Articles – Page 53

SpinDance Has You Covered From Embedded Firmware to the Cloud

July 12, 2022

As usual, there are so many things going on in my life that I no longer know whether I’m coming or going. A few weeks ago, for example, I presented BeBop RoboSkin, which is a skin-like covering that can provide humanoid robots with tactile awareness that exceeds the capabilities of human beings with respect to spatial resolution and sensitivity. The example that really took my breath away was seeing a robot’s finger reading braille.

Moore’s Law: Not Dead Yet? Nope, Says Intel:, Behold Intel 4… and 3

by Steven Leibson

July 11, 2022

I’ve been writing about the death of Moore’s Law for more than a decade and have published articles on the topic for EEJournal.com several times in the past few years. It seems that I may have been premature and that I may need to eat some of my own words.

Back in 2018, in an EEJournal.com article titled “Racing to the End of Moore’s Law: The New World Semiconductor Order</ … Read More → "Moore’s Law: Not Dead Yet? Nope, Says Intel:, Behold Intel 4… and 3"

Halodi’s Humanoid Robots are Already Amongst Us!

by Max Maxfield

July 7, 2022

I’ve spent the past couple of hours contemplating how wonderful I am. Of course, it probably goes without saying that this is not an unusual activity for me in and of itself, but this time there’s a reason for my cogitations and ruminations because I was comparing my brain (which is right up there as one of my favorite organs) and my body (which represents the current peak in human evolution) with that of a humanoid robot.

When you stop to think about it, our human bodies are … Read More → "Halodi’s Humanoid Robots are Already Amongst Us!"

Autonomous Robot Tank Eradicates Almond Pests with One Silent Shot

by Steven Leibson

July 6, 2022

The autonomous Bolo tank tracked down the tree-lined lane looking for targets. Suddenly the Bolo’s tracks ground to a halt. Targets spotted. The Bolo’s two top-mounted turrets slowly swiveled as the AI system zeroed in. Up there. On those branches. The Bolo aimed and fired. Targets destroyed. The Bolo robot tank is a fictitious, autonomous, nuclear-powered war-fighting machine that first burst from the fevered imagination of Keith Laumer in a short story titled “Combat Unit.” That story appeared in the November 1960 issue of “The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.” Since then, Bolos have … Read More → "Autonomous Robot Tank Eradicates Almond Pests with One Silent Shot"

GlobalFoundries Chases Down a Different Semiconductor Rabbit Hole

by Steven Leibson

July 5, 2022

“My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that!”
– The Red Queen Paradox from Alice in Wonderland

GlobalFoundries (GF) is certainly a different sort of IC foundry. Instead of chasing the lithographic rabbit down a hole towards angstrom world, GF abandoned its quest for a 7 … Read More → "GlobalFoundries Chases Down a Different Semiconductor Rabbit Hole"

RISC-V Takes Embedded World 2022 by Storm

by Max Maxfield

June 30, 2022

I love computers (but only in a manly-man way, you understand). I’m not talking about the end-products that sit on our desks, hang out in our pockets, or lurk around us as we meander our way through the world, although I’m certainly fond of these little rascals—I’m much more interested in their “brains” in the form of their processing units where all the decision-making and number-crunching takes place.

As an aside, speaking of brains (which, of course, makes me think of Read More → "RISC-V Takes Embedded World 2022 by Storm"

CogniFiber: Computing @ The Speed of Light

by Max Maxfield

June 28, 2022

I must admit that I’m starting to feel quite enthused and excited. Of course, these are my usual states of being, so it might be tricky for a casual observer to tell if there’s any difference. The reason for my current invigoration and vivification is that I spent much of the weekend past starting to sketch out the presentations I will be giving in Trondheim, Norway, around the beginning of September.

Did you know that Norway’s national bird is the white-throated dipper? The reason I drop this … Read More → "CogniFiber: Computing @ The Speed of Light"

I Was Mr. Spock’s Science Officer, For a Day

by Steven Leibson

June 27, 2022

I’ve been reading science fiction (SF) since the second grade. The first SF book that I read was “The Space Witch” by Don Freeman, which I promptly plagiarized. That book was published in 1959 and I read it a couple of years later. By fourth grade, I’d graduated to the Heinlein juveniles starting with “Have Space Suit Will Travel,” which psychically transported me out of my fourth-grade classroom for at least two hours while other classroom activities took place around me. I was oblivious. Fortunately, my fourth-grade teacher Mrs. Fraas refused to disturb a student so deeply enmeshed … Read More → "I Was Mr. Spock’s Science Officer, For a Day"

OMG! Where Are My Assets?

by Max Maxfield

June 23, 2022

I am an outrageously lucky man. I’ve been fortunate enough to visit many countries and see many things. For example, I’ve given training courses in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Japan; I’ve presented guest lectures at universities in America, England, and Norway; and I’ve been invited to speak at conferences in Hawaii, Brazil, India, China, Taiwan, and South Korea (to name but a few). Even better – the cherry on top of the whipped cream on top of the chocolate cake, if you will – is that other people have paid all the bills, … Read More → "OMG! Where Are My Assets?"

New GUIs for Old Cars: Development Platforms for Manual and Autonomous Driving

by Steven Leibson

June 20, 2022

If you love old cars, you know there’s an allure to their look but their sparse instrumentation leaves much to be desired and, of course, these old machines have no connection to today’s wired world. Earlier this year, Berlin-based Incari announced that it had partnered with the Strate School of Design Bangalore and Design 1880 in France. The three partners plan to retrofit advanced human-machine interfaces (HMIs) in classic cars. For some auto aficionados, this will be sacrilege. For others, it’s a welcome update. Which camp are you in?

Read More → "New GUIs for Old Cars: Development Platforms for Manual and Autonomous Driving"