WCVB reporter Mike Wankum visits Embr Labs, an MIT spinoff that has developed a wristband that can make wearers feel warmer or colder. Wankum explains that after a few minutes of wearing the wristband, “you feel more comfortable. Much like holding a warm cup of coffee to take the chill off a winter morning.”
Reporting for the PBS NewsHour, Nsikan Akpan spotlights Prof. Kripa Varanasi’s work developing the non-stick coating technology LiquiGlide. Akpan also examines how Varanasi’s group is studying how to, “stop clogs at desalination water facilities by observing how saltwater evaporates, or they’re keeping water from condensing on steam turbines to improve energy efficiency at power plants.”
The Boston Globe Magazine highlights two MIT spinoffs in a list spotlighting 19 bold new ideas and fresh faces from 2017. Startup Ministry of Supply, which creates custom apparel using high-tech design, has made “getting a great-fitting blazer...a seamless experience,” while another startup, Biobot, has begun analyzing sewer waste to determine which communities are most affected by opioids.
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.
Wired reporter Lauren Smiley speaks with a number of MIT experts about the growing use of technology as a home health care aid for the elderly. “I would always prefer the human touch over a robot,” explains Joseph Coughlin, director of the AgeLab. “But if there’s no human available, I would take high tech in lieu of high touch.”
MIT spinout Ginkgo Bioworks has not only maintained its founding members, but also recently raised $275 million from investors, writes Matthew Herper for Forbes. Herper predicts that excitement surrounding synthetic biology companies will continue because “private money is getting excited about the idea of designing biology.”
CBS Boston spotlights how Portal Instruments, an MIT startup, is bringing a needle-free injector to the market, which could change the way people take medicine. The device, “fires a pressurized spray to penetrate the skin, instead of piercing the skin with traditional needles.”
Washington Post reporter Audrey Hoffer writes about Ori, the flexible robotic furniture system developed by MIT researchers. “We want to change the paradigm to living large in a small footprint. People think square footage and functionality are linearly related, but that’s the old paradigm,” says MIT alumnus and founder Hasier Larrea.
Zeninjor Enwemeka writes for WBUR about two MIT spinoffs, nuTonomy and Optimus Ride, that are conducting autonomous vehicle research in Massachusetts. A recent passenger trial by nuTonomy in Boston, “is perhaps a promising move for companies hoping to bring self-driving vehicles to the state,” writes Enwemeka.
Frederick Daso of Forbes highlights MIT alumnus Ryan Robinson, whose startup aims to share unused computational capacity with others who need to perform intensive calculations. This technology will one day “help companies afford cheap, distributed computational power via quantum computing, and allow individuals to make money by loaning out their spare processing power and mining for cryptocurrency,” writes Daso.
Rebecca Flint Marx of Wired writes about the ways automated technology is being used in the food industry. Highlighting Spyce Kitchen, which was developed by MIT students, Flint Marx writes, “at Spyce Kitchen, the robot chef needs less than five minutes to cook meals such as jambalaya or chickpea coconut curry.”
MIT spinoff Optimus Ride will be bringing autonomous vehicles to a new development in South Weymouth, reports Adam Vaccaro for The Boston Globe. The company is currently running tests in the streets, “but it expects to haul passengers around the development site as part of a pilot program at some point in 2018,” writes Vaccaro.
Prof. Timothy Lu speaks with STAT reporter Eric Boodman about his work trying to harness bacteria to treat disease. Lu notes that his lab is also currently working on, “building these genetic circuits for therapeutic applications, but instead of targeting bacteria, we’ve been focused on using human cells.”
In a WBUR segment about how technology is increasingly being used to assist seniors and caregivers, Rachel Zimmerman highlights Rendever, an MIT spinout, and speaks with Prof. Paul Osterman, Prof. Dina Katabi and Dr. Joseph Coughlin about their work. Zimmerman explains that Coughlin believes “a mix of smart devices and other personal services,” will help people age well.
In an article for HuffPost, Erandi Palihakkara highlights MIT’s Inclusive Innovation Challenge, which aims to recognize “organizations (both for profit and non-profit) that are committed to inclusion of technological innovations for economic prosperity of base and middle income earners.”