CSAIL researchers have developed a system that allows robots to teach one another learned skills, reports Grace Williams for FOX News. Williams explains that the system, “gives non-coders the ability to teach robots various tasks using information about manipulating objects in a single demonstration. These skills can then be passed along to other robots that move in different ways.”
Boston Globe reporter Steve Annear writes that a replica “Star Wars” X-wing Starfighter made an appearance in Lobby 7 on Monday. The replica was originally created for the annual 2.007 robot competition, during which students navigate robots that they designed and built themselves through a “Star Wars”-themed course.
New Scientist reporter Timothy Revell writes that a new study by Prof. Iyad Rahwan shows that automation will have a larger impact on jobs in smaller cities. Rahwan and his colleagues found that “towns and small cities have a smaller proportion of jobs that will be resilient to automation than larger urban centers.”
Ben Guarino of The Washington Post revisits research by Profs. Annette Hosoi and Amos Winter examining how razor claims burrow through sand. Hosoi and Winter developed a device that “mimics the razor clam's digging ability, allowing an object to secure itself to the sea floor,” and could be used to anchor underwater autonomous vehicles or deposit undersea cables.
Researchers at CSAIL have developed a new system to train robots called C-LEARN, which imbues “a robot with a knowledge base of simple steps that it can intelligently apply when learning a new task,” writes Matthew Hutson for Science.
Anthony Cuthbertson of Newsweek reports that PhD student Claudia Pérez D’Arpino has developed a system that allows robots to learn a skill and teach it to another robot. Armed with knowledge of how to perform a task, a 3-D interface demonstrates the tasks “allowing [the robot] to understand the motions it is being taught in the real world,” explains Cuthbertson.
This CNN video highlights a new system developed by CSAIL researchers that allows noncoders to teach robots to perform a task after a single demonstration. The new programming method also enables robots to learn from other robots, which could enable “a variety of robots to perform similar tasks.”
Wired reporter Matt Simon writes that CSAIL researchers have developed a new system that allows noncoders to be able to teach robots a wide range of tasks, and enables robots to transfer new skills to other robots. Simon notes that the development is a “glimpse into a future where, more and more, robots communicate without humans at all.”
Metro reporter Kristin Toussaint interviewed students in Course 2.007 as they tested robots they designed and built for the class’ annual robotics competition, which featured a “Star Wars” theme this year. “Every year we get crazy, cool, creative insights that the students come up with and awesome robots they build that we would have never anticipated,” explains Prof. Amos Winter.
CNN reporter Kaya Yurieff writes that MIT researchers have developed a robotic system that can 3-D print a building. Yurieff explains that the researchers, “want to deploy their system in remote regions, such as in the developing world or in disaster relief areas, for example after a major earthquake, to provide shelter quickly.”
In an article for Scientific American about the future of robotics, Prof. Emeritus Rodney Brooks highlights Prof. Dina Katabi’s work developing devices that use wireless signals to detect a person’s emotions.
Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at MIT, discusses the effects of automated labor and the role of higher education with Steve Kolowich of The Chronicle of Higher Education. “We need an educational system now that excels at producing people to do the things that computers can’t do,” explains McAfee.
MIT researchers have developed a robotic system that can 3-D print the basic structure of a building, writes Amina Khan for the Los Angeles Times. Khan explains that 3-D printing buildings, “has a number of advantages, many of which allow the robot to design and build more in the way that living systems in nature do.”
MIT researchers have developed a robotic 3-D printer that can construct a building, reports TechCrunch’s Brian Heater. “Our future vision for this project is to have self-sufficient robotic systems,” explains alumnus Steven Keating. “Just like a tree gathers its own energy, our platform is being developed toward the design goal of being able to gather its own energy.”
MIT researchers have developed a new robotic system that can 3-D print the basic structure of a building, writes Michelle Starr for CBS News. Starr explains that the system is “free moving, can be customized to print on any suitable surface and is intended to be self-sufficient.”