Super-cooled chip sets speed record

A super-cooled computer chip has shattered speed records for silicon-based electronics, but don’t expect your PC to hum along at 500 gigahertz anytime soon.

The chip only ran at the high speed when it was cooled to 451 degrees below zero — just 8 degrees above absolute zero, the coldest temperature possible in nature, researchers at IBM Corp. and Georgia Tech said.

Still, researchers believe they can improve the technology so that high speeds can be reached at room temperature — a development that could lead to advances in cell phones, radar technology and space exploration, among other applications.

The typical cell phone chip today runs at 2 GHz, while the highest-end PC microprocessors run at less than 4 GHz.

Robots patrol World Cup

Robots are being used to patrol a stadium at the World Cup for the first time, although they’ve hardly had a chance to show off what they can do.

The Berlin company Robowatch has developed two models of surveillance robots, and 11 units between the two patrol parking lots underneath Berlin’s Olympic Stadium and throughout a nearby football-sized field covered by tents holding the media, sponsors and VIPs.

“This is the first time robots like this have ever been used at a major sporting event,” Robowatch spokesman Benjamin Stengl said. “They haven’t caught anybody. They haven’t actually had much to do. This has been a very safe World Cup, luckily.”

The outdoor robot OFRO, which starts at $76,000 and resembles a Mars rover on treads, uses thermal cameras at night to spot intruders from their body heat. Similar to ones used by the U.S. military as scouts in Iraq, the OFRO is capable of far more — with sensors equipped to detect radiation, toxins, viruses and chemical warfare agents.

“These things won’t be used here, but we see this as a learning experience, where we can go back and better the technology,” Stengl said. “The robots here will be mostly used where it’s very boring or very difficult to see.”