InfoWorldA working draft of the standard for the next C programming language revision, C2x, is available for review. Most changes that have thus far been approved for C2x clarify and refine how C should behave in different implementations and in comparison to C++. The proposed revision emphasizes keeping future editions of C compatible with the large body of existing C code, and avoiding "quiet changes," or those that cause a working program to work differently without notice. So far, C […]

IEEE SpectrumResearchers at the University of Koblenz-Landa in Germany, competing at the World Robot Summit (WRS) in Japan, developed a robotic system that was able to successfully clean at least 80% of the liquid from on and around a toilet, and remove trash from the floor of a bathroom. There were a variety of different approaches that the teams used for this particular challenge at the WRC, including building a robotic system around the entire bathroom to handle the cleaning tasks. However, […]

The New York Times MagazineThe growing acceptance and proliferation of conversational artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to have a subtle but ubiquitous effect on everyday human life, with intelligent chatbots potentially automating almost all commercial interactions. Scientists anticipate talking software becoming increasingly able to help people manage their emotions. For example, Stanford University's Alison Darcy built a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) robot to help people […]

HPCwireUniversity of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) researchers have created a promising building block for next-generation nonvolatile random-access memory, artificial neural networks, and bioinspired computing systems. The team said the memristor crossbar arrays they have assembled are, "the first high-density electronic circuits with individually addressable components scaled down to 2 nanometers dimension built with foundry-compatible fabrication technologies." UMass Amherst's […]

Osaka UniversityOsaka University researchers have developed a new approach to pressure distribution measurement using tactile imaging technology. The researchers used the relationship between the pressure of two conductors and the electrical contact resistance between them to develop a sensor composed of a pair of electromechanically coupled conductors, where one conductor had a driving function and the other performed the probe function. This technique enabled the development of a universal […]