Using sound waves manipulated by a Super Nintendo controller, CSAIL’s “SoFi” robotic fish “may provide biologists a fish’s-eye view of animal interactions in changing marine ecosystems,” writes JoAnna Klein for The New York Times. SoFi is fairly inexpensive and hardly disturbs surrounding marine life, making it a promising solution for underwater observation.
Mashable highlights the robotic system, developed by researchers at MIT and Princeton, that can pick up, recognize, and place assorted objects. The researchers created an algorithm that allows the crane to “grab and sort objects (such as medicine bottles) into bins making it a potential timesaver for medical experts.”
A robotic carpenter developed by CSAIL is pre-cutting wood for flat-pack furniture, making assembly safer and more efficient. Called AutoSaw, the idea “was not to replace human carpenters but to allow them to focus on more important tasks such as design,” writes Dave Lee for the BBC.
David Grossman of Popular Mechanics writes about AutoSaw, a system developed by CSAIL researchers that assists in custom build carpentry projects. The system is designed “to split the difference between machine-built quality and unique customization” and requires human assembly after the pieces are cut, explains Grossman.
Autosaw, the robotic carpenter developed by researchers from CSAIL, can cut pieces for furniture building, as long as you provide the raw materials. “It’ll cut pieces to shape, drill the necessary holes and even move them around the workshop for you,” writes Thomas Tamblyn for Huff Post.
Using a modified Roomba vacuum, CSAIL researchers are able to autonomously cut pieces of wood for assembling furniture, writes Leah Crane for New Scientist. “Two lifting robots pick up a piece of wood, bring it over to a chop saw, and hold it in place while the saw cuts it to size,” Crane explains.
Researchers in CSAIL are developing a steering program for drones that allows them to process uncertainty and avoid hitting objects while flying autonomously. Called Nanomap, the drone uses depth measurements to determine the safest path. “This technique creates an on the fly map that lets the drone handle uncertainty as opposed to being ready in every situation,” writes John Biggs for TechCrunch.
CSAIL researchers have developed a new navigation method that allows drones to process less data, have faster reaction times, and dodge obstacles without creating a map of the environment they’re in, writes James Vincent of The Verge. “Because we’re not taking hundreds of measurements and fusing them together, it’s really fast,” said graduate student Peter Florence.
A drone navigation system developed by CSAIL researchers doesn’t rely on intricate maps that show the location of obstacles, but adjusts for uncertainties, reports Martin Finucane of The Boston Globe. The system could be used in “in fields from search-and-rescue and defense to package delivery,” notes Finucane.
Mike Wankum of WCVB visits MIT to learn more about spinoff Pipeguard Robotics, which has developed a robot that can help detect leaky pipes before they burst. The robot can spot tiny holes within two feet of a leak while current systems, “can only find major leaks within a few hundred feet of a cracked line,” says Wankum.
Reuters Video visits MIT to learn more about how researchers have developed a new robot, dubbed Jackal, which can navigate pedestrian traffic. Graduate student Michael Everett explains that the robot was designed to operate, “just like people do, so [it] fits in with the flow of traffic.”
In an article published by The Wall Street Journal about the future of programmable materials, Kelly and Zach Weinersmith highlight Prof. Daniela Rus’ work developing “origami bots that can shape themselves into tools to perform medical procedures or deliver drugs inside the body.”
Principal Research Scientist Andrew McAfee addresses problems with job growth in the U.S. and the belief that robots will take jobs from humans on WBUR’s Radio Boston. “The problem that we’re facing in this country is not that we stopped creating jobs,” McAfee says. “We’re creating more lower-middle class jobs that are less well paid, more precarious.”
Prof. Daniela Rus talks to Gareth Mitchell of BBC’s Click about how she and her colleagues have developed shape-shifting robots that can change their exoskeletons to perform different tasks. “These types of robots could become superheroes for the robot kingdom,” explains Rus. “A robot could amplify all of its capabilities by taking on these different types of clothes.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a new shape-shifting robot that can change outfits in order to perform different tasks, reports Timothy Revell for New Scientist. “In the future, we imagine robots like this could become mini surgeons, squished into a pill that you swallow,” explains Prof. Daniela Rus.