India, July 3 -- Human eyes need a certain amount of time to adjust to light changes, step from a dark cinema into the afternoon sun and you'll be squinting for a bit. Now imagine a robot that can handle that shift five times faster than you can, seeing clearly almost instantly no matter how harsh the light. That is what researchers at Fuzhou University in China have managed with their new machine vision sensor, and it could be a real game-changer for robotics and self-driving cars.

At the heart of this breakthrough are quantum dots, tiny, light-sensitive particles that soak up and release electric charges depending on the light around them. The team layered these dots with polymers and zinc oxide, building a sensor that works a bit like...