Welcome to the April 22, 2024 edition of ACM TechNews, providing timely information for computer professionals three times a week.

HEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• Youth Robotics Teams from 58 Countries Compete
• Olympic Organizers Unveil Strategy for Using AI in Sports
• Meta, TikTok, X Invited to Stress-Test DSA Election Guidelines
• Women's Tech Network Shuts Down
• Simulating Human Text Entry on Mobile Phones
• Sensor Could Monitor Tumors in Real Time
• Austin, NYC are Tech Job Boom Towns
• 3D-Printed 'Soft Skin' Pads Give Robots Sense of Touch
• Memory Tech Combining NAND, RAM Features Consumes Less Power
• SURF Glides to 800Gbps Transmission on Existing Fiber Through Nokia
• Google to Provide AI to Military for Disaster Response
• Making Quantum Computers Easier to Program

Youth Robotics Teams from 58 Countries Compete

Student robotics teams from 58 countries competed in the 2024 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship in Houston. The event concluded Saturday with middle and high school robotics teams competing in match finals for the FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge international championships. Teams from Israel, Missouri, Arizona, and Pennsylvania were recognized as the FIRST Robotics Competition Winning Alliance for this year’s game CRESCENDO, while teams from Romania, California, and South Africa were named the FIRST Tech Challenge Winning Alliance for CENTERSTAGE.
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Olympic Organizers Unveil Strategy for Using AI in Sports

The International Olympic Committee on Friday outlined its agenda for using AI in sports, saying the technology could be used to help identify promising athletes, personalize training methods, and make the games fairer by improving judging. Plans also include using AI to protect athletes from online harassment and to help broadcasters improve the viewing experience for home viewers. Some AI projects will be rolled out at the Paris games this summer.
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Meta, TikTok, X Invited to Stress-Test DSA Election Guidelines

Meta, TikTok, X and other online platforms with more than 45 million EU users have been invited by the European Commission (EC) to stress-test election guidelines to help prepare for EU elections in June. Elections guidelines were published by the EC in March under the Digital Services Act. Participants will work through multiple scenarios that could be used to address incidents such as disinformation campaigns.
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Women's Tech Network Shuts Down

Women Who Code (WWC), an international nonprofit that supports women who work in the technology sector, is shutting down because of a lack of funding. The U.S.-based group had 360,000 members in its community across 145 countries. In a post announcing its closure, the organization said it had held more than 20,000 events since launching in 2011 and has given out US$3.5 million in scholarships.
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Simulating Human Text Entry on Mobile Phones

An AI model developed by researchers at Finland's Aalto University can simulate human-like typing on mobile phones. The model, developed in collaboration with Google, can be used to analyze different user groups, such as those who type with one finger, when evaluating mobile keyboard designs. Aalto's Antti Oulasvirta said the researchers created a simulated user with human-like visual and motor systems, and “trained it millions of times in a keyboard simulator until it acquired typing skills applicable in various real-world scenarios.”
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Sensor Could Monitor Tumors in Real Time

A proof-of-concept sensor developed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco could pave the way for real-time cancer monitoring. The sensor can be placed next to tumors to assess how a patient is responding to cancer treatment in real time. The sensor is powered by and uses ultrasound to transmit data, and a small laser provides localized illumination.
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Austin, NYC are Tech Job Boom Towns

Data from venture capital (VC) firm SignalFire indicates the tech workforce of Austin, TX, grew faster than that of any other U.S. metro area between 2019 and 2023, while New York City (NYC) drew the largest share of relocating tech workers and the San Francisco Bay area continued to dominate the market for AI talent over the same period. Austin's VC-backed tech startups grew their workforces by 23% in the years covered, the data showed, while big tech firms grew their teams by 44%.
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3D-Printed 'Soft Skin' Pads Give Robots Sense of Touch

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign developed 3D-printed "soft-skin" pads that double as mechanical pressure sensors for robots. The pads are printed from thermoplastic urethane on an off-the-shelf additive manufacturing printer. A soft outer layer covers a hollow infill section, and as the outer layer is compressed the air pressure inside alters accordingly, allowing a sensor connected to a microcontroller to detect vibration, touch, and pressure changes.
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Memory Tech Combining NAND, RAM Features Consumes Less Power

Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have developed a memory device that potentially could replace DRAM and NAND flash memory. The ultra-low-power phase change memory device combines DRAM's high-speed performance with NAND's ability to preserve data even when the power is off. The resulting non-volatile, high-speed device uses 15 times less power than prior phase change memory models.
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SURF Glides to 800Gbps Transmission on Existing Fiber Through Nokia

SURF, a collaborative organization for IT in Dutch education, teamed with Nokia to successfully trial a single-carrier 800Gbps optical transmission over its fiber network infrastructure in preparation for a forthcoming upgrade to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the CERN particle accelerator. The fiber link is part of the SURF network, which connects national research and education institutes in the Netherlands.
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Google to Provide AI to Military for Disaster Response

Google is providing AI tools to the U.S. National Guard to analyze images of disaster areas, in order to improve its disaster response. The technology can compare aerial photos with satellite imagery and maps to pinpoint locations, roads, buildings, and other infrastructure, allowing the National Guard to see what has been damaged and deploy resources accordingly. The technology will be rolled out for the summer wildfire season.
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Making Quantum Computers Easier to Program

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory developed a conceptual model for a quantum computer that could make such computers easier to program. The researchers maintain their quantum control machine model can be used to overcome the challenges associated with programming a quantum computer to run a quantum algorithm. The new model makes control flow and all other instructions reversible so the algorithm can process quantum information without destroying its superposition.
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