Emma Cott of The New York Times writes about Huggable, a robotic teddy bear developed by Professor Cynthia Breazeal and researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital for therapeutic use in pediatric hospitals. “It’s not only the health and emotional and recovery benefits, but also logistical and financial, improving efficiency to the overall health system,” says Breazeal.
Washington Post reporter Chris Mooney writes that MIT researchers have found that giant cracks allow for the rapid draining of lakes on Greenland’s ice sheet. “We know that the ice sheet will continue to increase its contribution to sea level rise over the coming years,” explains lead author Laura Stevens. “The implications of this study show us more of how these processes will play out.”
MIT researchers have uncovered how the meltwater lakes atop Greenland’s ice sheet drain, reports Richard Valdmanis for Reuters. Lead author Laura Stevens explains that the findings will help “predict more accurately how supraglacial lakes will affect ice sheet flow and sea level rise.”
In this video, Monika Auger of The Wall Street Journal describes how MIT engineers have developed a robotic cheetah that can jump over obstacles autonomously. Auger explains that the robot’s vision and path planning systems give it "complete autonomous control over its movements.”
MIT researchers have created a tiny, self-assembling, origami robot that they hope could one day be small enough to enter the human body and perform medical tasks, reports Lauren Walker for Newsweek. “Driven by magnetic fields, the robot can travel on both land and water at the speed of three or four centimeters per second," Walker explains.
AP reporter Seth Borenstein writes that Prof. Kerry Emanuel conducted an analysis of past hurricane trends and found that a number of U.S. metro regions may be overdue for large storms. ‘‘It’s just the laws of statistics,’’ explains Emanuel. ‘‘Luck will run out. It’s just a question of when.’’
Neel Patel writes for Wired about how MIT researchers have trained their robotic cheetah to detect and leap over obstacles. The robot “estimates the height, size, and distance of objects in its path, and adjusts its approach to prepare a jump and safe landing—all without slowing down.”
Washington Post reporter Rachel Feltman writes that MIT researchers have used optogenetics to reactive lost memories. The research indicates that, “retrograde amnesia -- where memories are lost after brain trauma -- may be more of a memory retrieval problem than an actual loss of data.”
Writing for The Washington Post, Rachel Feltman describes how the MIT robotic cheetah can jump over obstacles up to 18 inches tall. “The robot uses an algorithm to gauge the height and distance of upcoming obstacles, so it can clear them without breaking its (record-breaking) stride,” Feltman explains.
Newsweek reporter Felicity Capon writes about the robotic cheetah developed by MIT researchers that can jump over hurdles autonomously. The cheetah uses an onboard mapping system to detect obstacles and estimate their height and distance.
MIT researchers have developed a robotic cheetah that can jump over obstacles while running, reports Sandrine Ceurstemont for New Scientist. “The robot spots obstacles in its path with its built-in lidar system, which can build up a picture of the object in its way from reflected laser light,” explains Ceurstemont.
MIT researchers have trained a cheetah robot they developed to make “flying leaps” over obstacles, reports Devin Coldewey for NBC News. The researchers behind the robotic cheetah aim to “build a ‘high-speed locomotion platform’ with the fastest land animal as its inspiration.”
The robotic cheetah developed by MIT researchers can now autonomously jump over obstacles, reports Nitya Rajan for The Huffington Post. “This is the first time a four-legged robot has used laser sensors to gauges the distance and height of obstacles in its way to plan its jump,” writes Rajan.
According to Fox News, MIT’s cheetah robot can now jump over obstacles up to 18 inches tall, which is more than half the robot’s height. “Our goal is to use this kind of robot to save lives in a disaster situation,” explains Professor Sangbae Kim.
Lauren O’Neil of CBC News reports on a new self-folding origami robot created by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL). The robot “could eventually become small enough to fold into the human body, perform medical tasks, and then dissolve itself when finished — all by itself,” O’Neil reports.