A long-standing obstacle for augmented reality (AR) and mixed-reality smartglasses may finally be on the brink of being solved. A team of researchers led by Professor Sanghyeon Kim at the School of Electrical Engineering, in collaboration with Inha University and industry partners, has developed a micro-LED display technology capable of ultra-high resolution on the order of ~1,700 pixels per inch (PPI). That’s roughly three to four times sharper than most flagship smartphone screens today, with a level of detail that could make immersive wearable visuals far more convincing.
For context, Micro-LEDs are a form of self-emissive display technology that holds key advantages over OLEDs, including higher brightness, longer lifespan, and improved power efficiency, all critical for compact, battery-constrained wearables like smartglasses. Until now, engineering ultra-high-resolution micro-LED displays in such small form factors has been a major technical challenge, especially when it comes to creating tiny red pixels that work efficiently without consuming excessive power.
The researchers overcame one of the biggest hurdles by designing red micro-LED elements that are both energy-efficient and capable of extremely fine pixel packing. In prototype demonstrations, these micro-LED displays achieved a remarkable ~1,700 PPI figure. It’s a density that supports crisp, detailed visuals even at very close viewing distances, such as those inside AR glasses or VR headsets. This level of clarity could help eliminate the “screen door” effect that currently makes many near-eye displays look pixelated or low-resolution.
Beyond smartglasses, such high-resolution, low-power micro-LED displays could have a significant impact across wearables and extended reality (XR) devices, where brightness, durability, and efficiency are all crucial. As the broader micro-LED display market continues to grow, innovations like this one could play a central role in helping AR and VR products become more practical, affordable, and mainstream, rather than niche or novelty gadgets. That said, there’s still work before this reaches consumer devices, but the breakthrough brings lighter, sharper smartglasses that look more like real life a step closer.
San Francisco startup Dimensional advertised for people to walk robot dogs through city streets. The New York Times reported that the job could include carrying a roughly 33-pound robot back to the office if it overheated. A lift home is an awkward requirement for a labor-saving machine.
Keeping the hardware running is only one challenge. Anthropic's robotics tests found that language models mostly failed when controlling joints directly, but did better when directing trained controllers. Giving an AI agent a body doesn't teach it to handle ordinary household objects.
Soon, a mattress protector may be more than a bed cover. Australian medtech company Sleeptite and researchers at RMIT University have received a US patent for FlexiSense, a smart bedding technology that tracks body position and posture to help caregivers identify when older residents may be at risk of falling.
The technology is being developed for Sleeptite’s in-bed monitoring system, REMi, and was recently on display at The MedTech Conference in Boston. A peer-reviewed study in Flexible and Printed Electronics says the sensors can also be made at scale without sacrificing performance or durability.
AI companies spend enormous amounts of time convincing us their technology is safe and secure. But what happens when those same companies become targets of increasingly sophisticated AI-powered attacks? Anthropic, the company behind Claude, is now facing that question. According to a Washington Post report, cybersecurity startup Cathedral discovered vulnerabilities that let its researchers access sensitive information in Anthropic's internal systems.
The researchers used AI agents to identify potential entry points in less than 12 hours. Interestingly, they didn't need to crack Claude itself. Instead, they exploited weaknesses in third-party business applications that Anthropic uses for everyday operations. Anthropic's security testing program disclosed the findings, which allows outside researchers to identify and report vulnerabilities.