New technologies often are introduced through spectacle: Think of the historic demonstrations carried out by Faraday, Edison, Morse, and Bell, or, more recently, by Steve Jobs onstage in his black turtleneck at Macworld 2007, holding the first iPhone. Indeed, hyped-up product announcements at industry events like the Consumer Electronics Show (now CES) and the Game Developers Conference have become regular features of the digital world. There’s also a parallel tradition—less flashy bu ...read more

We’ve gotten used to thinking of quadrupedal robots as robotic versions of dogs. And, to be fair, it’s right there in the word “quadrupedal.” But if we can just get past the Latin, there’s absolutely no reason why quadrupedal robots have to restrict themselves to using all four of their limbs as legs all of the time. And in fact, most other quadrupeds are versatile like this: four-legged animals frequently use their front limbs to interact with the world around them for non-locomotion ...read more

A rocket carrying CubeSats launched into Earth orbit two years ago, on 22 March 2021. Two of those CubeSats represented competing approaches to bringing the Internet of Things (IoT) to space. One, operated by Lacuna Space, uses a protocol called LoRaWAN, a long-range, low-power protocol owned by Semtech. The other, owned by Sateliot, uses the narrowband IoT protocol, following in the footsteps of OQ Technology, which launched a similar IoT satellite demonstration in 2019. And separately, in lat ...read more

For the past 20 years, the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society has been working to become more welcoming and inclusive for women, members from outside the United States and Canada, students, and young professionals. Its hard work in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has paid off. IEEE IMS has increased its number of women leaders, conference speakers, and editors of its publications. The society also has expanded its chapters to other parts of the world. To encourage more st ...read more

Neurotechnologies today—devices that can measure and influence our brains and nervous systems—are growing in power and popularity. The neurotech marketplace, according to Precedence Research, is worth US $14.3 billion this year and will exceed $20 billion within four years. Noninvasive brain-computer interfaces, brain-stimulation devices, and brain-monitoring hardware (measuring alertness and attention at work, for example) are no longer just laboratory experiments and technological curios. ...read more

Volvo Cars CEO Jim Rowan boldly proclaims that electric vehicles will reach price parity with internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicles by 2025. Not likely, counter Mercedes-Benz’s chief technology officer Markus Schäfer and Renault Group CEO Luca de Meo. The International Energy Agency predicts that EVs will make up more than 60 percent of vehicles sold globally by 2030. But given the sheer tonnage of lithium, cobalt, and other raw materials needed for EV batteries, that figure is over ...read more

This is a sponsored article brought to you by Elephant Robotics. In recent years, interest in using robots in education has seen massive growth. Projects that involve robotics, artificial intelligence, speech recognition, and related technologies can help develop students’ analytical, creative, and practical skills. However, a major challenge has been the robots themselves: They are typically big, heavy, and costly. For robots to become widely used in education, they need to be smaller, ...read more

TranscriptEliza Strickland: Paralysis used to be thought of as a permanent condition, but over the past two decades, engineers have begun to find workarounds. They’re building on a new understanding of the electric code used by the nervous system. I’m Eliza Strickland, a guest host for IEEE Spectrum’s Fixing the Future podcast. Today I’m talking with Chad Bouton, who’s at the forefront of this electrifying field of research. Chad, welcome to the program, and can you please introduce y ...read more

A rocket carrying CubeSats launched into Earth orbit two years ago, on 22 March, 2021. Two of those CubeSats represented competing approaches to bringing the Internet of Things (IoT) to space. One, operated by Lacuna Space, uses a protocol called LoRaWAN, a long-range, low-power protocol owned by Semtech. The other, owned by Sateliot, uses the narrowband IoT protocol, following in the footsteps of OQ Technology, which launched a similar IoT satellite demonstration in 2019. And separately, in la ...read more

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.Robotics Summit & Expo: 10–11 May 2023, BOSTONICRA 2023: 29 May–2 June 2023, LONDONRoboCup 2023: 4–10 July 2023, BORDEAUX, FRANCERSS 2023: 10–14 July 2023, DAEGU, SOUTH KOREAIEEE RO-MAN 2023: 28–31 August 2023, BUSAN, SOUTH KOREACLAWAR 2023: 2� ...read more