CSAIL researchers have created a system that allows robots to see and pick up objects they have never encountered without assistance from humans, writes Jason Murdock for Newsweek. The researchers are now working on teaching the system to “move objects with a specific goal in mind, such as cleaning a desk,” reports Murdock.
In an article for Quartz about how robots are being used to help care for the elderly, Corinne Purtill highlights Prof. Sherry Turkle’s work on the impact of using machines to satisfy the human need for emotional connection. Putrill cites Turkle’s argument that using machines creates a new relationship where we “feel connected although we are alone.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a new system that gives robots a greater visual understanding of the world around them, reports Heather Kelly for CNN. “We want robots to learn by themselves how to very richly and visually understand lots of objects that are useful for lots of tasks,” explains graduate student Pete Florence.
Wired reporter Matt Simon writes that MIT researchers have developed a new system that allows robots to be able to visually inspect and then pick up new objects, all without human guidance. Graduate student Lucas Manuelli explains that the system is “all about letting the robot supervise itself, rather than humans going in and doing annotations.”
A study co-authored by MIT researchers finds that robots can develop prejudices against other robots not working on their team, writes John Biggs for TechCrunch. The researchers also found that, like humans, prejudices were reduced when there were “more distinct subpopulations being present within a population.”
MIT alumnus You Wu has spent six years perfecting robots that can travel through pipes to identify water leaks, writes Anne Quito for Quartz. “Over 240,000 water pipes burst in the US each year, with each incident costing an average of $200,000 in infrastructure damage,” notes Quito.
In this video, NBC Mach highlights the robotic cheetah developed by MIT researchers that can navigate without cameras or sensors. While most robots require light to explore their surroundings, the “Cheetah 3 will be able to feel its way through light-less situations such as caves or mines.”
Writing for The New York Times, Prof. Sherry Turkle argues that machines will never be able to replace humans as compassionate companions. “Machines have not known the arc of a human life. They feel nothing of the human loss or love we describe to them,” writes Turkle. “Their conversations about life occupy the realm of the as-if.”
MIT researchers have developed a new prosthetic device that allows amputees to feel where their limbs are located, reports Simon Makin for Scientific American. “What's new here is the ability to provide feedback the brain knows how to interpret as sensations of position, speed and force,” explains postdoctoral associate Tyler Clites.
The Economist highlights Prof. Michael Triantafyllou’s work studying how seals employ their whiskers to detect their surroundings. Triantafyllou is using the seal whisker as a model for developing an underwater sensor that would, “detect the wakes of natural objects, such as fish and marine mammals, and artificial ones, such as other robots, surface ships and submarines.”
In an article for Popular Mechanics, Tiana Cline spotlights SoFi, an autonomous, soft, robotic fish that can swim alongside real fish. “SoFi has the potential to be a new type of tool for ocean exploration and to open up new avenues for uncovering the mysteries of marine life,” Cline notes.
Edd Gent highlights MIT’s ingestible origami robot in this NBC Mach article on the ways origami is impacting science and engineering. “[T]he intricate folding patterns can be used to make complex mechanical systems,” like the MIT robot, which is “designed to unfurl and steer its way through the gut with help from external magnets,” writes Gent.
In an interview with Wynne Parry of NBC Mach, Prof. Sherry Turkle expresses concern that household robots can interfere with children learning to understand and connect with one another. “There are skills of listening, of putting oneself in the place of the other, that are required when two human beings try to deeply understand each other,” Turkle explains.
In this BBC Click video, Prof. Daniela Rus discusses a new technique that she and her colleagues developed that allows people to correct a robot’s actions using brain waves and hand gestures. “Instead of having the humans adapt to the machine, we want the machine to adapt to the humans,” explains Prof. Daniela Rus.
NBC Mach reporter Tom Metcalfe writes that MIT researchers have developed a technique to 3-D print soft objects that change shape in response to magnetic fields. “You can imagine this technology being used in minimally invasive surgeries,” explains Prof. Xuanhe Zhao. “A self-steering catheter inside a blood vessel, for example — now you can use external magnetic fields to accurately steer the catheter.”