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Amazon is piloting a new four-wheel, pedal-assist electric delivery vehicle built by Also, a spin-off from electric-truck maker Rivian, in a bid to mak

For Japan’s train commuters in the years following World War II, buying a ticket could be a stressful experience. Today it’s not difficult to go online and reserve a seat, but 65 years ago, travelers faced long queues at the ticket window and limited ways to find out if seats were available. Reservations were handwritten in a paper ledger, and there were plenty of accidental double-bookings. Travelers had no real way to know if they’d have—or could get—a reservation once they reached a ticket window.All that changed in 1960, when the Japanese National Railways (

Data center rack density has risen rapidly in recent years. Operators are cramming more computing power into each server rack to meet the needs of AI and other high-performance computing applications. That means that each rack needs more kilowatts of energy, and ultimately generates more heat. Cooling infrastructure has struggled to keep pace.“Rack densities have gone from an average of 6 kilowatts per rack eight years ago to the point where racks are now shipping with 270 kW,” says David Holmes, the global industries CTO at

Odds are the PC in your office today isn’t ready to run AI large language models (LLMs).Today, most users interact with LLMs via an online, browser-based interface. The more technically inclined might use an application programming interface or command line interface. In either case, the queries are sent to a data center, where the model is hosted and run. It works well, until it doesn’t; a data-center outage can take a model offline for hours. Plus, some users might be unwilling to send personal data

Aspiring engineers from 191 countries gathered in Panama City in October to compete in the FIRST Global Robotics Challenge. The annual contest aims to foster problem-solving, cooperation, and inspire the next generation of engineers through three challenges that are inspired by a different theme every year. Teams of students from 14 to 18 years old from around the world compete in the three day event, remotely operating their robots to complete the challenges. This year’s topic was “Eco-equilibrium,” emphasizing the importan

While there are many useful questions to ask when encountering a new robot, “can I eat it” is generally not one of them. I say ‘generally,’ because edible robots are actually a thing—and not just edible in the sense that you can technically swallow them and suffer both the benefits and consequences, but ingestible, where you can take a big bite out of the robot, chew it up, and swallow it.Yum.But so far these ingestible robots have included a very please-don’t-ingest-this asterisk: the motor and bat

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.ICRA 2026: 1–5 June 2026, VIENNAEnjoy today’s videos! Current multirotor drones provide simplicity, affordability, and ease of operation; however, their primary limitation is their low payload-to-weig

There’s a class of consumer that wants something they know they cannot have. For some of those people, a Macintosh computer not made by Apple has long been a desired goal.For most of the Mac’s history, you could only really get one from Apple, if you wanted to go completely by the book. Sure, there were less-legit ways to get Apple software on off-brand hardware, and plenty of people were willing to try them. But there was a short period, roughly 36 months, when it was possible to get a licensed Mac that had the blessing of the team in Cupertino.They called it the Mac clone era. It was Apple’s direct response to a PC market that had come to embrace open architectures—and, over time, mad

Healthcare is rapidly evolving with a growing reliance on portable medical devices in both clinical and home-care environments. These devices—used for diagnostics, monitoring, and life-support functions like ventilators—improve accessibility and outcomes by enabling continuous monitoring and timely interventions. However, their mobility and usage in high-impact environments demand rugged, compact, and high-speed components, particularly reliable internal connectors that can withstand shock, vibration, and physical stress.This white paper highlights how the growth of portable and in-home medical devices has pushed the need for miniaturized, high-performance connectors. It explores how connector technology must balance reduced size, high data speeds, rugged durability, and simplified assembly to support modern healthcare demands.

The IEEE Board of Directors shapes the future direction of IEEE and is committed to ensuring IEEE remains a strong and vibrant organization—serving the needs of its members and the engineering and technology community worldwide while fulfilling the IEEE mission of advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. This article features IEEE Board of Directors members Antonio Luque, Ravinder Dahiya, and Joseph Wei. IEEE Senior Member Antonio LuqueDirector and vice president, Member and Geographic Activities