Pushing material boundaries for better electronics | MIT News

Undergrads, take note: The lessons you learn in those intro classes could be the key to making your next big discovery. At least, that’s been the case for MIT’s Jeehwan Kim.

A recently tenured faculty member in MIT’s departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Kim has made numerous discoveries about the nanostructure of materials and is funneling them directly into the advancement of next-generation electronics.

His research aims to push electronics past the inherent limits of silicon — a material that has reliably powered transistors and most other electronic elements but is reaching a performance limit as more computing power is packed into ever smaller devices.

Today, Kim and his students at MIT are exploring materials, devices, and systems that could take over where silicon leaves off. Kim is applying his insights to design next-generation devices, including low-power, high-performance transistors and memory devices, artificial intelligence chips, ultra-high-definition micro-LED displays, and flexible electronic “skin.” Ultimately, he envisions such beyond-silicon devices could be built into supercomputers small enough to fit in your pocket.

The innovations that have come out of his research are recorded in more than 200 issued US patents and 70 research papers — an extensive list

Vodia and Your Technology Roadmap

Are you an SMB looking for cutting-edge technology to help grow your business, but you don’t know where to start? Perhaps it’s time to consider drafting a technology roadmap. Like any good map, a technology roadmap provides you with directions and destinations. It’s an effective way to organize your company’s IT strategy.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of technologies made it so SMBs could operate with dispersed workforces while streamlining operations. These technologies, built for the cloud, gave companies an entirely new way to conduct business. Many companies, however, were thrown into the fray during the pandemic and forced to improvise – a Zoom meeting here, group cell phone calls there…it was catch as catch can, and many SMBs didn’t, and still haven’t, put together a roadmap for the deployment of a suite of technologies to take their businesses further.

A roadmap that lines up with your objectives and details how the technology you are already using, as well as the technology you haven’t yet considered, can make your business more efficient and more effective. It should be dynamic and reviewed and updated periodically, so as to take operational changes and new technologies into consideration alongside

Nvidia announces Project GR00T AI technology for human-like robots

Nvidia (NVDA) is diving deeper into the robotics game with the debut of a new foundation model for humanoid robots dubbed Project GR00T.

A foundation model is a type of AI system trained on massive amounts of data that’s capable of being used for a wide variety of tasks from generating sentences to videos, images, and more.

According to Nvidia, Project GR00T will help humanoid robots “understand natural language and emulate movements by observing human actions — quickly learn coordination, dexterity, and other skills in order to navigate, adapt, and interact with the real world.”

Nvidia also announced its Isaac Manipulator and Isaac Perceptor, part of the company’s Isaac robotics platform. Isaac Manipulator is a series of foundation models designed for robotic arms, while Issac Perceptor is intended to offer “multi-camera, 3D surround-vision capabilities” for robots designed to take on manufacturing and fulfillment roles.

In addition to those, the graphics giant also debuted its Jetson Thor computer for humanoid robots. The platform, which is powered by Nvidia’s Thor system-on-a-chip, will serve as the brains of humanoid robots.

AI engineer Jenna Reher works on humanoid robot Figure 01 at Figure AI's test facility in Sunnyvale, Calif., Oct.  3, 2023. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)AI engineer Jenna Reher works on humanoid robot Figure 01 at Figure AI's test facility in Sunnyvale, Calif., Oct.  3, 2023. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

AI engineer Jenna Reher works on humanoid robot Figure 01 at Figure AI’s test facility in Sunnyvale, Calif., Oct. 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Jae