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Tag Archives: electronics
Taking AI to the next level
At the heart of artificial intelligence lies the question of whether we might be able to create artificial systems that behave and compute in the same manner than human beings do. This would obviously be a mind-blowing breakthrough were it ever accomplished – it would give us new applications for computers, change the nature of work in our society, and force us to redefine the very nature of being human. Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that such a feat has proven to be incredibly difficult to achieve. While it has grown in complexity and scope, artificial intelligence is still quite far from any kind of accurate human resemblance. However, this may change very soon.
Back in 2008, the world of electronics was abuzz with excitement over a new invention – the memristor. This is an electrical component that behaves very similarly to a resistor, but with one key difference. Memristors impede the flow of electricity, but the amount that they do so is dependent on the current that has passed through the memristor in the past. Now, this might not seem like such a big deal, but think about the implications. Essentially, such a piece of hardware has the ability to store some information about its previous input. It has the electrical equivalent of memory. With that in mind, let’s venture into the realm of cognitive science.
Jump out of your skin and into your e-skin
Last time, I wrote about the reverse-engineering of natural processes to develop more efficient solar cells. It turns out that photovoltaics research is not the only field being guided by nature. This month, the journal Nature Materials published two reports describing a pair of successful attempts to fabricate artificial skin – flexible, stretchable arrays of highly sensitive pressure sensors that produce electrical signals in response to contact. The so-called “e-skin” can be used in applications such as robotics and manufacturing to provide a softer touch during manipulation delicate objects.
Coming soon to Berkeley: Energy efficient electronics using nanotechnology
To date, nanotechnology has generated lots of excitement in the scientific community, but it hasn’t exactly brought about transformative changes in the life of the average person. In an effort turn that corner, UC Berkeley recently established the Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science (E3S), where researchers will work to develop a new generation of nanotechnology-based computer chips that require so little energy that they may never need to be plugged in or recharged. The applications of this research go far beyond improving your laptop’s battery life (important as that might be) and into the realm of making entirely new technologies viable, like biosensors and ubiquitous wireless networks. E3S is led by EECS professor Eli Yablonovitch, whose long list of honors includes his very own Wikipedia entry.
