Tech Xplore news

Tech Xplore / Worn traffic signs fool AI vision systems, exposing autonomous-driving risks

In computer vision and robotics, ensuring that AI systems remain reliable under real-world conditions is a growing challenge. Deep neural network (DNN)-based vision systems are increasingly used in safety-critical applications ...

Aug 31, 2026
Tech Xplore / Researcher explores what consciousness really means—and whether it might one day emerge in a machine

Could a machine ever feel pain or pleasure? Could it have its own inner experience of the world? As artificial intelligence grows more fluent in conversation, reasoning and problem-solving, this question is migrating from ...

Aug 31, 2026
Tech Xplore / Researchers develop smartphone-based technology to detect hidden cameras

A smartphone can now be transformed into a "hidden-camera detector." KAIST researchers have developed AI technology that can detect hidden cameras using only a smartphone and a low-cost LED device. This security technology ...

Aug 31, 2026
Tech Xplore / Controlled crumples give inflatable membranes multiple stable shapes for adaptable designs

Inflatable structures are all around us, from pool floaties and archways at the Tour de France to life-saving emergency resuscitators and vehicle airbags. As useful as these structures are, they are limited to only two stable ...

Aug 30, 2026
Tech Xplore / Light-powered soft robots that can keep jumping forever

Researchers from North Carolina State University have created teardrop-shaped soft robots that leap upward or forward when exposed to infrared light—and will keep jumping as long as the light is present. The work demonstrates ...

Aug 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / A humanoid robot's social expressiveness may backfire when it makes mistakes

For robots to be successfully deployed in real-world environments, humans should trust them enough to cooperate with them. Some roboticists have been trying to determine whether users perceive robots that exhibit socially ...

Aug 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / New transistor brings high voltage to microchip scale

Inside every electronic device, the flow of electricity is controlled by a switch called a transistor. For decades, these switches were made from silicon. More recently, engineers have turned to a material called gallium ...

Aug 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / Two ultrathin films turn low-grade heat into cooling without an electric motor

Refrigerators, air-conditioning systems and data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity, and cooling demand is constantly rising. A research team from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the University ...

Aug 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / Magnetic memory could make edge AI faster while reducing energy use

Texas engineers teamed up with the world's largest semiconductor foundry to fabricate and test an emerging memory technology that could help meet the increasing energy demand of artificial intelligence.

Aug 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / Brain-reading earbuds are already here, prompting urgent questions about children and neurodata

While it may sound like science fiction, earbuds that read brain activity are already on sale. Wearable technology company Neurable claims that its headphones, equipped with electroencephalography (EEG) sensors, can track ...

Aug 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / Shared-memory AI system lets microscope components coordinate in real time

Arco Bast studies how neurons communicate. Earlier this year, the Janelia postdoc encountered a more mechanical version of the same problem: The components of his custom microscope could not easily communicate with one another.

Aug 28, 2026
Tech Xplore / Giving solid-state batteries a squeeze keeps them from short-circuiting

Lithium-ion batteries power transportation and grid storage and enable our digital lives, but these ubiquitous batteries require frequent recharging and can fail over time. To make batteries more reliable and longer-lasting, ...

Aug 28, 2026