MIT researchers have developed a new algorithm that allows robots to work together to efficiently serve drinks, Nidhi Subbaraman writes for BetaBoston. Subbaraman explains that the technique provides a “smarter approach to collaboration, preparing for possible missteps like dropping a bottle, or picking up the wrong one.”
Charlotte Lytton writes for The Daily Beast about SenseGlass, a mirror created by graduate student Javier Hernandez that uses Google Glass technology to register physiological and emotional changes in the viewer. “I believe mirrors are a great platform for health monitoring as we use them [everyday],” says Hernandez.
Popular Science reporter Levi Sharpe writes that MIT researchers have developed an object recognition system that can accurately identify and distinguish items. “This system could help future robots interact with objects more efficiently while they navigate our complex world,” Sharpe explains.
New York Times reporter John Markoff writes about Alias, a new system aimed at augmenting human pilots on flights. The system is being developed by Auroa Flight Sciences, which grew out of an MIT project, and with the assistance of researchers from MIT and Duke University.
Prof. Max Tegmark speaks with Tom Ashbrook, host of NPR’s On Point, about the Future of Life Institute, which is focused on addressing potential risks posed by artificial intelligence. Tegmark explains that the Institute's goal is “to figure out a way of helping AI amplify our intelligence for good.”
The July/August edition of Foreign Affairs features an in-depth piece by Prof. Daniela Rus on the future of robotics. Rus writes that robots will extend the digital revolution “into the physical realm and deeper into everyday life, with consequences that will be equally profound.”
Boston Globe Magazine reporter Neil Swidey travels to Singapore to learn more about Prof. Emilio Frazzoli’s work developing autonomous vehicles with the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART). Frazzoli explains that he feels driverless cars have “the potential to change everybody’s life.”
Jordan Graham writes for The Boston Herald about a system created by Prof. Brian Williams that allows unpiloted underwater vehicles to make decisions without human intervention. Williams explains that the system was developed so that an underwater robot would not need low-level commands, “you just give it your goals.”
Brooks Hays of UPI writes that Prof. Brian Williams has developed a new system that allows autonomous underwater vehicles to operate independently. Robots using the new system “are able to navigate underwater expanses and execute research tasks on their own. Researchers simply dictate high-level goals, and the submersible calculates the most efficient path forward."
MIT researchers have developed a new system that gives underwater robots more decision-making capabilities, reports Kelsey Atherton for Popular Science. Atherton explains that developing machines that can operate without human control could “usher in a whole new age of discovery.”
In an article for The Huffington Post about teaching kids computer programming, Joni Blecher highlights the robotic garden developed by researchers from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and CSAIL. The garden has “over 100 flowers that can be controlled via a Bluetooth-enabled device.”
Spencer Kelly of BBC News visits the MIT Distributed Robotics Lab to see how researchers have developed software that allows robots to build Ikea furniture. Kelly explains that the goal of the research is to “work towards robots that can work together collaboratively to build complex structures.”
Visiting Scholar Thomas Davenport argues in a piece for The Wall Street Journal that augmentation, in which humans and computers work together to enhance each other’s skills, would be the best way to integrate machines into the workforce. “The combination of human and computer-based capabilities leads to a better outcome than either could provide on their own,” he explains.
Prof. David Autor discusses his research showing that while automation is impacting middle-skill jobs, there has been an increase in high and low-skill jobs. While machines are entering the workplace, Autor believes that often they are serving “as tools to make humans more productive, not replace them,” explains Wall Street Journal reporter Timothy Aeppel.
Chris Neiger of BBC News reports on software being developed by Professor Brian Williams aimed at helping drivers arrive at their destinations on time. “The lab’s planning algorithms would give motorists an initial travel plan, which would adapt to externalities along the way,” writes Neiger.