Topping out at less than a foot, Salto the robot looks like a Star Wars imperial walker in miniature. But don’t be fooled by its size — this little robot has a mighty spring in its step. Salto can vault over three times its height in a single bound. Researchers at the University of California, […]
Largest, Fastest Array of Microscopic ‘Traffic Cops’ for Optical Communications
Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley have built a new photonic switch that can control the direction of light passing through optical fibers faster and more efficiently than ever. This optical “traffic cop” could one day revolutionize how information travels through data centers and high-performance supercomputers that are used for artificial intelligence and other […]
‘Ambidextrous’ Robots Could Dramatically Speed E-Commerce
E-commerce continues to expand and achieved new levels during the recent holiday season. To rapidly fulfill the enormous volume and variety of orders, companies such as Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba are investing heavily in new warehouses. To address the shortage of workers, many companies are considering robots. However, reliably grasping a diverse range of products […]
New Quantum Materials Could Take Computing Devices Beyond the Semiconductor Era
Researchers from Intel Corp. and the University of California, Berkeley, are looking beyond current transistor technology and preparing the way for a new type of memory and logic circuit that could someday be in every computer on the planet. In a paper appearing online Dec. 3 in advance of publication in the journal Nature, the researchers […]
‘Spacesuits’ Protect Microbes Destined to Live in Space
Just as spacesuits help astronauts survive in inhospitable environments, newly developed “spacesuits” for bacteria allow them to survive in environments that would otherwise kill them. University of California, Berkeley, chemists developed the protective suits to extend the bacteria’s lifespan in a unique system that pairs live bacteria with light-absorbing semiconductors in order to capture carbon […]
Diamond Dust Enables Low-Cost, High-Efficiency Magnetic Field Detection
UC Berkeley engineers have created a device that dramatically reduces the energy needed to power magnetic field detectors, which could revolutionize how we measure the magnetic fields that flow through our electronics, our planet, and even our bodies. “The best magnetic sensors out there today are bulky, only operate at extreme temperatures, and can cost […]
Atomically Thin Light-Emitting Device Opens The Possibility For ‘Invisible’ Displays
UC Berkeley engineers have built a bright-light emitting device that is millimeters wide and fully transparent when turned off. The light emitting material in this device is a monolayer semiconductor, which is just three atoms thick. The device opens the door to invisible displays on walls and windows – displays that would be bright when […]
New Robots Can See into their Future
University of California, Berkeley, researchers have developed a robotic learning technology that enables robots to imagine the future of their actions so they can figure out how to manipulate objects they have never encountered before. In the future, this technology could help self-driving cars anticipate future events on the road and produce more intelligent robotic […]
Device Pulls Water From Dry Air, Powered Only By The Sun
Imagine a future in which every home has an appliance that pulls all the water the household needs out of the air, even in dry or desert climates, using only the power of the sun. That future may be around the corner, with the demonstration this week of a water harvester that uses only ambient […]
Coming To A Monitor Near You: A Defect-Free, Molecule-Thick Film
An emerging class of atomically thin materials known as monolayer semiconductors has generated a great deal of buzz in the world of materials science. Monolayers hold promise in the development of transparent LED displays, ultra-high efficiency solar cells, photo detectors and nanoscale transistors. Their downside? The films are notoriously riddled with defects, killing their performance. […]