Welcome to the May 15, 2023, edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for IT professionals three times a week.
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U.S. Universities Building New Semiconductor Workforce
IEEE Spectrum
Prachi Patel
May 13, 2023
U.S. universities are training next-generation semiconductor engineers and technicians to fill the jobs needed for the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors and Science Act to succeed. Institutions are overhauling their semiconductor-related curricula and entering into partnerships with one another and with industry to train future chipmakers. Purdue University's Peter Bermel estimates the chip industry will require at least 50,000 new hires in the next five years. Intel committed $50 million to 80 universities and community colleges to improve their curricula, train and hire faculty, supply equipment, and offer internships, guidance, and research opportunities. Purdue has launched an interdisciplinary Semiconductor Degrees Program to offer undergraduate and graduate students various options for acquiring chipmaking skills, and this year will initiate a program to train students for the SkyWater Technology chip foundry.
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Using Reflections to See the World from New Points of View
MIT News
Adam Zewe
May 10, 2023
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Rice University created a computer vision system that taps reflections to transform shiny objects into a "camera." The Objects as Radiance-Field Cameras (ORCa) system maps reflections from the surfaces of glossy objects to estimate scene depth and to record unique views that would only be visible from the object's perspective. ORCa involves taking images of an object from various angles to capture multiple reflections, applying machine learning to convert the object's surface into a virtual sensor that captures light and reflections hitting each virtual pixel, and modeling the three-dimensional environment from the object's viewpoint using the virtual pixels.
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NASA, Partners Achieve Fastest Space-to-Ground Laser Comms Link
NASA
May 11, 2023
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in partnership with satellite-based solutions provider Terran Orbital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory, recorded the highest-ever data rate for optical communications technology when the TeraByte InfraRed Delivery (TBIRD) system achieved 200 gigabits per second (Gbps) throughput on a space-to-ground optical link between a satellite in orbit and Earth. Laser communications allow for higher data rates than the radio waves used in most space communications systems. NASA's Beth Keer said, "Just imagine the power of space science instruments when they can be designed to fully take advantage of the advancements in detector speeds and sensitivities, furthering what artificial intelligence can do with huge amounts of data."
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Parashar Receives 2023 HPDC Achievement Award
HPCwire
May 10, 2023
The ACM International Symposium on High-Performance Parallel and Distributed Computing named Manish Parashar to receive the 2023 Achievement Award in High-Performance Distributed Computing for his contributions to high-performance parallel and distributed computational methods, data management, in-situ computing, and global leadership in cyberinfrastructure and translational computer science. Parashar has written more than 140 articles that have been cited more than 16,000 times. He is founding chair of the IEEE Technical Consortium on High Performance Computing and editor-in-chief of IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems. Parashar is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, ACM, and the IEEE Computer Society.
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Researchers Create Robot Capable of Cleaning Your Room, Doing Your Laundry
The Independent (U.K.)
Amber Raiken
May 12, 2023
An international team of researchers has created the TidyBot robot, which can be commanded to clear spaces of objects. The researchers first accessed a "text-based benchmark dataset" of written commands, then instructed large language models (LLMs) to execute them. The LLMs summarized the commands, which encompassed 24 scenarios in four different rooms where two to five potential sites for object placement existed. This led to a "generalized rule for where objects belong, for a specific user," which the researchers also applied to doing laundry. They found the TidyBot “successfully puts away 85% of objects in real-world test scenarios.”
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Google's Project Gameface Lets You Control Video Games with Blinks, Smiles
Gizmodo
Andrew Liszewski
May 11, 2023
Google's Project Gameface platform allows gamers to play videogames with head movements and facial gestures. The goal is to open up gaming to people like Lance Carr, whose mobility is extremely limited by muscular dystrophy. Google engineers created an open source gaming mouse that facilitates hand-free control by incorporating a commercially sold Web camera pointed at the user's face. Machine learning models track 468 unique facial points, enabling Gameface to accurately detect head movements and deliberate facial gestures that can be translated into mouse clicks or other shortcuts. Project Gameface also allows the adjustment of gesture size, so users limited to subtle face movements can operate it as well.
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GitHub Unveils Huge Code Search Makeover
TechRadar
Craig Hale
May 9, 2023
GitHub has launched a new code search tool, Blackbird, that has been rebuilt from the ground up since its early preview in 2021. It features a redesigned interface for easier navigation and an improved code view to better align search, browsing, and navigation. Blackbird aims to identify more accurate and relevant results than its previous iteration by actually understanding code. Additionally, GitHub has released a search syntax guide, to help users understand keyword qualifiers and slashes, among other things, to further refine results. GitHub's Colin Merkel said, "Our goal with the new code search and code view is to enable developers to quickly find critical information scattered across their codebase, put that information into context, and ultimately make them more productive."
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TSA Tests Facial Recognition Technology to Boost Airport Security
Associated Press
Rebecca Santana; Rick Gentilo
May 15, 2023
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is testing facial recognition technology to authenticate travelers' identities at 16 airports. Travelers have their driver's license or passport read by a reader, then look at a camera on a screen that records and compares their image to their ID to confirm their identity matches and is authentic. TSA says the test is voluntary and accurate, but critics have raised issues about bias in facial recognition algorithms and the possible ramifications for passengers who want to opt out. Although the agency claims it is not storing the biometric data it collects, Meg Foster at Georgetown University's Center on Privacy and Technology raised concerns of that policy changing.
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Superconducting Qubits Pass Key Quantum Test
New Scientist
Leah Crane
May 10, 2023
An international team of researchers led by Simon Storz at Switzerland's ETH Zurich engineered a superconducting circuit to pass a Bell test for the first time. The test confirms the entanglement of the circuit's quantum bits (qubits), despite the challenge of keeping two systems sufficiently far apart so a signal cannot pass between them at the speed of light during the time it takes to measure them both. The researchers linked the entangled qubits using microwaves transmitted through a chilled 30-meter (98.4-foot)-long aluminum tube, then used a random number generator to decide how to measure the qubits to avoid human bias. They conducted more than 4 million measurements to verify the qubits' entanglement via their violation of Bell's inequality.
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Metaverse Education Blossoms in South Korea, Japan, Taiwan
Nikkei Asia (Japan)
Dylan Loh
May 8, 2023
Schools and other organizations in Asia are using the metaverse as an instructional tool. South Korea's Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), for instance, hopes to become a "metaversity," where cyber training courses are held in metaverse classrooms. POSTECH's Moo Hwan Kim said, "Virtual reality (VR) technology can be applied in fields that are difficult to access in reality, such as outer space and the nanoworld. In the long run, it will be able to replace classes that require more hands-on experiences or training in dangerous environments." Meanwhile, 7,000 students at online N and S high schools in Japan are using VR headsets in the classroom as part of an effort to learn in an immersive environment without physical constraints. Among other initiatives, South Korea's science ministry plans to develop a "Metaverse Academy" as it works to build a metaverse ecosystem.
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Fleet of Humanoid, Open Source Robots Could Change Robotics Research
Popular Science
Andrew Paul
May 9, 2023
The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is offering a $5-million fleet of its standardized humanoid robots to expedite robotics innovation in collaboration with industrial and academic partners. The NSF, Oregon State University (OSU), the University of Pennsylvania's GRASP (General Robotics, Automation, Sensing, & Perception) Laboratory, and robotics software company Semio will distribute 50 Quori robots to various research initiatives. The robots combine an omnidirectional wheeled base, video screen face, two arms, and a bowing spine, and are reportedly designed to operate in labs and "in the wild." The project expands a program that previously provided 10 Quori robots to research teams. The robots' open source hardware potentially enables anyone to build their own versions. OSU researchers mainly will establish and maintain a resource network for the fleet.
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