This morning at the ProMat conference in Chicago, Agility Robotics is introducing the latest iteration of Digit, its bipedal multipurpose robot designed for near-term commercial success in warehouse and logistics operations. This version of Digit adds a head (for human-robot interaction) along with manipulators intended for the very first task that Digit will be performing, one that Agility hopes will be its entry point to a sustainable and profitable business bringing bipedal robots into the w ...read more

Not all technological innovation deserves to be called progress. That’s because some advances, despite their conveniences, may not do as much societal advancing, on balance, as advertised. One researcher who stands opposite technology’s cheerleaders is MIT economist Daron Acemoglu. (The “c” in his surname is pronounced like a soft “g.”) IEEE Spectrum spoke with Agemoglu—whose fields of research include labor economics, political economy, and development economics—about his recen ...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, KOREAIEEE RO-MAN 2023: 28–31 August 2023, BUSAN, KOREACLAWAR 2023: 2–4 October 2 ...read more

Electric cars barely existed in 2010, when the Tesla Model S was still a glint in Elon Musk’s eye. Now more than 20 million EVs girdle the globe, according to BloombergNEF—and that count is expected to nearly quadruple to 77 million by 2025. A battery will be the high-voltage heart of each of those 77 million electric vehicles, and by far their most expensive component, setting off a worldwide race to ethically source their materials and crank up production to meet exploding demand.EVs may ...read more

Dead, and in a jacket and tie. That’s how he was on 1 December 1948, when two men found him slumped against a retaining wall on the beach at Somerton, a suburb of Adelaide, Australia. The Somerton Man’s body was found on a beach in 1948. Nobody came forward to identify him. JAMES DURHAM Police distributed a photograph, but no one came forward to claim the body. Eyewitnesses reported having seen the man, whom the newspapers dubbed the Somerton Man and who appeared to be in his early ...read more

This morning at the ProMat conference in Chicago, Agility Robotics is introducing the latest iteration of Digit, their bipedal multipurpose robot designed for near-term commercial success in warehouse and logistics operations. This version of Digit adds a head (for human-robot interaction) along with manipulators intended for the very first task that Digit will be performing, one that Agility hopes will be its entry point to a sustainable and profitable business bringing bipedal robots into the ...read more

Every year, online job search firms collect data about the salaries, skills, and overall job market for tech professionals, generally focusing on software engineersThe numbers from job search firms Dice and Hired have been released. These 2022 numbers have been eagerly anticipated, given the turmoil generated by a spate of tech layoffs in the latter part of the year, which Dice estimates at more than 140,000. The data they collect doesn’t allow for apples-to-apples comparisons, but I’ve rea ...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.HRI 2023: 13–16 March 2023, STOCKHOLMRobotics 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, KOREAIEEE RO-MAN 2023: 28–31 August 2023, B ...read more

For Synopsys Chief Executive Aart de Geus, running the electronic design automation behemoth is similar to being a bandleader. He brings together the right people, organizes them into a cohesive ensemble, and then leads them in performing their best. De Geus, who helped found the company in 1986, has some experience with bands. The IEEE Fellow has been playing guitar in blues and jazz bands since he was an engineering student in the late 1970s. Much like jazz musicians improvising, engi ...read more

Tesla’s investor day on 1 March began with a rambling, detailed discourse on energy and the environment before transitioning into a series of mostly predictable announcements and boasts. And then, out of nowhere, came an absolute bombshell: “We have designed our next drive unit, which uses a permanent-magnet motor, to not use any rare-earth elements at all,” declared Colin Campbell, Tesla’s director of power-train engineering.It was a stunning disclosure that left most experts in perman ...read more