Category Physics

Speech-to-reality system creates objects on demand using AI and robotics

Researchers 'speak objects into existence' using AI and robotics
A robotic arm builds a lattice-like stool after hearing the prompt “I want a simple stool,” demonstrating how the system translates speech into real-time fabrication. Credit: Alexander Kyaw and the researchers

Generative AI and robotics are moving us ever closer to the day when we can ask for an object and have it created within a few minutes. In fact, MIT researchers have developed a speech-to-reality system, an AI-driven workflow that allows them to provide input to a robotic arm and “speak objects into existence,” creating things like furniture in as little as five minutes.

With the speech-to-reality system, a robotic arm mounted on a table is able to receive spoken input from a human, such as “I want a simple stool,” and then construct the objects out of modular components...

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Number’s up: Calculators hold out against AI

In July, AI models made by Google, OpenAI and DeepSeek reached gold-level scores at the annual International Mathematical Olympiad
n July, AI models made by Google, OpenAI and DeepSeek reached gold-level scores at the annual International Mathematical Olympiad.

The humble pocket calculator may not be able to keep up with the mathematical capabilities of new technology, but it will never hallucinate.

The device’s enduring reliability equates to millions of sales each year for Japan’s Casio, which is even eyeing expansion in certain regions.

Despite lightning-speed advances in artificial intelligence, chatbots still sometimes stumble on basic addition.

In contrast, “calculators always give the correct answer,” Casio executive Tomoaki Sato told AFP.

But he conceded that calculators could one day go the way of the abacus.

“It’s undeniable that the market for personal calculators used in business is on a...

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Aluminum nitride transistor advances next-gen RF electronics

Aluminum nitride transistor advances next-gen RF electronics
A tale of three substrates for nitride HEMTs. Credit: Advanced Electronic Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1002/aelm.202500393

Cornell researchers have developed a new transistor architecture that could reshape how high-power wireless electronics are engineered, while also addressing supply chain vulnerabilities for a critical semiconductor material.

The device, called an XHEMT, includes an ultra-thin layer of gallium nitride built on bulk single-crystal aluminum nitride, a semiconductor material with low defect densities and an ultrawide bandgap—properties that allow it to withstand higher temperatures and voltages while reducing electrical losses.

The device was detailed in the journal Advanced Electronic Materials and the research was co-led by Huili Grace Xing, the William L...

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Engineers develop thin film to make AI chips faster and more energy efficient

UH engineers making AI faster, reducing power consumption
This is the two-dimensional thin film electric insulator designed in the University of Houston lab of Alamgir Karim to make AI faster and reduce power consumption. Credit: University of Houston

Addressing the staggering power and energy demands of artificial intelligence, engineers at the University of Houston have developed a revolutionary new thin-film material that promises to make AI devices significantly faster while dramatically cutting energy consumption.

The breakthrough, detailed in the journal ACS Nano, introduces a specialized two-dimensional (2D) thin film dielectric—or an electric insulator—designed to replace traditional, heat generating components in integrated circuit chips...

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