The world of drone technology has taken a significant leap forward with the development of the Safety-Assured High-Speed Aerial Robot (SUPER) by Professor Fu Zhang and his team from the University of Hong Kong. This groundbreaking innovation enables micro air vehicles (MAVs) to fly at high speeds, navigate complex environments, and avoid obstacles as thin as 2.5 millimeters using solely onboard sensors and computing power.

Unlike traditional drones that rely on GPS or pre-mapped routes, SUPER is designed to emulate the flight capabilities of birds, effortlessly dodging branches and obstacles in real-time while racing toward its goal. This “robot bird” can fly at speeds exceeding 20 meters per second, making it an exceptional tool for various applications such as search and rescue, power line inspection, forest monitoring, autonomous exploration, and mapping.

The key to SUPER’s success lies in the sophisticated integration of hardware and software. The lightweight 3D light detection and ranging (LIDAR) sensor is capable of detecting obstacles up to 70 meters away with pinpoint accuracy. This is paired with an advanced planning framework that generates two trajectories during flight: one optimizing speed by venturing into unknown spaces and another prioritizing safety by remaining within known, obstacle-free zones.

By processing LIDAR data directly as point clouds, the system significantly reduces computation time, enabling rapid decision-making even at high velocities. This technology has been tested in various real-life applications, such as the autonomous exploration of ancient sites, and has demonstrated seamless navigation in both indoor and outdoor environments.

“The ability to avoid thin obstacles and navigate tight spaces opens up new possibilities for applications like search and rescue, where every second counts,” said Mr Yunfan Ren, the lead author of the research paper. “SUPER’s robustness in various lighting conditions, including nighttime, makes it a reliable tool for round-the-clock operations.”

The research team envisions a wide range of applications for this innovative technology, including autonomous delivery, power line inspection, forest monitoring, autonomous exploration, and mapping. In search and rescue missions, MAVs equipped with SUPER technology could swiftly navigate disaster zones – such as collapsed buildings or dense forests – day and night, locating survivors or assessing hazards more efficiently than current drones. Moreover, in disaster relief scenarios, they could deliver crucial supplies to remote and inaccessible areas.

This “bird-like flight” capability of SUPER has the potential to revolutionize various industries, making them more efficient, safer, and more reliable. The future of drone technology has indeed taken a significant leap forward with this groundbreaking innovation.

Scientists have long considered transistors to be one of the greatest inventions of the 20th century. These tiny components are the backbone of modern electronics, allowing us to amplify or switch electrical signals. However, as electronics continue to shrink, it’s become increasingly difficult to scale down silicon-based transistors. It seemed like we had hit a wall.

A team of researchers from The University of Tokyo has come up with an innovative solution. They’ve developed a new transistor made from gallium-doped indium oxide (InGaOx), a material that can be structured as a crystalline oxide. This orderly structure is well-suited for electron mobility, making it an ideal candidate for replacing traditional silicon-based transistors.

The researchers wanted to enhance efficiency and scalability, so they designed their transistor with a “gate-all-around” structure. In this design, the gate (which turns the current on or off) surrounds the channel where the current flows. This wraps the gate entirely around the channel, improving efficiency and allowing for further miniaturization.

To create this new transistor, the team used atomic-layer deposition to coat the channel region with a thin film of InGaOx, one atomic layer at a time. They then heated the film to transform it into the crystalline structure needed for electron mobility.

The results are promising: their gate-all-around MOSFET achieves high mobility of 44.5 cm2/Vs and operates stably under applied stress for nearly three hours. In fact, this new transistor outperforms similar devices that have previously been reported.

This breakthrough has the potential to revolutionize electronics by providing more reliable and efficient components suited for applications with high computational demand, such as big data and artificial intelligence. These tiny transistors promise to help next-gen technology run smoothly, making a significant difference in our everyday lives.

The American Psychological Association (APA) has released a report calling for developers to prioritize features that protect adolescents from exploitation, manipulation, and erosion of real-world relationships in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). The report, “Artificial Intelligence and Adolescent Well-being: An APA Health Advisory,” warns against repeating the mistakes made with social media and urges stakeholders to ensure youth safety is considered early in AI development.

The APA expert advisory panel notes that adolescence is a complex period of brain development, spanning ages 10-25. During this time, age is not a foolproof marker for maturity or psychological competence. The report emphasizes the need for special safeguards aimed at younger users.

“We urge all stakeholders to ensure youth safety is considered relatively early in the evolution of AI,” said APA Chief of Psychology Mitch Prinstein, PhD. “AI offers new efficiencies and opportunities, yet its deeper integration into daily life requires careful consideration to ensure that AI tools are safe, especially for adolescents.”

The report makes several recommendations to make certain that adolescents can use AI safely:

1. Healthy boundaries with simulated human relationships: Ensure that adolescents understand the difference between interactions with humans and chatbots.
2. Age-appropriate defaults in privacy settings, interaction limits, and content: Implement transparency, human oversight, support, and rigorous testing to safeguard adolescents’ online experiences.
3. Encourage uses of AI that promote healthy development: Assist students in brainstorming, creating, summarizing, and synthesizing information while acknowledging AI’s limitations.
4. Limit access to and engagement with harmful and inaccurate content: Build protections to prevent adolescents from exposure to damaging material.
5. Protect adolescents’ data privacy and likenesses: Limit the use of adolescents’ data for targeted advertising and sale to third parties.

The report also calls for comprehensive AI literacy education, integrating it into core curricula and developing national and state guidelines for literacy education.

Additional Resources:

* Report:
* Guidance for parents on AI and keeping teens safe: [APA.org](http://APA.org)
* Resources for teens on AI literacy: [APA.org](http://APA.org)