Category Technology/Electronics

Smart cable sharing gives quantum computers a big boost

An artist’s rendering of time multiplexing of control signals to a quantum computer.
The control signals for single-qubit gates (short blocks) and two-qubit gates (long blocks) travel through common cables (tunnels) to switches, which distribute them among the qubits (spheres) based on switching signals (diamonds). By ordering the control signals in a clever way, akin to playing Tetris, traffic jams in the flow of control signals can largely be avoided and programs on the quantum computer can be executed almost as fast as if each qubit had its own cable for control signals.
Credit: Chalmers University of Technology | Boid

A major obstacle in the development of powerful quantum computers is the growing number of cables required to control a computer as the number of qubits increases...

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Leather gets a power upgrade with laser-written microsupercapacitors

Researchers use lasers to turn leather into wearable power
Researchers have used a laser to write conductive patterns onto leather, creating microsupercapacitors that can store energy and help smooth electrical signals. Credit: Dong-Dong Han, Jilin University

Researchers have developed a simple and ecofriendly way to use a laser to turn natural leather into flexible and wearable energy devices. The new approach could lay the groundwork for more sustainable wearable electronics. In a paper in Optics Letters, the researchers demonstrate the new technique by creating microsupercapacitors on leather in various patterns, including a tiger, dragon and rabbit.

“Using a laser, we directly write conductive patterns onto vegetable-tanned leather to create microsupercapacitors that can store energy and help smooth electrical signals so that wearable e...

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These AI-powered guide dogs don’t just lead, they talk

These AI-powered guide dogs don't just lead, they talk
Scientists at Binghamton University have developed a robot guide dog system that communicates with the visually impaired and provides real-time feedback during travel. Credit: Jonathan Cohen.

Guide dogs are powerful allies, leading the visually impaired safely to their destinations, but they can’t talk with their owners—until now. Using large language models, a team of researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York has created a talking robot guide dog system that determines an ideal route and safely guides users to their destination, offering real-time feedback along the way.

The paper, “From Woofs to Words: Towards Intelligent Robotic Guide Dogs with Verbal Communication,” was presented at the 40th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI 2026)...

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A new way to deliver faster, greener wireless connections indoors

A new way to deliver faster, greener wireless connections indoors
The image conceptually represents the compact, chip-scale platform integrating the 5×5 VCSEL array and custom beam-shaping optics to create a structured grid of uniform square spots. Credit: H. Safi (University of Cambridge)

Modern life depends on fast and reliable wireless connections. Video calls, streaming services, virtual reality, and smart devices all place growing demands on networks that already serve billions of users. Most wireless data today travels through radio-based technologies such as Wi-Fi and cellular systems.

While these approaches have been highly successful, they face mounting challenges, including crowded radio spectrum, interference in dense indoor spaces, and rising energy consumption as more devices come online.

A promising complementary approach is optic...

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