This month scientists published rare footage of one of the Arctic’s most elusive sharks. The findings demonstrate that, even with many technological advances in recent years, it remains a challenging task to document marine life up close. But MIT computer scientists believe they have a possible solution: using robots. In a paper out today, a […]
Brain-Controlled Robots: CSAIL System Enables People to Correct Robot Mistakes Using Brain Signals
For robots to do what we want, they need to understand us. Too often, this means having to meet them halfway: teaching them the intricacies of human language, for example, or giving them explicit commands for very specific tasks. But what if we could develop robots that were a more natural extension of us and […]
Self-Driving Cars, Meet Rubber Duckies
MIT has offered courses on everything from pirate training to “street-fighting math,” but a new robotics class is truly one for the birds. This spring, a hands-on course housed at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) took students on a trip to “Duckietown.” The class’ goal was to create a fleet of 50 duckie-adorned self-driving […]
Robots Collaborate to Deliver Meds, Supplies & Even Drinks
If companies like Amazon and Google have their way, soon enough we will have robots air-dropping supplies from the sky. But is our software where it needs to be to move and deliver goods in the real world? This question has been explored for many years by researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence […]
Robot Garden Makes Coding More Accessible
Here’s one way to get kids excited about programming: a “robot garden” with dozens of fast-changing LED lights and more than 100 origami robots that can crawl, swim, and blossom like flowers. A team from MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) and the Department of Mechanical Engineering have developed a tablet-operated system that […]
MIT, British Students Face Off in Cybersecurity Competition
As part of a series of cybersecurity initiatives made public today during British Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit with President Barack Obama, the two nations announced that MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) will face off against the University of Cambridge this fall for a special student hackathon dubbed “Cambridge v. Cambridge.” The […]
Can You Out-Race a Computer?
Human beings have a remarkable ability to make inferences based on their surroundings. Is this area safe? Where might I find a parking spot? Am I more likely to get to a gas station by taking a left or a right at this stoplight? Such decisions require us to look beyond our “visual scene” and […]