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Prof. Scott Aaronson speaks with New Scientist reporter Jacob Aron about Google’s D-Wave quantum computer. “This is certainly the most impressive demonstration so far of the D-Wave machine’s capabilities,” says Aaronson. “And yet, it remains totally unclear whether you can get to what I’d consider ‘true quantum speedup’ using D-Wave’s architecture.”
Emma Woollacott reports for Forbes on Vuvuzela, a text-messaging system that MIT researchers developed to encrypt the metadata and content of messages. “Vuvuzela uses multiple servers instead of one, to give each message multiple layers of encryption,” writes Woollacott.
Writing for The Boston Globe, Nancy Shohet West highlights Prof. Erik Demaine and Martin Demaine’s paper sculptures, which are on display at the Concord Center for the Visual Arts. “We started getting interested a number of years ago in curve creases and what was possible mathematically,” explains Prof. Demaine. “We started making models and then turned those into sculpture.”
Emily Reynolds reports for Wired that NASA has awarded an R5 “Valkyrie” humanoid robot to a team led by Prof. Russ Tedrake. Reynolds explains that the team “will develop algorithms to make the robot more dexterous” so that they could potentially take the place of humans during extreme space missions.
A team led by Prof. Russ Tedrake has been awarded one of NASA’s R5 “Valkyrie” robots to develop software that could allow humanoid machines to assist astronauts in space, reports Rachel Feltman for The Washington Post. Feltman writes that Tedrake’s team was awarded the robot based on its strong performance in the DARPA Robotics Challenge.
NASA has awarded two humanoid robots to research groups at MIT and Northeastern, reports Brian Mastroianni for CBS News. The robots “are seen as potential tools to aid astronauts in future Mars expeditions,” writes Mastroianni. “They could potentially assist or even replace humans in extreme environments.”
Olga Khvan reports for Boston Magazine that a team from MIT has been awarded a humanoid robot for research and development. “The R5—nicknamed Valkyrie—is a humanoid robot designed to assist during human missions to Mars by completing disaster-relief maneuvers,” writes Khvan.
A team led by Prof. Russ Tedrake has been awarded a humanoid robot from NASA to develop software for future space missions, reports Hiawatha Bray for BetaBoston. NASA is “interested in modifications that would let the machines assist human astronauts during long-duration space missions,” writes Bray.
In this video, Jim Drury of Reuters examines the new system developed by MIT researchers that enables drones to map and successfully navigate a new landscape.
In this video, BBC News reporter Stephen Beckett speaks with Prof. Dina Katabi about a new system her group developed that can track people through walls using wireless signals. “It’s using these very low-power signals, sending them, and observing the reflection of the body through the wall,” explains Prof. Dina Katabi.
Washington Post reporter Matt McFarland writes about graduate student Andrew Barry’s work developing a system that allows drones to successfully navigate obstacles. McFarland writes, “the work is significant because it shows a drone avoiding obstacles in an area that hasn’t been previously mapped.”
MIT researchers have developed a detection system that allows a drone to navigate obstacles while flying at speeds of 30 mph, writes Barb Darrow for Fortune. Darrow explains that the research is aimed at mitigating “the risk of using potentially very useful technology not just for package delivery but for building or land inspections, journalism, even fire fighting.”
Graduate student Andrew Barry has created software that allows a self-piloting drone to dodge obstacles at 30 miles per hour, reports Robert Ferris for CNBC. “The software, which is open source and available for free online, runs 20 times faster than existing navigational software,” reports Ferris.
Alyssa Newcomb reports for ABC News on a system developed by graduate student Andrew Barry that allows drones to avoid obstacles. Newcomb explains that the system, "operates at 120 frames per second and is able to extract depth information at a speed of 8.3 milliseconds per frame."
MIT researchers “demonstrated that a drone can zip through a maze of trees at 30 miles per hour swerving past obstacles in its way. The craft was able to do this using a stereo-vision algorithm that rapidly detects and avoids objects immediately in front of the craft,” reports Nidhi Subbaraman for BetaBoston.