A tiny crack in a nuclear reactor, skyscraper, bridge or dam can cause catastrophic consequences. The Minneapolis bridge collapse, which killed 13 people in 2007, is just one example of what can happen when structural integrity is compromised. Unidentified or under-identified structural damage in nuclear reactors can be cataclysmic. Inspection of critical systems such as […]
Magnets Can Help AI Get Closer to the Efficiency of the Human Brain
Computers and artificial intelligence continue to usher in major changes in the way people shop. It is relatively easy to train a robot’s brain to create a shopping list, but what about ensuring that the robotic shopper can easily tell the difference between the thousands of products in the store? Purdue University researchers and experts […]
‘Immunizing’ Quantum Bits so That They Can Grow up
Quantum computers will process significantly more information at once compared to today’s computers. But the building blocks that contain this information – quantum bits, or “qubits” – are way too sensitive to their surroundings to work well enough right now to build a practical quantum computer. Long story short, qubits need a better immune system […]
Autonomous Robot That Interacts With Humans Using Natural Language and Vision Processing
Purdue University researchers in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering are developing integrative language and vision software that may enable an autonomous robot to interact with people in different environments and accomplish navigational goals. “The project’s overall goal is to tell the robot to find a particular person, room or building and have the robot interact […]
Data Use Draining Your Battery? Tiny Device to Speed up Memory While Also Saving Power
The more objects we make “smart,” from watches to entire buildings, the greater the need for these devices to store and retrieve massive amounts of data quickly without consuming too much power. Millions of new memory cells could be part of a computer chip and provide that speed and energy savings, thanks to the discovery […]
New Models Sense Human Trust in Smart Machines
New “classification models” sense how well humans trust intelligent machines they collaborate with, a step toward improving the quality of interactions and teamwork. The long-term goal of the overall field of research is to design intelligent machines capable of changing their behavior to enhance human trust in them. The new models were developed in research […]
Yin and Yang: Opposites in Nature, Fluoride and Lithium, Compete for Higher Energy Batteries
The chemical element that makes up most of today’s batteries, lithium, may soon be challenged by its polar opposite on the Periodic Table: fluoride. Yes, the same stuff in toothpaste. The two elements would be in competition for helping electronics last longer on a charge, such as electric cars that need to travel more miles […]
Sensor Gives Farmers More Accurate Read on Plant Health, Provides Valuable Crop Data
A Purdue University professor has built an innovative handheld sensor that gives plant scientists and farmers a more precise way of measuring the health of crops while gathering up-to-the-minute data that state and federal officials and others will find valuable. Jian Jin, an assistant professor in Purdue’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, hopes his […]
New Material, Manufacturing Process Use Sun’s Heat for Cheaper Renewable Electricity
Solar power accounts for less than 2 percent of U.S. electricity but could make up more than that if the cost of electricity generation and energy storage for use on cloudy days and at nighttime were cheaper. A Purdue University-led team developed a new material and manufacturing process that would make one way to use […]
AI Tool Automatically Reveals How to Write Apps That Drain Less Battery
To send a text message, there’s not only “an app for that,” there are dozens of apps for that. So why does sending a message through Skype drain over three times more battery than WhatsApp? Developers simply haven’t had a way of knowing when and how to make their apps more energy-efficient. Purdue University researchers […]