Category Technology/Electronics

This is an example of SegNet in action: the separate components of the road scene are all labelled in real time. Credit: Alex Kendall

New smartphone-based system could accelerate development of driverless cars. 2 newly-developed systems for driverless cars can identify a user’s location and orientation in places where GPS does not function, and identify the various components of a road scene in real time on a regular camera or smartphone, performing the same job as sensors costing tens of thousands of pounds.

Although the systems cannot currently control a driverless car, the ability to make a machine ‘see’ and accurately identify where it is and what it’s looking at is a vital part of developing autonomous vehicles and robotics...

This image shows a selective actuation of the side arms of a soft robot in a horizontal uniform magnetic field. Credit: Sumeet Mishra, North Carolina State University

The ability to control the motion of soft robots, coupled with flexibility, gives them potential applications ranging from biomedical technologies to manufacturing processes. Researchers are interested in using magnetic fields to control the movement of these soft robots because it can be done remotely – the control can be exerted without physically connecting to the polymer – and because magnetic fields are easily obtained from permanent magnets and electromagnets.

A team of researchers has now found a way of embedding long chains of nanoscale magnetite particles in sheets of elastic polymer to form a magnetic polymer nanoco...

Microsoft is focusing on developers, not the general public, for the latest in HoloLens events and announcements. The good news for the public is that, in doing so, the conversation is shedding light on what is behind HoloLens and what to expect once availability happens.

You’re looking at sessions of mixed reality, not virtual reality. Do not expect to be mentally transported into another world; you remain in a familiar place where virtual characters may join your space. This is an augmented reality headset; some watchers call it an “untethered wearable.” HoloLens works all on its own: all the hardware necessary to run any program is inside the headset. Microsoft’s definition of its HoloLens: The first holographic computer running Windows 10...

McMaster researchers have taken atomic-level images of individual nanoparticles during heating that could lead to improved fuel-cell technologies at lower cost, reduce dependence on imported oil and minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Credit: McMaster University

Heating nanoparticles and atomic-level tracking allows for the development of other cheaper catalysts, such as platinum-ron nanoparticles. Typically, pricey platinum nanoparticles are used. This technology will reduce dependence on imported oil and minimize greenhouse gases.

Using advanced electron microscopic techniques the team was able to track the atomic-rearrangement process of an individual Platinum-Iron nanoparticle – as it got annealed inside the microscope...