IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2024-11-11DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10749749
Erico Guizzo;Randi Klett
{"title":"Where's My Robot Butler?: Here's How We Could Finally Build Humanoid Robots That Do All Our Domestic Chores","authors":"Erico Guizzo;Randi Klett","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10749749","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10749749","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142600295","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2024-11-11DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10749716
Markus Mierse
{"title":"A Sci-Fi Aerial Display: This Touchscreen Floats in Midair","authors":"Markus Mierse","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10749716","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10749716","url":null,"abstract":"On a star base far far away, a dashing hero presses a but-ton on a control panel and a schematic appears in midair. Deftly touching her fingers to the ethe-real display, the hero shuts down an energy shield and moves on with her secret mission. If you've watched any science fiction, you're probably familiar with this kind of scenario. But what you may not know is that while star bases and energy shields are still beyond us, floating displays are not.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142600303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2024-11-11DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10749726
Harry Goldstein
{"title":"Reinventing a Patent Case: Cob Burandt is Still Down and Out in Ham Lake, But His Attorneys Have Just Begun to Fight-Again","authors":"Harry Goldstein","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10749726","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10749726","url":null,"abstract":"Just before this special issue on invention went to press, I got a message from IEEE senior member and patent attorney George Macdonald. Nearly two decades after I first reported on Corliss Orville “Cob” Burandt's struggle with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the 77-year-old inventor's patent case was being revived.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10749726","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142600307","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2024-10-04DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10705370
Peter Fairley
{"title":"Powering Taiwan's Silicon Shield","authors":"Peter Fairley","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10705370","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10705370","url":null,"abstract":"The wind blowing in from the Taiwan Strait regularly blasts across Changhua Coastal Industrial Park. On this expanse of reclaimed land outside Taichung, Taiwan's second largest city, 80 wind turbines, a pair of gas-fired power plants, and 4.3 square kilometers of solar farms generate electricity for Taiwan's grid. More than 170 wind turbines installed offshore in the strait send more than a gigawatt of power to a hulking, typhoon-ready substation, its circuits primed for more power coming within months. Shiny new transmission towers strung with steel cables lead to a second massive substation, still under construction, which will absorb 2 gigawatts of additional offshore wind power.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142376772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2024-10-04DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10705383
Allison Marsh
{"title":"Past Forward: The First Transistor Radio","authors":"Allison Marsh","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10705383","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10705383","url":null,"abstract":"On 1 November 1954, the first transistor radio hit store shelves just in time for the holiday shopping season. The Regency TR-1 was advertised as the world's first pocket radio, although at 12.7 by 8.7 by 3.5 centimeters, it required pretty big pockets—literally and figuratively. The radio sold for US $49.95, or more than $580 today, which is coincidentally about what it'll cost you to buy one on eBay. Still, the radio was significantly smaller than any vacuum-tube model.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10705383","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142377070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2024-10-04DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10705377
Tim Kuhlbusch
{"title":"A No-Fuss Particle Detector: An Inexpensive and Robust Way to See the Invisible","authors":"Tim Kuhlbusch","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10705377","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10705377","url":null,"abstract":"There's nothing like particle physics to make you aware that we exist in an endless three-dimensional pinball game. All around us, subatomic particles arc, collide, and barrel along with merry abandon. Some originate within our own bodies, others come from the far ends of the cosmos. But detecting this invisible tumult requires equipment, which can be costly. I wanted to create a way to detect at least some of the pinballs for less than US $15.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142376888","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
IEEE SpectrumPub Date : 2024-10-04DOI: 10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10705384
Harry Goldstein
{"title":"Defending Taiwan with Chips and Drones: Taiwan Doubles Down on its Silicon Shield Strategy while the U.S. Promises a Storm of Drones","authors":"Harry Goldstein","doi":"10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10705384","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/MSPEC.2024.10705384","url":null,"abstract":"The majority of the world's advanced logic chips are made in Taiwan, and most of those are made by one company: Taiwan Semi-conductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC). While it seems risky for companies like Nvidia, Apple, and Google to depend so much on one supplier, for Taiwan's leaders, that's a feature, not a bug.","PeriodicalId":13249,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Spectrum","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-10-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10705384","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142376847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}