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28 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2025 and harvest cycles, improving yields and reducing waste. In Myanmar, refugee students living in camps attend online high school classes powered by solar- charged tablets. In the Philippines, fisherfolk use mobile apps to report illegal fishing and monitor safe weather windows. These success stories are not isolated; they're the seeds of systemic change. A Shared Responsibility As technology develops, we must ask, "Who gets left behind, and what are we doing about it?" Bridging global tech gaps is a matter of global citi- zenship, shared resilience, and mutual opportunity. Increased connectivity benefits everyone through new markets, ideas, stability, and richer cultural exchange. It's not enough to build faster chips or better algo- rithms; we must build inclusive systems by design- ing tech with accessibility in mind, pricing models with equity at heart, and distribution channels that reach beyond the profitable urban centers. G LO BA L C I T I Z E N S H I P The Bridge Is Ours to Build We are living in an era where technology can either deepen or bridge divides. The outcome depends on what we invest in, who we listen to, and how we collaborate across borders, industries, and beliefs. The goal isn't simply "digital inclusion" for the sake of connectivity. It's about enabling last- ing empowerment: education, entrepreneurship, health, civic participation, and dignity. Technology has the power to be the bridge that connects us across valleys, oceans, and opportunity gaps. Let's make sure that bridge leads somewhere better for everyone. SMT007 Tom Yang is CEO of CEE PCB. To read past columns, click here. Inspired by the movements of a tiny parasitic worm, Georgia Tech engineers have created a 5-inch soft ro- bot that can jump as high as a basketball hoop. Their device, a silicone rod with a carbon-fiber spine, can leap 10 feet high even though it doesn't have legs. The researchers created it after watching high-speed video of nematodes pinching themselves into odd shapes to fling themselves forward and backward. "Nematodes are amazing creatures with bodies thinner than a human hair," said Sunny Kumar, lead co- author of the paper and a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineer- ing (ChBE). "They don't have legs but can jump up to 20 times their body length. That's like me laying down and somehow leaping onto a three-story building." "It took me over a year to develop a reliable meth- od to consistently make these tiny worms leap from a piece of paper and film them for the first time in great detail" Ortega-Jimenez said. "Changing their center of mass allows these creatures to control which way they jump," Kumar said. And they do it despite nearly tying their bodies into a knot. "Kinks are typically dealbreakers," said Is- hant Tiwari, a ChBE postdoctoral fellow and lead co- author of the study. "But a kinked nematode stores energy that is used to propel itself in the air." The group found that the kinks allow nematodes to store more energy with each jump. (Source: Georgia Tech) Engineering a Robot That Can Jump 10 Feet High—Without Legs