Abstract-- We present Phaser, a flexible system that directs narrow-beam laser light to moving robots for concurrent wireless power delivery and communication. We design a semiautomatic calibration procedure to enable fusion of stereo-vision-based 3D robot tracking with high-power beam steering, and a low-power optical communication scheme that reuses the laser light as a data channel. We fabricate a Phaser prototype using off-the-shelf hardware and evaluate its performance with battery-free autonomous robots. We demonstrate Phaser fully powering gram-scale battery-free robots to nearly 2x higher speeds than prior work while simultaneously controlling them to navigate around obstacles and along paths. Code, an open-source design guide, and a demonstration video of Phaser is available at https: //mobilex.cs.columbia.edu/phaser/. Mobile, autonomous robots play an increasingly important role in today's world, with the potential to perform tasks in warehouses, factories, and homes and conduct advanced environmental explorations [1]. However, the significant power needed for locomotion, on-board computation, and communication presents a key barrier to the broader deployment of such robots. Given the energy density of current batteries [2], most autonomous robots today either remain tethered by charging wires or must routinely return to charging stations, reducing deployment time. This problem is exacerbated in miniaturized robots, which cannot support the 100s of milligrams of battery payload [3]-[7] needed for extended operation, even on their milliwatt power budgets.

Driverless cars can use pulses of laser light to sense objects and measure how far away they are, but this can fail when it is very bright out or a lot of light is reflected from nearby vehicles. Swapping out the lasers for particles of quantum light could make it easier for autonomous vehicles to avoid collisions. Lidar uses laser light to detect objects, similar to how radar uses radio waves.

A strange sea creature that lives 1,000 feet below the surface encased in a giant bubble of mucus may be key to removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. These bubble-houses are discarded and replaced regularly as the animal grows in size and its filters become clogged with particles. Once discarded, they sink to the seafloor and encapsulate the carbon for good, preventing it from re-entering the atmosphere. Larvaceans also capture and dispose of microplastics in this way, which can come from clothing and cosmetics and often ingested by other marine species. Researchers used a system of lasers mounted on a 12,000 pound robot to map the giant larvacean's delicate body in a series of 3D images.

Researchers have come up with a new attack strategy against smart assistants. These attacks threaten all devices featuring voice assistants. Dubbed as'LightCommands', these attacks enable a potential attacker to inject voice commands to the devices and take control of them. Researchers have developed new attacks that allow meddling with smart assistants. These attacks named'LightCommands' allow injecting audio signals to voice assistants.

Suddenly, the garage door opens, a burglar slides in, uses another laser to have the Echo start the car and drives off. Researchers from the University of Michigan have used laser lights to exploit a wide variety of voice-activated devices, giving them access to everything from thermostats to garage door openers to front door locks. The researchers have communicated their findings to Amazon, Google and Apple, which are studying the research. Working with researchers from the University of Electro-Communications in Japan, U-M's researchers published a paper and a web site detailing how it works. There are also videos showing it in action.

Murder victims buried in unmarked graves in remote areas could soon be found using pulses of laser light, new research has shown. Laser light known as Lidar – a portmanteau of'light and'radar' – could be beamed from a helicopter to create 3D maps of remote areas to help police search teams. Scientists believe Lidar could quickly reveal places where ground has sunk by a few centimetres, caused by decomposing bodies buried beneath the ground. This sinking movement is too subtle for the naked eye to detect, especially when the grave has been scattered with leaves or debris, scientists say. The latest findings could help police search teams quickly narrow down their efforts when looking for bodies in remote areas.

Self-driving cars could soon'see' dangers before they come into view. Researchers are working on laser technology that, when combined with an algorithm, can create images of objects that are hidden around a corner. The system could also be used to see through foliage from aerial vehicles or to give rescue teams the ability to find people blocked from view by walls and rubble. Researchers are working on extremely sensitive lasers that reflect off nearby objects meaning driverless cars of the future may know what is around a sharp bend before reaching it. 'There is this preconceived notion that you can't image objects that aren't already directly visible to the camera – and we have found ways to get around these types of limiting situations,' said Dr Matthew O'Toole, a coauthor of the research from Stanford University told the Guardian.

Susumu Tonegawa's presence announces itself as soon as you walk through the door of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. A three-foot-high framed photograph of Tonegawa stands front and center in the high-ceilinged lobby, flanked by a screen playing a looping rainbow-hued clip of recent research highlights. Original story reprinted with permission from Quanta Magazine, an editorially independent publication of the Simons Foundation whose mission is to enhance public understanding of science by covering research developments and trends in mathematics and the physical and life sciences. The man in the portrait, however, is anything but a spotlight-seeker. Most days, he's ensconced in the impenetrable warren of labs and offices that make up Picower's fifth floor. His hair, thick and dark in the photo, is now a subdued silver, and today, a loosely draped blue cardigan replaces the impeccable suit jacket.

Fresh off making some bold promises about self-driving cars and setting a US sales record, Audi built on a very good 2017 this week by lighting things up at the Detroit auto show. As in, it showed off a new headlight technology. Too bad the "Matrix Laser" system, which debuted as part of Audi's Q8 concept SUV and does everything from highlighting pedestrians to auto-dimming for the sake on oncoming cars, isn't welcome in the US. This tech is Audi's latest push the reinvent the way drivers see the world around them, and its future-heavy name is actually accurate. "Each headlight uses a single laser as the light source, but the beam is broken into a million distinct pixels by the diodes," says Volker Kaese, Audi's director of innovation.

As a sign of just how quickly autonomous vehicle technology is progressing, industry analysts are predicting that two-thirds of new cars sold in the United States in 2030 will drive themselves with no or very little human intervention. The admittedly optimistic forecast by McKinsey -- the firm has a less rosy version as well -- presumes a fast resolution of regulatory challenges and widespread acceptance by consumers. It also presumes that the technology can ensure a safe experience. Human drivers have enough problems navigating inclement weather. If they're to take their hands off the wheel, they'll have to be confident that computerized drivers can do better.