Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)

For a demo at a local cafe, the Chronos system was 97 percent accurate in distinguishing in-store customers from out-of-store intruders — meaning it could be used to prevent non-customers from stealing WiFi.

Wireless tech means safer drones, smarter homes and password-free WiFi

System from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab enables single WiFi access point that can locate users within tens of centimeters.

March 31, 2016

CSAIL researchers are presenting a new infrared depth-sensing system built from off-the-shelf components, that works outdoors as well as in.

Phone-based laser rangefinder works outdoors

Depth sensor built from off-the-shelf parts filters out ambient infrared light.

March 25, 2016

“This is a rethinking of the Web infrastructure,” Frank Wang says. “Maybe it’s better that one person manages all their data. There’s one type of security and not 10 types of security. We’re trying to present an alternative model that would be beneficial to both users and applications.”

Secure, user-controlled data

Cryptographic system would allow users to decide which applications access which aspects of their data.

March 18, 2016

Andrus Ansip, vice president of the Digital Single Market in the European Commission, chats with Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

U.S., EU leaders talk Web policy and world economy at MIT

With EU vice president, U.S. secretary of commerce discusses EU-U.S. “Privacy Shield” and launches new policy program.

March 11, 2016

System loads Web pages 34 percent faster by fetching files more effectively

"Polaris" system from MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab accelerates website load-time by decreasing network trips.

March 9, 2016

Students from MIT and Cambridge University completed various cybersecurity challenges as part of a 24-hour Cambridge 2 Cambridge hackathon.

MIT, Cambridge University team up for “Cambridge 2 Cambridge” hackathon

Hosted by the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, event featured mixed student teams tackling cybersecurity challenges.

March 7, 2016

“Data has traditionally been used by anyone from corporations to the government,” Mor Naaman says. “But the goal of this system is to make the data more useful for the individuals themselves, to give them more control, and to make it more useful to communities.”

Browsing in public

System lets Web users share aspects of their browsing history with friends, researchers.

March 7, 2016

Communication system could make it easier to design systems that enable humans and robots to work together in emergency-response teams.

Enabling human-robot rescue teams

System could help prevent robots from overwhelming human teammates with information.

February 17, 2016

“The problem with planning contingencies is that there are so many things that can go wrong, if you generated plans for all possible contingencies, you’d go nuts,” Brian Williams says.

Automatic contingency planning

Algorithm lets planning systems generate backup plans efficiently.

February 15, 2016

Three from MIT elected to the National Academy of Engineering

Contributions of new members include the design of parallel computing systems, the development of 3-D printing, and the discovery of near-Earth asteroids.

February 9, 2016

Clockwise from top left: Tomás Palacios, Devavrat Shah, Dirk Englund, and Russ Tedrake

EECS announces four faculty promotions

Palacios, Shah, Tedrake promoted to full professor; Englund promoted to associate professor without tenure.

February 8, 2016

Much of Daskalakis’ work concentrates on the application of computer science techniques to game theory, a discipline that attempts to get a quantitative handle on human strategic reasoning.

Computer science meets economics

Constantinos Daskalakis adapts techniques from theoretical computer science to game theory.

February 4, 2016

A new chip could enable devices that help visually impaired users navigate their environments.

A virtual “guide dog” for navigation

Low-power chip processes 3-D camera data, could enable wearable device to guide the visually impaired.

February 2, 2016

“One of the most intriguing aspects of this research is that we’ve found that there are indeed universal properties of correct code that you can learn from one set of applications and apply to another set of applications,” Martin Rinard says.

Recognizing correct code

Automatic bug-repair system fixes 10 times as many errors as its predecessors.

January 29, 2016

“In research contexts, I’m driven mostly by the technical difficulty of the problem, and the opportunity to learn,” Sami Alsheikh explains.

Computer science and engineering major helps people while having fun

Senior Sami Alsheikh helps others, solves problems, and has fun doing both.