Communications of the ACM
A Healthy Dose of AI
Building artificial intelligence into medical devices can speed diagnoses and potentially improve treatments and outcomes.
From ACM NewsAn edited collection of advanced computing news from Communications of the ACM, ACM TechNews, other ACM resources, and news sites around the Web.
From ACM TechNews
Squishy Robots
A new phase-change material built from wax and foam, that is capable of switching between hard and soft states, could be used to construct inexpensive robots.
From ACM TechNews
Drone Lighting: Autonomous Vehicles Could Automatically Assume the Right Positions for Photographic Lighting
A team of researchers is developing algorithms to let photographers use camera-mounted controls to guide drone-mounted lights into just the right position.
From ACM Opinion
Harnessing the Speed of Light
The fields of data communication, fabrication, and ultrasound imaging share a common challenge when it comes to improving speed and efficiency: light's diffraction...
From ACM TechNews
Own Your Own Data
MIT researchers have developed openPDS (personal data store), a prototype system that stores data from digital devices in a single location specified by the user...
From ACM TechNews
Traffic Lights: There's a Better Way
A new means of computing the optimal timings for city stoplights can significantly reduce drivers' average travel times.
From ACM TechNews
Collaborative Learning--For Robots
A new algorithm enables independent agents to collaborate on a machine-learning model without aggregating data.
From ACM News
Researchers nveil Experimental 36-Core Chip
The more cores—or processing units—a computer chip has, the bigger the problem of communication between cores becomes.
From ACM TechNews
Can We See the Arrow of Time?
A new algorithm can determine whether a given snippet of video is playing backward or forward with 80-percent accuracy.
From ACM TechNews
Who's Using Your Data?
The HTTP with Accountability protocol is designed to track the transmission of private data and enable the data owner to see how it is used online.
From ACM News
Think Fast, Robot
One of the reasons we don't yet have self-driving cars and mini-helicopters delivering online purchases is that autonomous vehicles tend not to perform well under...
From ACM TechNews
Bake Your Own Robot
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers recently introduced the concept of "bakable robots."
From ACM News
Bake Your Own Robot
Printable robots—those that can be assembled from parts produced by 3-D printers—have long been a topic of research in the lab of Daniela Rus, the Andrew and Erna...
From ACM TechNews
Glasses-Free 3D Projector
Researchers have developed a glasses-free, multi-perspective, three-dimensional video screen.
From ACM News
Terahertz Imaging on the Cheap
Terahertz imaging, which is already familiar from airport security checkpoints, has a number of other promising applications—from explosives detection to collision...
From ACM News
Computer System Automatically Solves Word Problems
Researchers in MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, working with colleagues at the University of Washington, have developed a new computer...
From ACM TechNews
Computer System Automatically Solves Word Problems
A new computer system can automatically solve the type of word problems common in introductory algebra classes.
From ACM TechNews
New Material For Flat Semiconductors
Researchers have discovered a two-dimensional material whose properties are very similar to those of graphene, but with some distinct advantages.
From ACM News
Excitons Observed in Action for the First Time
A quasiparticle called an exciton—responsible for the transfer of energy within devices such as solar cells, LEDs, and semiconductor circuits—has been understood...
From ACM News
New 'switch' Could Power Quantum Computing
Using a laser to place individual rubidium atoms near the surface of a lattice of light, scientists at MIT and Harvard University have developed a new method for...
From ACM Opinion