Quickest robot

Humanoid robots like Honda?s Asimo and Sony?s Qrio have got a staunch challenge. Hitachi has come up with an excellent-mobility-and-interactive-existence-as-workmate robot, dubbed Emiew. Claimed to be the quickest-moving robot of the world with a speed of six km per hour, it uses two wheels instead of feet. With sensors on the head, waist, and near the wheels, 4.2-ft-high Pal and Chum, the first two replica of this robot technology were shown at the recent AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) annual meeting in Washington. Having a vocabulary of about 100 words, they can be ?trained? for professional use in as little as six years, claims the Japanese electronics firm.

Nanoscale chip

A super-dense square (5.6 sq. cm) memory chip that stores data in the form of nanoscale holes in a plastic film has made its public debut at the CeBIT electronics exhibition in Hanover, Germany. It can store 125 gigabytes (GB) of data, equivalent to the storage capacity of 25 DVDs together. The technology from IBM?s Zurich lab will achieve a speed of 20 to 30 megabits per second. It is likely to be incorporated in the future digital cameras, cell phones and memory sticks.