The Indian subcontinent is a driving force of the software industry, Japan has always been innovators and first adopters of technology and China is now a rising star in the tech world but Chinese stars were there at the start too. The data representation we use for numbers and the first algorithms were devised by Hindu mathematicians. Wonderful research has been done by modern stars with Asian heritage (wherever they were born or work).
An Wang’s Magnetic Memory
An Wang was one of the great pioneers of the early days of computing. Just as the invention of the transistor led to massive advances in circuit design and ultimately computer chips, Wang’s invention of magnetic core memory provided the parallel advance needed in memory technology… (read on)
Hiroshi Kawano and his AI abstract artist
One of the first creative generative art programs was written by pioneering algorithmic artist Hiroshi Kawano. It created new abstract art after Mondrian based on the statistical patterns of real Mondrian paintings…. (read on)
Sameena Shah: News you can trust
Having reliable news matters. Artificial Intelligence expert Sameena Shah gave news provider Thomson Reuters a head start with her Artificial Intelligence system for detecting fake news automatically. … (read on)
Robot runners
The first ever half marathon allowing humanoid robots to run against humans was held in Beijing this weekend (April 2025). 12,000 humans ran the event alongside 21 robots…and for now the humans definitely are the winners… (read on)
T V Raman: Virtual Guide Dogs
At 14, T. V. Raman became blind. Through his life he has not let it stop him. He made a giant contribution that helps blind and partially sighted people hear information much more like the ways sighted people see screens… (read on)
Calculating Pi for Pi Day
Pi Day is 14 March (3.14) but how on earth do you compute a number like Pi (3.1.4159….) with its infinite number of digits and no repeating pattern. My favourite way was first devised by the Indian mathematician Mādhava of Sangamagrāma 600 years ago. He worked out an algorithm for working out Pi based on the maths of infinite series that he had also worked out.… (read on)
Suresh Neethirajan: I’m feeling moo-dy today
It has long been an aim of computer scientists to develop software that can work out how a person is feeling. Are you happy or sad, frustrated or lonely? If the software can tell then it can adapt to you moods, changing its behaviour or offering advice. Suresh Neethirajan has gone step further. He has developed a program that detects the emotions of farm animals … (read on)
Super-plant supercapacitors
Plants can have many super powers. For example, some are better at absorbing Carbon Dioxide to help with climate change, others provide medicines, or can strip our pollutants out of the air or soil. But thanks to Yang Zhao and her team, one, Aloe Vera, is a super-plant in a new way. It can now store electricity that could be used to power portable devices – by plugging them into the plant. … (read on)
Collecting minibeasts and pocket monsters
Satoshi Tajiri created one of the biggest money-making media franchises of all time. It all started with his love of nature and, in particular, mini-beasts. It also eventually took gamers back into the fresh air. … (read on)
Kavin Narasimhan: Understanding parties
Kavin Narasimhan studied how people move and form groups at parties, creating realistic computer models of what is going on. Her work could help avatars and robots behave more realistically, for example. … (read on)
Jiayu Song: Opinions, opinions, opinions
Social media is full of people’s opinions, whether about politics, movies, things they bought, celebrities or just something in the news. However, sometimes there is just too much of it. Sometimes, you just want an overview. PhD student Jiayu Song is working on automatically summarising opinions with her supervisor, Professor Maria Liakata. It is all about finding a point that represents the “central” meaning… (read on)
Annie Lu Luo: Cognitive Crash Test Dummies
Wherever you turn people are using gadgets, and those gadgets are guzzling energy – energy that we desperately need to save. We are all doomed, doomed…unless of course a hero rides in on a white charger to save us from ourselves. That is where cognitive crash dummies come in! It is the idea of Bonnie John and Annie Lu Luo: designing tools to predict in advance which interface designs are easiest to use but also how much energy different designs will use … (read on)
Pac Man and Games for GIrls
In the beginning video games were designed for boys…and then came Toru Iwatani’s Pac-Man…(read on)
Nimesha Ranasinghe: Digital lollipop: no calories, just electronics!
Can a computer create a taste in your mouth? Imagine scrolling down a list of flavours and then savouring your sweet choice from a digital lollipop. Not keen on that flavour, just click and choose a different one, and another and another. No calories, just the taste. … (read on)
Swallow a slugbot to catch a …
Imagine swallowing a slug (hint not only a yucky thought but also not a good idea as it could kill you)…now imagine swallowing a slug-bot … also yucky but in the future it might save your life if the vision of Hong Kong researchers comes to pass…. (read on)
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