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A bipedal robot with human reflexes

New human-machine interface keeps robot balanced, with human reflexes.

August 10, 2015

CSAIL researchers converted their lab into a miniature “bar” that included a PR2 robot “bartender” and two four-wheeled Turtlebot "waiters."

Robots collaborate to deliver meds, supplies, and even drinks

Bots from the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab work together more effectively in the face of uncertainty.

August 10, 2015

A simple robotic gripper can adjust its grip using the environment. Here, a robot grips a rod lightly while pushing it against a tabletop.

Giving robots a more nimble grasp

Engineers use the environment to give simple robotic grippers more dexterity.

August 3, 2015

Yashraj Narang SM '13 (right) conducted a comprehensive survey of above-knee amputees in India to understand their unique user-needs and the performance of their current prostheses.

A cheaper, high-performance prosthetic knee

Researchers design cheap prosthetic knee that mimics normal walking motion.

July 31, 2015

MIT Edgerton Center instructor Ed Moriarty and students

High school students blend engineering, art, and science

Students in the Edgerton Center's Engineering Design Workshop will unveil their STEAM-infused projects on July 31.

July 28, 2015

The proposed SLAM-aware object recognition system is able to localize and recognize several objects in the scene, aggregating detection evidence across multiple views. The annotations are actual predictions proposed by the system.

Object recognition for robots

Robots’ maps of their environments can make existing object-recognition algorithms more accurate.

July 23, 2015

The Soyuz TMA-17M spacecraft is raised into position on the launch pad Monday, July 20, 2015 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Launch of the Soyuz rocket is scheduled for July 23.

3 Questions: Lennon Rodgers on docking in space

System for locking satellites together, initially developed for master’s thesis, to get first space test.

July 23, 2015

Lirianna Valerio acts as a "Human Roomba" with the MIT STEM Mentoring Program

Middle schoolers turn into Roombas

Engineers from iRobot provide workshop for students from the Boston area in the MIT STEM Mentoring Program.

June 19, 2015

Seeking rare cells

Christopher Love uses microscale technology to isolate rare cells, yielding insight into human disease.

June 17, 2015

Education is focus of Lemann gift to MIT

New partnership will support high-impact initiatives aimed at improving public education in Brazil.

June 16, 2015

Centimeter-long origami robot

Controlled by magnetic fields, tiny robot climbs inclines, swims, and carries loads twice its weight.

June 12, 2015

A still from a video of MIT's first DARPA Robotics Challenge run, where they scored 7 points.

Robotics competition generated groundbreaking research

MIT team based robotic control algorithms on cutting-edge theory.

June 11, 2015

MIT team places sixth at international DARPA Robotics Challenge

CSAIL team just misses winning the grand prize after programming a 400-lb humanoid robot to lift beams, climb stairs, and drive a car.

June 8, 2015

MIT Corporation elects new members

Eight term members will each serve five years on MIT’s board of trustees.

June 4, 2015

A new technique tunes friction between two surfaces, to the point where friction can vanish. MIT researchers developed a frictional interface at the atomic level. The blue corrugated surface represents an optical lattice; the red balls represent ions; the springs between them represent Coulomb forces between ions. By tuning the spacing of the ion crystal surface above to mismatch the bottom corrug...

Vanishing friction

In tuning friction to the point where it disappears, technique could boost development of nanomachines.