MIT startup Skydio has launched a platform that allows users to create custom software that can be applied to the company’s autonomous drone, reports Nick Statt for The Verge. The platform will let “app makers and drone enthusiasts develop custom software that takes advantage of the device’s bevy of cameras and sensors, as well as its sophisticated computer vision software and machine learning algorithms.”
WCVB’s Mike Wankum visits the Beaver Works Summer Institute to see how high school students are gaining hands-on engineering experience. Robert Shin, director of Beaver Works, explains that the program is aimed at “inspiring the next generation.”
Wired reporter Jack Stewart explores the technology behind Boston-based startup WaveSense, which applies ground-penetrating radar developed at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory to give self-driving cars a way to map where they are without relying on visual clues or GPS. The technology, writes Stewart, was “first deployed in 2013 to help troops navigate in Afghanistan, where staying on path and avoiding landmines is a matter of life and death.”
Boston Globe reporter Bette Keva spotlights SeaTrac Systems, Inc., which was founded by MIT alumni Buddy Duncan and James Herman, and has developed an autonomous, solar-powered boat. Herman explains that SeaTrac’s goal is to develop a boat that could be used on “dirty, dull, dangerous, or expensive” missions.
In an article for Wired about distracted driving, Aarian Marshall highlights how MIT researchers are studying how drivers use new automated driving systems. “This is about human-centered development: leveraging the human element and integrating it with advances in automation,” explains Research Engineer Bryan Reimer.
Research Engineer Bryan Reimer speaks with Bloomberg Radio about autonomous vehicle safety following the announcement that nuTonomy will soon test its vehicles on Boston streets. Citing the successful partnership between city officials and autonomous vehicle startups, Reimer stresses the importance of companies demonstrating “that they can walk before they can run.”
Autonomous vehicle company nuTonomy, an MIT startup, has been given permission to test their cars throughout Boston, writes The Boston Herald’s Jordan Graham. “They are going to encounter things on the road they’ve never seen before,” says MIT research engineer Bryan Reimer. “The only way to progress is to do it.”
MIT startup nuTonomy has received permission from Boston city officials to test run its autonomous vehicles citywide, reports Zeninjor Enwemeka for WBUR. “We are excited to have access to some of the most complex roads in North America as we continue to focus on improving the safety and efficiency of transportation,” said MIT alumnus and nuTonomy president Karl Iagnemma.
Engadget reporter Jon Fingas writes that MIT researchers have developed a tiny computer chip small enough to fit on a honeybee-sized drone that can help the drone navigate. The technology could eventually be applied to, “smart pills that navigate to where they're needed, or virtually any vehicle that may need to last for a very long time on one battery charge.”
Gabriel Bousquet ’17 speaks to BBC Click’s Gareth Mitchell about the robot he designed for his graduate thesis that was modeled after an albatross. Bosquet envisions using the robot to better understand “the exchanges between the atmosphere and ocean and carbon dioxide,” in the Antarctic Ocean, in an effort to learn more about climate change.
In response to a reader’s question about self-driving cars, Mercury News reporter Gary Richards describes new technology in the works by MIT researchers to allow, “driverless cars to change lanes more like human drivers do.”
NBC Mach reporter Tom Metcalfe writes that MIT researchers are developing autonomous boats that could be used to ferry goods and people and could help ease traffic congestion. “We believe that with fleets of very agile autonomous boats we can offload some street traffic onto the waterways,” explains Prof. Daniela Rus.
MIT researchers have developed a virtual reality environment in order to train drones, writes Logan Booker of Gizmodo. “It's a neat use of an emerging technology, one that makes a lot of sense when you think about it,” Booker concludes.
Researchers from MIT's CSAIL and Senseable City Lab “have designed a fleet of 3-D printed autonomous boats [that] could eventually taxi people and deliver goods,” reports CNBC’s Erin Black. The boats “can also be equipped to monitor a city's water quality,” Black explains.
USA Today reporter Marco della Cava writes that a study by MIT researchers shows drivers typically use Tesla’s Autopilot software for highway driving. Della Cava writes that Research Engineer Bryan Reimer underscored that the findings show there is a need for, “an increase in driver education on the part of stakeholders such as automakers, dealers and perhaps even licensing authorities.”