To encourage safer driving in Boston, Mayor Martin Walsh has announced a competition that uses a smartphone app developed by MIT startup Cambridge Telematics to reward driver performance, reports Dante Ramos for The Boston Globe. The app gives motorists “star ratings if they stay off their phones; drive at reasonable speeds; and brake, accelerate, and turn carefully.”
In a Boston Globe article about sensing technologies, Kevin Hartnett highlights Vice President Sanjay Sarma’s work developing techniques to detect where energy is leaking from a building and the condition of street lights. “Many cities have poor inventories of their infrastructure and don’t know if enough light is being delivered on the ground,” says Sarma.
MIT’s Inclusive Innovation Competition honored companies for innovations aimed at improving economic opportunity, reports Deirdre Fernandes for The Boston Globe. Fernandes writes that the competition was an effort “to highlight partnerships between man and machine and drive more innovation to under-served communities.”
CSAIL researcher have created a device that uses changes in heart beat and breathing to detect emotions, writes Forbes’ Kevin Murnane. The heart of the system,” writes Murnane, “is the algorithm that extracts the heartbeat from the RF signal. It’s an impressive achievement that solves a difficult problem.”
A device created by CSAIL researchers can detect emotions by wirelessly measuring heartbeats, according to the Associated Press. The device is “87 percent accurate in using heartrate and what it’s already learned about a person to recognize joy, pleasure, sadness or anger.”
CSAIL researchers have developed a device that can determine a person’s mood using wireless signals, write Jordan Graham and Donna Goodison for The Boston Herald. “We view this work as the next step in helping develop computers that can better understand us at an emotional level,” explains Mingmin Zhao.
CSAIL researchers have developed a device that can determine emotion by analyzing reflections from wireless signals bounced off the human body, writes Mary Beth Griggs for Popular Science. “Because it can measure heart rate, it might also be a less invasive way for doctors to monitor patient's heartbeats, potentially watching for conditions like arrhythmias,” writes Griggs.
Matt McFarland writes for CNN that CSAIL researchers have developed a non-invasive device that uses radio waves to detect human emotion. "Imagine if the machines around you can understand when you are stressed or your emotional state is negative,” explains Prof. Dina Katabi."[It could] try to detect depression."
Kate Rogers of CNBC tours an apartment equipped with robotic furniture developed by Ori, a Media Lab spinoff. The system can also be synced with a smart home or office device in order to control the furniture with voice commands, explains Rogers.
Chris Bentley reports for PRI that Jakarta residents are using PetaJakarta, an open-source map founded by Etienne Turpin of the Urban Risk Lab, to find real-time flood information. “As cities like Jakarta struggle to adapt to the new normal of high water that’s coming with global warming, online tools like PetaJakarta may help them live better with what they can’t change.”
Prof. Robert Langer talks to Jessica Harris from NPR about his research on tissue engineering and drug delivery, the commercialization of his discoveries, and the many companies he has started. Langer says he started his lab based off his desire to improve people’s lives by conducting research “at the interface of chemical engineering and medicine.”
Michelle Miller reports for CBS This Morning that Rendever, an MIT startup, is developing customized virtual reality experiences for senior citizens. Miller explains that the company is working “towards a future where the physical limitations many seniors face won’t prevent them from attending, say, a granddaughter’s wedding. They’ll be able to travel virtually.”
Brian Fung writes for The Washington Post that MIT spinoff nuTonomy has launched a self-driving car service in Singapore. Following nuTonomy’s pilot program in Singapore “the company may be able to quickly transfer what it learns to other places where it's currently conducting studies, such as London and Michigan,” suggests Fung.
NuTonomy, an MIT spinoff, is testing a self-driving taxi service in Singapore, writes Jeevan Vasagar for the Financial Times. “The trial represents an extraordinary opportunity to collect feedback from riders in a real-world setting,” says MIT research scientist and NuTonomy co-founder Karl Iagnemma.
MIT spinoff Sample6 has raised $12.7 million to create a better system for detecting bacteria in food, writes Luke Timmerman for Forbes. “The company has developed a technology that can target specific bioparticles, light them up and do it without enriching the sample,” explains Timmerman.