Brian Heater for TechCrunch covers how researchers are creating a system that will allow robots to develop motor skills and process abstract concepts. “With this system, the robots can perform complex tasks without getting bogged down in the minutia required to complete them,” Heater writes.
Kopin, an Augmented Reality company originally founded at Lincoln Lab, revealed its first AR product developed for the consumer market. SOLOS smart glasses, designed for athletes, provides a hands-free communication interface, “which enables a ‘heads-up’ see-through experience, enabling athletes to safely access their data in real-time,” writes Charlie Fink, for Forbes.
MIT researchers have designed a new chip to enhance the functionality of neural networks while simultaneously reducing the consumption of power, writes Darrell Etherington of TechCrunch. “The basic concept involves simplifying the chip design so that shuttling of data between different processors on the same chip is taken out of the equation,” he explains.
Tara Sullivan of The Boston Globe writes about MIT alumnus AJ Edelman '14, who is representing Israel as a skeleton racer at the PyeongChang Olympics. Sullivan writes that Edelman’s journey to the global competition “represents one more beautiful example of the best of what the Olympics can be.”
A study by MIT scientists has identified the neurons that fire at the beginning and end of activities, which is important for initiating a routine. “This task-bracketing appears to be important for initiating a routine and then notifying the brain once it is complete,” Prof. Ann Graybiel told Xinhua.
Skydio, an autonomous drone startup founded by a group of MIT alumni, has showcased a new drone that can lock-on, follow and record its subject, writes Lucas Matney of TechCrunch. One possible use for the device is to “launch the drone, lock onto yourself, and ski down a mountain while the R1 tracked you to the bottom while capturing 4K footage,” Matney explains.
Graduate student Joy Buolamwini tested three different face-recognition systems and found that the accuracy is best when the subject is a lighter skinned man, reports Timothy Revell for New Scientist. With facial recognition software being used by police to identify suspects, “this means inaccuracies could have consequences, such as systematically ingraining biases in police stop and searches,” writes Revell.
Skydio, a startup founded by MIT alumni, will soon begin shipping its new autonomous drone, the R1, which has the ability to lock-in and record a subject in 4K video while avoiding obstacles. “Drones that fly themselves — whether following people for outdoor self-photography, which is Skydio’s intended use, or for longer-range applications like delivery, monitoring and surveillance — are coming faster than you think,” writes Farhad Manjoo for the New York Times.
Recent research from graduate student Joy Buolamwini shows that facial recognition programs, which are increasingly being used by law enforcement, are failing to identify non-white faces. “When these systems can’t recognize darker faces with as much accuracy as lighter faces, there’s a higher likelihood that innocent people will be targeted by law enforcement,” writes Katharine Schwab for Co. Design.
Molly Wood at Marketplace speaks with Media Lab graduate student Joy Buolamwini about the findings of her recent research, which examined widespread bias in AI-supported facial recognition programs. “At the end of the day, data reflects our history, and our history has been very biased to date,” Buolamwini said.
EdX has witnessed growing interest in its MicroMasters certificates, which are “online, examined and graded, credit-eligible graduate-level courses that involve about a quarter of the coursework of a traditional Masters degree,” writes Adam Gordon of Forbes. As edX CEO Prof. Anant Agarwal explains, “Learning once and working for the next 30 years is obsolete; we need to move to a world where re-skilling becomes part of the culture.”
Professor John Gabrieli and graduate student Rachel Romeo speak with WBUR’s Carey Goldberg about their new research. "What we found is, the more often parents engaged in back-and-forth conversation with their child, the stronger was the brain response in the front of the brain to language," Gabrieli explains.
Writing for Gizmodo, Sidney Fussell explains that a new Media Lab study finds facial-recognition software is most accurate when identifying men with lighter skin and least accurate for women with darker skin. The software analyzed by graduate student Joy Buolamwini “misidentified the gender of dark-skinned females 35 percent of the time,” explains Fussell.
Co-founded by three alumni and a former professor, startup Ginkgo Bioworks uses genetic engineering to create an array of consumer and corporate products – all relying on socially conscious GMOs. The company, which is now partnering with Bayer, is “trying to reset the conversation around biotechnology: by foregrounding the benefits to consumers and advocating for transparency,” writes Sarah Zhang for The Atlantic.
CSAIL researchers have developed a new navigation method that allows drones to process less data, have faster reaction times, and dodge obstacles without creating a map of the environment they’re in, writes James Vincent of The Verge. “Because we’re not taking hundreds of measurements and fusing them together, it’s really fast,” said graduate student Peter Florence.