymer-based electrolyte that can not only heal itself, but is recyclable without the need for high temperatures or strong acids. By using special cross-linked polymers, the new electrolyte gets stiffer under heat rather than breaking down. Lithium-ion […]

We’ve recently seen a number of battery-free implantable biosensors, that are activated by the handheld device that reads them. Scientists have now created another such sensor, that’s smaller than any that have come before. Designed to continuously monitor various bodily processes, externally-powered biosensors are not only smaller than their battery-packing counterparts, but they also don’t have to be surgically retrieved […]

While it’s good that there are plastics which biodegrade when they’re thrown away, the glue used to join pieces of those or other materials together isn’t quite so eco-friendly. Scientists have recently set about addressing that problem, however, by developing a biodegradable adhesive. Created by a team at Boston University, the substance has a honey-like consistency. It’s made up of […]