Electrical engineering and computer science (EECS)

MIT Hyperloop team members Philippe Kirschen and Sabrina Ball speak with Mike Nikitas of NECN about the team’s approach to the SpaceX competition. “We wanted to design a pod that was safe, scalable and feasible,” explains Kirschen.” We really focused on the technology that we thought we could develop… that could possibly be applied to a full-scale hyperloop.”

Boston.com reporter Hilary Sargent writes that MIT researchers have developed a new device that could help guide the visually impaired. Sargent explains that a prototype system the researchers developed “is about the size of a binoculars case and is designed to be worn around someone’s neck.”

Wired reporter Alex Davies speaks with graduate student Phillipe Kirschen, team captain of the MIT Hyperloop team, about the team’s strategy. Kirschen explains that the team is focused on developing a “pod that is gonna go really fast, that is gonna levitate, that can have good attitude control, and that can brake well.”

Graduate student Chris Merian, chief engineer for MIT's Hyperloop team, speaks with Radio Boston’s Meghna Chakrabarti about the team’s success in the Hyperloop contest. Merian says the team saw the competition as a, “really cool engineering challenge that we are really passionate about, and seeing our hundreds of hours of work rewarded like that was really, really nice.” 

Popular Science’s Priscilla Mosqueda writes about the team of MIT students that won the first round of the SpaceX competition.  “We had a clear message: our pod was about making something safe, stable and feasible,” explains team captain and graduate student Philippe Kirschen.

A team of MIT students won the first round of the SpaceX Hyperloop competition for their design of a pod that could transport passengers on a conceptual high-speed transportation system.  MIT and other top teams will build and test their designs at the Hyperloop Test Track in California, reports the Associated Press.

Boston Herald reporter Laurel Sweet writes that a team of MIT students has won the first round of the SpaceX Hyperloop contest. “Powered by renewable energy, Hyperloop aims to rocket floating passenger pods through elevated tubes at nearly the speed of sound,” writes Sweet. 

MIT students captured the top spot in the first round of the SpaceX Hyperloop competition for their design for passenger pods that could travel on a high-speed transportation system, reports David Morris for Fortune. 

A team of MIT students took first place in the first round of the SpaceX Hyperloop competition, reports Steve Annear for The Boston Globe.  Team members told Annear that, “It’s great to see our hard work recognized, and we are excited to have the opportunity to continue to push this technology one step closer to reality.” 

Washington Post reporter Joel Achenbach writes about the life and work of Prof. emeritus Marvin Minsky, who died on Sunday. Achebach writes that Minsky’s colleagues knew him “as a man who was strikingly clever in conversation, with an ability to anticipate what others are thinking -- and then conjure up an even more intriguing variation on those thoughts.”

In an article for The Boston Globe, Bryan Marquard writes about Prof. emeritus Marvin Minsky, co-founder of the former AI Lab (now CSAIL), a founding member of the Media Lab, and a pioneer in the field of AI, who passed away on Sunday.  

Prof. emeritus Marvin Minsky, one of the founders of the field of artificial intelligence, died Sunday at age 88, reports Glenn Rifkin for The New York Times. Rifkin writes that Minsky “combined a scientist’s thirst for knowledge with a philosopher’s quest for truth as a pioneering explorer of artificial intelligence.”

Boston Magazine reporter Kyle Clauss reports that researchers from MIT CSAIL have developed a drone that uses algorithms to detect obstacle-free regions in space.  “Using free-space segments is a more ‘glass-half-full’ approach that works far better for drones in small, cluttered spaces,” says MIT alumnus Benoit Landry.

Researchers from MIT CSAIL have developed an algorithm that allows drones to navigate obstacle courses, reports Kelsey Atherton for Popular Science. “As drones move away from simple remote-controlled toys and become more autonomous flying tools, programs like these will keep them flying safely through unfamiliar terrain,” explains Atherton. 

Cade Metz writes for Wired that MIT researchers have developed a system that allows robots to predict how objects will move. Postdoc Ilker Yildirim explains that in order for a robot to be able to assist with household tasks like washing the dishes, it must “deeply understand its physical environments.”