Posts by tag

UC Berkeley

4 posts
View Post

Insect-Sized Robot Navigates Mazes With The Agility Of A Cheetah

Many insects and spiders get their uncanny ability to scurry up walls and walk upside down on ceilings with the help of specialized sticky footpads that allow them to adhere to surfaces in places where no human would dare to go. Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have used the principle behind these some of these footpads, called electrostatic adhesion, to create an insect-scale robot that can swerve and pivot with the agility of a cheetah, giving it the ability to traverse complex terrain and quickly avoid unexpected obstacles. The robot is constructed from a thin, layered material that…
View Post
Share
View Post

Astronomers Find Signature Of Magnetar Outbursts In Nearby Galaxies

Apart from black holes, magnetars may be the most extreme stars in the universe. With a diameter less than the length of Manhattan, they pack more mass than that of our sun, wield the largest magnetic field of any known object — more than 10 trillion times stronger than a refrigerator magnet — and spin on their axes every few seconds. A type of neutron star — the remnant of a supernova explosion — magnetars are so highly magnetized that even modest disturbances in the magnetic field can cause bursts of X-rays that last sporadically for weeks or months. These…
View Post
Share
View Post

High-Five Or Thumbs-Up? New Device Detects Which Hand Gesture You Want To Make

Imagine typing on a computer without a keyboard, playing a video game without a controller or driving a car without a wheel. That’s one of the goals of a new device developed by engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, that can recognize hand gestures based on electrical signals detected in the forearm. The system, which couples wearable biosensors with artificial intelligence (AI), could one day be used to control prosthetics or to interact with almost any type of electronic device. “Prosthetics are one important application of this technology, but besides that, it also offers a very intuitive way of…
View Post
Share
View Post

UC Berkeley To Lead $25 Million Quantum Computing Center

As part of the federal government’s effort to speed the development of quantum computers, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the University of California, Berkeley, $25 million over five years to establish a multi-university institute focused on advancing quantum science and engineering and training a future workforce to build and use quantum computers. The UC Berkeley-led center is one of three Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes (QLCI) announced on Tuesday, July 21 by NSF and represents a $75 million investment. The initiatives are a central part of the National Quantum Initiative Act of 2018, the White House’s Industries of the Future…
View Post
Share