Robotics

Popular Science reporter Kelsey Atherton describes how MIT researchers have developed a mini robotic cheetah to study how bumbling and bouncing machines move best. 

Prof. Emilio Frazzoli speaks with Nicole Dungca of The Boston Globe about his new startup nuTonomy, which is developing a fleet of driverless taxis for Singapore. Frazzoli explains that he feels the biggest impact of autonomous vehicles is in “really changing the way we think of personal mobility, or mobility, in general.”

Washington Post reporter Matt McFarland writes that MIT researchers have developed a technique for printing solid and liquid materials at the same time, a development that could make producing robots faster and easier. Prof. Daniela Rus explains that the new process could make “a big difference in what kind of machines you can make.”

Popular Science reporter Kelsey Atherton writes that a new 3-D printing process developed by MIT researchers incorporates both solid and liquid materials at the same time. Atherton explains that the prototype robot developed using the process walks “with hydraulic bellows, fluid pumping in and out to turn a crankshaft that moves the legs back and forth.”

Researchers from MIT CSAIL have developed a new 3-D printing process that produces robots with no assembly required, reports Brian Mastroianni for CBS News. “MIT's new process is significant in that the production period is streamlined, with the robot's solid and liquid hydraulic parts being created in one step,” Mastroianni explains. 

Boston Magazine reporter Jamie Ducharme writes that MIT researchers have developed a way to simultaneously 3-D print liquid and solid materials, “allowing them to create functional, nearly assembly-free robots.”

MIT startup nuTonomy is developing driverless taxis to serve as a form of public transit in Singapore, reports Nyshka Chandran for CNBC. “The driverless taxis will follow optimal paths for picking up and dropping off passengers to reduce traffic congestion,” Chandran explains. 

Fortune reporter Robert Hackett writes that MIT spinoff nuTonomy is developing a fleet of driverless taxis for Singapore. Hackett writes that the company “could become the first to operate fully self-driving cars, known as ‘level four,’ in a city commercially.”

In an article for The Wall Street Journal about advances in robotics, Visiting Lecturer Irving Wladawsky-Berger highlights Prof. Daniela Rus’ article in Foreign Affairs. Wladawsky-Berger writes that he agrees with Rus’ view that advances in robotics will allow machines to assist and collaborate with humans more effectively. 

Boston Magazine reporter Michael Damiano writes that Prof. Russ Tedrake is developing software that will allow NASA’s Valkyrie robot to work on a space mission. Damiano explains that Tedrake’s lab “will refine Valkyrie’s software for NASA’s international Space Robotics Challenge, where teams from the world’s leading robotics laboratories will then make Valkyrie even more capable.”

In an article for Slate, Madeleine Clare Elish highlights a study by Prof. Frank Levy that found that only certain tasks in the field of law could be automated. Levy and his colleagues found that “dramatic impacts are unlikely due to technical limitations of machine intelligence as well as social expectations of a lawyer’s value.”

Wired reporter Emily Reynolds writes that researchers from MIT CSAIL have developed a new communication system that is designed to help humans and robots work together in emergency situations. The new system reduces the needs for communication by 60 percent, reducing the potential for information overload. 

Prof. Frank Wilczek writes for The Wall Street Journal about his experience participating in the Nobel Week Dialogue in Sweden from the comfort of his home in Cambridge, thanks to a robot that allowed conference attendees to interact with him remotely.  “With more powerful sensors and actuators, out-of-body experiences will become even more compelling,” Wilczek writes. 

Wall Street Journal reporter Alexandra Wolfe profiles Prof. Cynthia Breazeal and examines her latest work developing a robot, dubbed Jibo, that can assist humans with daily tasks and serve as a companion.  “I’m really thinking about social robots as an extender of our human capacity,” Breazeal explains.

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.