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FOX News reporter Grace Williams writes that MIT researchers have developed a new system to assist people with visual impairments in navigating their surroundings. “We wanted to primarily complement the white cane to allow users with visual impairments to quickly assess their environment in a contactless manner,” explains graduate student Robert Katzschmann.
New Scientist reporter Evelyn Wang writes that a study by MIT researchers finds that, “the question of whether a scrambled Rubik’s cube of any size can be solved in a given number of moves is what’s called NP-complete – that’s maths lingo for a problem even mathematicians find hard to solve.”
Prof. Daniela Rus and graduate student Robert Katzschmann speak with BBC reporter Gareth Mitchell about the device they developed to help the visually impaired navigate. Rus explains that they applied the technologies used for autonomous driving to develop a system that can, “guide a visually impaired person in the same way a suite of sensors can guide a self-driving car.”
Wired reporter Tom Simonite highlights how Prof. Daniela Rus is developing technology that enables a car’s computer to take control from human drivers to help prevent accidents. “Eventually everyone will get to autonomy, but the technology’s not ready yet,” explains Rus. “This is an intermediate step we can take to make driving safer in the meantime.”
TechCrunch reporter Brian Heater writes that MIT researchers have developed a vibrating wearable device to help people with visual impairments navigate. “In a world where computers help us with everything from navigating space travel to counting the steps we take in a day, I think we can do better to support visually impaired people,” explains Prof. Daniela Rus.
Fortune reporter Aaron Pressman highlights how MIT researchers have developed a new wearable device to help visually impaired people navigate and avoid obstacles. Pressman writes that CSAIL researchers are, “combining cutting edge techniques from 3D cameras and image recognition software to build an automated navigation system for the visually impaired.”
Boston Herald reporter Jordan Graham writes that MIT researchers have developed a wearable device aimed at helping visually impaired users navigate their environments. The system is equipped with, “a 3-D camera, a vibration pack and an electronic braille screen that will tell users not just where things are — but what they are.”
In an article for The New York Times about the growing number of autonomous public transportation programs in Europe, Mark Scott highlights Prof. Carlo Ratti’s work testing driverless boats in Amsterdam. In addition to ferrying people and goods, the driverless boats will also be able to “automatically dock with each other, creating on-demand bridges and walkways whenever necessary."
CSAIL researchers have developed a new system that allows camera-equipped drones to maintain certain framing parameters of an aerial shot, Sean O’Kane for The Verge. O’Kane explains that the system allows directors to define basic parameters of a shot and to alter the “settings on the fly and the drone will adjust how it’s filming accordingly.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a system that allows robots to teach one another learned skills, reports Grace Williams for FOX News. Williams explains that the system, “gives non-coders the ability to teach robots various tasks using information about manipulating objects in a single demonstration. These skills can then be passed along to other robots that move in different ways.”
Researchers at CSAIL have developed a new system to train robots called C-LEARN, which imbues “a robot with a knowledge base of simple steps that it can intelligently apply when learning a new task,” writes Matthew Hutson for Science.
This CNN video highlights a new system developed by CSAIL researchers that allows noncoders to teach robots to perform a task after a single demonstration. The new programming method also enables robots to learn from other robots, which could enable “a variety of robots to perform similar tasks.”
In an article for Scientific American about the future of robotics, Prof. Emeritus Rodney Brooks highlights Prof. Dina Katabi’s work developing devices that use wireless signals to detect a person’s emotions.
Prof. Andrew Lo speaks with Barry Ritholtz of Bloomberg View about the field of economics. Lo explains that his new book chronicles his “intellectual journey from a diehard devotee of efficient markets and rational expectations into the realm of first psychology and behavioral finance, and then to neuroscience and how people really make decisions.”
Graduate student Carrie Cai speaks with BBC News reporter Gareth Mitchell about a tool named “WaitSuite” that can help users learn a foreign language during idle moments. Cai explains that WaitSuite, “might detect that you are waiting for WiFi and alert you to the fact that there is a word you could be learning.”