ENGGtalks Newsroom

02 Dec 23

ANYmal’s Wheel-Hand-Leg-Arms Open Doors Playfully

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The tricked out version of the ANYmal quadruped, as customized by Zürich-based Swiss-Mile, just keeps getting better and better. Starting with a commercial quadruped, adding powered wheels made the robot fast and efficient, while still allowing it to handle curbs and stairs. A few years ago, the robot learned how…

02 Dec 23

IBM Offers Quantum Error Suppression Out Of The Box

Computer & Information Technology

The error-prone nature of today’s quantum computers can make doing any useful computation on them a major headache. IBM has announced that, as of this past week, they have integrated error suppression technology from Q-CTRL into IBM cloud quantum services, letting users slash error rates by simply flicking a switch.…

02 Dec 23

IEEE President’s Note: Young Technologists Grow Their Careers With IEEE

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

As 2023 president, one of my goals was to work with all members—particularly our students, young professionals, and affinity community members—to make IEEE a more successful and resilient global technical organization and for it to be globally recognized as a force for change. It was equally important to me that…

02 Dec 23

Video Friday: Tap Finger, Move Mountain

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.Humanoids 2023: 12–14 December 2023, AUSTIN, TEX.Cybathlon Challenges: 02 February 2024,…

01 Dec 23

Farewell, Philip E. Ross

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Here’s a pretty reliable sign you’re having a great career in journalism: You’re meeting exceptionally interesting people on a regular basis. Indeed, some of them are people you work with every day.All of us at IEEE Spectrum have experienced that good fortune working with Senior Editor Philip E. Ross, who…

01 Dec 23

Bezos Bucks? Get Ready for Corporate Digital Currency

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Buying and selling cryptocurrencies is a big business. Bitcoin, for example, processed US $3 trillion worth of transactions in 2021, more than double what American Express did. But most of those transactions were just for speculation. The fraction that involved buying actual stuff (goods and services) is so small that…

01 Dec 23

When AI Unplugs, All Bets Are Off

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

The next great chatbot will run at lighting speed on your laptop PC—no Internet connection required.That was at least the vision recently laid out by Intel’s CEO, Pat Gelsinger, at the company’s 2023 Intel Innovation summit. Flanked by on-stage demos, Gelsinger announced the coming of “AI PCs” built to accelerate…

01 Dec 23

Is the Turing Test Dead?

Computer & Information Technology

When in 1950 Alan Turing first proposed an approach to distinguish the “minds” of machines from those of human beings, the idea that a machine could ever achieve human-level intelligence was almost laughable. In the Turing test—which Turing himself originally called the “imitation game“—human participants conduct a conversation with unknown…

30 Nov 23

3,800-km Cable Offers Glimpse of a Global Power Grid

Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

At first glance, North Devon, an expanse of rolling hills and gentle seaside cliffs deep in the English countryside, may not seem like a place to find the future.But if a company called Xlinks can realize its plan, North Devon will be a conduit for one of the most ambitious…

30 Nov 23

Fly the Hybrid Skies

Electrical, Electronics & Instrumentation, Mechanical, Production & Manufacturing

Commercial aviation is the connective tissue of the modern world. Just before the global pandemic, on an average day 12 million people flew on some 100,000 commercial flights, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). The numbers have now come roaring back: Industry revenues are expected to reach US…

ANYmal’s Wheel-Hand-Leg-Arms Open Doors Playfully

IBM Offers Quantum Error Suppression Out Of The Box

IEEE President’s Note: Young Technologists Grow Their Careers With IEEE

Video Friday: Tap Finger, Move Mountain

Farewell, Philip E. Ross

Bezos Bucks? Get Ready for Corporate Digital Currency

When AI Unplugs, All Bets Are Off

Is the Turing Test Dead?

3,800-km Cable Offers Glimpse of a Global Power Grid

Fly the Hybrid Skies

Google won two major awards at MWC Barcelona 2025.

Expanding AI Overviews and introducing AI Mode

This MRI Can Run on Batteries

The Tiny Star Explosions Powering Moore’s Law