MIT researchers are studying the possibility of developing autonomous boats and floating vessels, writes Stephanie Mlot in a Fox News article. The research, which is being conducted in collaboration with the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, “aims to serve as an inspiration for urban areas around the globe.”
Researchers from MIT and the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions are exploring the possibility of self-driving boats. “Imagine a fleet of autonomous boats for the transportation of goods and people,” says Prof. Carlo Ratti. “Also think of dynamic and temporary floating infrastructure like on-demand bridges and stages.”
In a Huffington Post video, Prof. Daniela Rus explains that the ingestible origami robot her team developed could enable incisionless surgery. “What we have developed so far is a proof of concept that shows that you could have tetherless machines that can do active and important functions inside the body,” she explains.
CSAIL Director Daniela Rus speaks with Peter High of Forbes about the lab’s research, history and mission. Rus notes that CSAIL researchers are focused on "inventing the future of computing. We want to use computer science to tackle major challenges in fields like healthcare and education.”
Emma Grey Ellis writes for Wired that MIT researchers are aiming to get a better grasp on public health in cities around the world by analyzing the microbes in sewage systems using a robot dubbed Luigi. Wilson explains that sewage “carries drug metabolites, DNA, even biomarkers for diabetes—and all that data is available in real time.”
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.
Gabrielle DiBenedetto writes for Boston Magazine that researchers from MIT CSAIL have developed a robot that can help nurses schedule tasks. DiBenedetto writes that the robot “learns how to perform the scheduling job similarly to how a human would: through observation.”
Olga Kharif from Bloomberg Businessweek provides an overview of the origami robot created by Prof. Daniela Rus and her team. “Squeezed into a pill, this robot unfolds like an origami after it’s swallowed. It can be guided with a tiny magnet to remove a foreign object from the stomach or treat a wound by administering medication,” explains Kharif.
ABC News visits Prof. Hugh Herr’s lab to explore his work developing bionic limbs aimed at augmenting human capabilities and ending “profound human suffering caused by disability.” Herr says he “always had the dream of developing exoskeletal structures that would enable anyone to walk with less energy, run with less energy, move faster with complete ease.”
CSAIL researchers trained a robot to analyze and make scheduling suggestions in a hospital labor ward, writes Kelsey Atherton for Popular Science. Atherton writes that “by adding in a robot that can analyze scheduling needs, hospitals could make better informed decisions.”
Hae Young Yoo writes for The Boston Globe that Ori, a spinoff out of the MIT Media Lab’s CityHome research project, “is creating furniture for urban spaces -- not just smaller pieces, but smarter ones, equipped with robotics that move on demand.”
Wired reporter Margaret Rhodes writes that Media Lab spinoff Ori is developing transformable furniture to help maximize living spaces. “With the push of a button—or, with future versions of the software, at the sound of a voice or wave of a hand—pieces of Ori furniture will slide up, down, or over, reconfiguring spaces in mere moments.”
CNN reporter Sara Ashley O’Brien writes that CSAIL researchers have demonstrated that a robot could help schedule tasks in a hospital’s labor and delivery unit. The researchers trained a robot to understand a nurse’s scheduling decisions and “90% of the time the Nao robot made suggestions that doctors and nurses carried out.”
In this SINC article (published in Spanish), Federico Kukso spotlights Prof. Alberto Rodriguez’s work developing robotic hands in an effort to provide robots with a better way to interact with the world. Rodriguez says that he was inspired to pursue a career in robotics as he wanted to do “something that had a real impact on the world."
Graduate student Jamison Go, who was inspired to become an engineer by watching the show “BattleBots,” is now part of one of four MIT teams competing on the program, writes Jordan Graham for The Boston Herald. “It feels like I’m completing a cycle. To compete on a show which initially inspired me to become an engineer is amazing,” says Go.