IEEE Spectrum May, 2015 - 3

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Online

News

Resources

Opinion

Waste-to-Energy on Mount Everest
Volunteer engineers hope to power a
Nepalese village with human waste
from climbers.
By Rachel Nuwer

Interfacing With the 1970s
Building a programmer for a
vintage processor.
By Stephen Cass

How to Stop Killer Asteroids
Existential threats inspire
creative engineering.
By G. Pascal Zachary

25
26
27
64

04 Back Story
06 Contributors
28 Numbers Don't Lie: Flying by
the Numbers
30 Reflections: Seeing Radio

13 Reinventing the Wheelchair
16 Google's Year of Forgetting
18 Soggy Computing
20 The Big Picture: Cyborg Roaches

Tools: A RAID for the Masses
Careers: Promotion Pitfalls
Profile: Ashok Jhunjhunwala
And Now This...
Untrustworthy Chips

Spectrum.ieee.org
Robot Room Service
"Hello, I'm ready to deliver," says the
screen on Savioke's new robot for
hotels. SaviOne can autonomously
navigate through lobbies, up
elevators, down hallways, and
around obstacles to deliver small
items. Watch this robot butler
deliver some snacks!

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

FROM LEFT: JOHN HARPER/CORBIS; NAVEEN PM; EVAN ACKERMAN

Tech
Insider / Webinars
Available at spectrum.ieee.org/webinar
Simulation of Automotive Wireless RF System Performance-14 May
Silicon, Software, and Open Source-19 May
Modeling of Capacitive and Resistive Devices-Available on Demand
Enabling the Maker of Things in the Internet of Things-Available
on Demand
MASTER BOND RESOURCE LIBRARY
http://spectrum.ieee.org/static/master-bond-resource-library
NEW PRODUCT RELEASE LIBRARY
http://spectrum.ieee.org/static/new-product-release-library
WHITE PAPERS
http://spectrum.ieee.org/whitepapers

The
Institute
Available 8 May 2015
UNDERWATER EXPLORERS Read about students who are putting their
systems engineering and marine robotics skills to the test as they design
autonomous underwater vehicles that can drift, drive, or glide through the
ocean without real-time control by human operators.
NAILING A VIRTUAL INTERVIEW Because more employers are
interviewing prospective candidates over Skype or similar video-chatting
programs, candidates need to learn how to impress a hiring manager even if
they're not in the same room.
LIGHTING THE WAY Finding ways to inspire the next generation of power
engineers is a priority at this year's IEEE Power & Energy Society general
meeting, to be held in Denver from 26 to 30 July.

IEEE SPECTRUM
(ISSN 0018-9235) is published monthly by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved. © 2015 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., 3 Park Avenue, New York, NY
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MAY 2015

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum May, 2015