In an article for El Mundo (written in Spanish), Carlos Betriu writes about the annual robotics competition that is the culmination of course 2.007. The goal of the course is to challenge students to solve problems with robots and to think creatively, Betriu reports.
Boston Globe reporter Carolyn Johnson writes about 2.007’s robotics competition. “Students competed at MITSKI, in which the robots they built from scratch had to climb ski slopes, descend them with grace, collect slalom flags, return flags to the ski chalet, and collect medals,” Johnson writes.
USA Today reporter Kelly Whiteside highlights Professor Hugh Herr’s work developing bionic prosthetic limbs that emulate the function of natural limbs. Herr developed a bionic leg that allowed Boston Marathon bombing survivor Adrianne Haslet-Davis to dance again.
This Huffington Post article, co-authored by Professor Max Tegmark, looks at the future of artificial intelligence. The authors stress the need to spend more money investigating the potential benefits and risks of the robotic revolution.
Writing for Forbes, Leo King reports that an autonomous robotic submarine developed by MIT startup Bluefin Robotics is being deployed in the search for Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.
The New Yorker’s Joshua Rothman reports on Professor Erik Brynjolfsson’s presentation about how smart machines will soon be able to replace human workers in many fields at a conference hosted by M.I.T.’s Initiative on the Digital Economy.
“Mechanical engineers from MIT have developed a digging robot that can burrow through soil while expending very little energy -- by mimicking the burrowing mechanism of a razor clam,” writes Katie Collins in Wired of the robotic clam developed by MIT researchers.
Hiawatha Bray of The Boston Globe reports on research underway at MIT to develop robots that will be able to take the place of human first responders in disaster relief operations.
TIME reporter Doug Aamoth writes about the MIT DARPA Robotics Challenge team’s work with the Atlas robot built by Boston Dynamics. Aamoth reports that the team has been developing code that allows the robot to move faster and be more autonomous.
Boston Globe reporter Michael Farrell writes about how researchers like Professor Seth Teller are reimagining the wheelchair. For the past five years, Teller has been working on designing a, “completely robotic chair that can navigate and learn about a user’s home environment.”
The Economist describes how the Atlantic Razor clam’s digging capabilities inspired Professor Amos Winter to develop a new robot that can dig 20 centimeters into the sea floor in just 20 seconds.
The Washington Post features the new soft robotic fish developed by MIT researchers. The fish echoes the movements of a real fish and is safe for humans to work with as it is made of soft materials, writes reporter Fred Barbash.
“A team of engineers at the university's Distributed Robotics Laboratory has developed a soft robot fish, which is not only capable of taking evasive manoeuvres at remarkable speed, but is also entirely self-contained and autonomous,” writes Wired’s Nicholas Tufnell of a new soft robotic fish developed at MIT.
Boston Magazine reporter Steve Annear spotlights the new soft robotic fish developed at MIT. “The life-like machine is so realistic—in both shape and feel—that it mimics the movements of a real underwater creature to a T. In a way, it even has built-in gills to help it survive,” writes Annear.
Amina Khan highlights the new soft robotic fish developed by MIT researchers in the Los Angeles Times. Khan explains that the design of the fish takes its cues from nature, while the specially designed motors allow the fish to move at high speeds and perform sharp turns.