MIT researchers have trained a cheetah robot they developed to make “flying leaps” over obstacles, reports Devin Coldewey for NBC News. The researchers behind the robotic cheetah aim to “build a ‘high-speed locomotion platform’ with the fastest land animal as its inspiration.”
The robotic cheetah developed by MIT researchers can now autonomously jump over obstacles, reports Nitya Rajan for The Huffington Post. “This is the first time a four-legged robot has used laser sensors to gauges the distance and height of obstacles in its way to plan its jump,” writes Rajan.
According to Fox News, MIT’s cheetah robot can now jump over obstacles up to 18 inches tall, which is more than half the robot’s height. “Our goal is to use this kind of robot to save lives in a disaster situation,” explains Professor Sangbae Kim.
Lauren O’Neil of CBC News reports on a new self-folding origami robot created by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). The robot “could eventually become small enough to fold into the human body, perform medical tasks, and then dissolve itself when finished — all by itself,” O’Neil reports.
Allison Pohle reports for Boston.com on new algorithms that allow MIT’s robotic cheetah to jump over obstacles autonomously. “The cheetah first practiced its skills on a treadmill in a lab,” writes Pohle. “It then moved on to an indoor track, and is now being trained to jump while running on the grass.”
James Temperton writes for Wired about new developments in robotics, highlighting the MIT cheetah robot that can now autonomously jump over hurdles and the miniature origami robots developed by MIT researchers that can fold self-assemble, walk, swim and dissolve.
According to AFP, MIT researchers were able to use a technology called optogenetics to retrieve lost memories. Professor Susumu Tonegawa explains that the research showed, “past memories may not be erased, but could simply be lost and inaccessible for recall."
WGBH reporter Jared Bowen highlights the selection of Prof. Emertia Joan Jonas’ films and videos currently on display at the MIT List Visual Arts Center in his weekly roundup of recommended exhibitions, movies and musical performances. “Those of us who can’t make it to Italy can see seven of her films and videos that pushed the media forward, right in Cambridge.”
BetaBoston reporter Dan Adams speaks with Yoel Fink, director of RLE, about the Translational Fellows Program, an initiative that provides postdocs an opportunity to commercialize technologies they developed at MIT. Fink explains that the goal of the program is to empower postdocs, “not just to find a job in an industry, but to create an industry.”
Professor Sangeeta Bhatia and her colleagues have successfully engineered bacteria that can be used to detect cancer and diabetes, writes Robert Service for Science. The researchers found that “while conventional imaging techniques struggle to detect liver tumors smaller than 1 square centimeter, this approach was able to flag tumors as small as 1 square millimeter.”
Carl Franzen reports for Popular Science that the researchers behind MIT’s robotic cheetah have developed new algorithms that allow the robot to detect and jump over obstacles. “Now that the Cheetah 2 is capable of trotting, galloping, and jumping, it might be time to crown a new king of the concrete jungle,” writes Franzen.
Los Angeles Times reporter Melissa Healy writes that researchers from MIT and the University of California, San Diego have successfully modified bacteria to detect cancer. “Their work is a key component of broader efforts to make the diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as cancer increasingly precise and targeted," writes Healy.
The robotic cheetah developed by MIT researchers is now capable of jumping over obstacles without human assistance, reports Nidhi Subbaraman for BetaBoston. “As the robot approaches and detects a hurdle, algorithms plan its jumping trajectory unaided by its minders, each adjusting for the speed and position of the robot and the height of the hurdle,” Subbaraman explains.
A team of researchers from MIT, Northeastern, and Harvard has found links between cell phone usage and unemployment, reports Janelle Nanos for BetaBoston. The researchers found that “cellphone use and mobility dropped significantly in areas which eventually reported massive unemployment spikes,” Nanos explains.
Researchers from MIT and the University of California, San Diego have genetically modified bacteria so that it can detect cancer, BBC News reports. The researchers hope that one day, “the general approach could one day be used to develop relatively cheap and easy to use home-testing kits for a range of diseases.”