A photorealistic simulation system enables autonomous vehicles to learn to drive in the real world and recover from near-crash scenarios.
MIT researchers look under the road to aid self-driving cars
Weather poses problems for self-driving car sensors, but ground-penetrating radar from MIT could be superior to cameras or lidar.
‘Sensorized’ skin enables soft robotic arm to feel its own way at MIT
A ‘sensorized’ soft robotic arm combines soft sensors and machine learning to know where it is in a 3D environment.
Stretchy robots get new MIT model to optimize design, controls
Because they can move in multiple dimensions, optimizing soft robots to perform complex tasks is a huge computational challenge, but a new MIT model can help
‘Learning-in-the-loop’ method optimizes control of soft robots
MIT researchers have invented a way to efficiently optimize the control and design of soft robots for target tasks, which has traditionally been a monumental undertaking in computation. Soft robots have springy, flexible, stretchy bodies that can essentially move an infinite number of ways at any given moment. Computationally, this represents a highly complex “state…
Merging at tricky intersections gets easier for self-driving cars with MIT, TRI model
MIT and Toyota researchers have developed a model to alert driverless cars when it’s safest to merge into traffic at intersections with obstructed views.
Flexible robot from MIT can ‘grow’ like a plant to reach in tight spaces
MIT researchers have designed a flexible robot whose extendable appendage can work through tight spaces and still lift heavy loads.
Bipedal robot has humanlike balance for running and jumping
Little HERMES, a bipedal robot developed by researchers at MIT and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, uses teleoperation method to improve its balance.
Omnipush dataset teaches robots how to push objects
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have compiled a dataset that captures the detailed behavior of a robotic system physically pushing hundreds of different objects. Using the dataset — the largest and most diverse of its kind — researchers can train robots to “learn” pushing dynamics that are fundamental to many complex object-manipulation tasks,…
Robotic assembly with swarms and blocks could build aircraft, space habitats
Robotic assembly of large structures, made possible with swarms of relatively simple robots and construction materials organized like building blocks, could change how aircraft and buildings are constructed, said MIT researchers.
Immune response to implants mitigated in soft robotics breakthrough
A international team of researchers said their discovery could enable devices such as pacemakers, breast implants, biosensors, and drug-delivery devices to last longer and function better.
3D printed organs get SWIFT vascularized building blocks at Wyss Institute
Sacrificial ink-writing technique developed at Harvard allows 3D printed organs to include large, vascularized building blocks.
‘Roboats’ from MIT can now autonomously change configurations
MIT researchers have added capabilities to ‘roboats,’ allowing them to form pop-up bridges, stages, and other structures.
MIT robot performs Bottle Cap Challenge
You’ve probably already seen, or even participated in, the Bottle Cap Challenge. It’s the viral challenge of the week where people try to unscrew a bottle cap with a 360-degree kick. MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) didn’t want to be left out. So it got in on the fun using its RoboRaise…
Automated system from MIT generates robotic actuators for novel tasks
When designing actuators involves too many variables for humans to test by hand, this system can step in.
Artificial muscles based on MIT fibers could make robots more responsive
New MIT system of contracting fibers could be a boon for biomedical devices and robotics.
MIT algorithm helps robots quickly find objects hidden in dense point clouds
A new MIT-developed technique enables robots to quickly identify objects hidden in a 3D cloud of data, reminiscent of how some people can make sense of a densely patterned “Magic Eye” image if they observe it in just the right way. Robots typically “see” their environment through sensors that collect and translate a visual scene…
Roboats, autonomous boats from MIT and AMS Institute, can connect for different applications
MIT and the Advanced Metropolitan Solutions Institute in Amsterdam have developed “roboats,” autonomous boats that can connect for a variety of uses. Researchers are scaling up their designs to be more stable.
MIT glove with tactile sensors builds map that could help train robot manipulation
The STAG or scalable tactile glove out of MIT helps build a tactile map that can be used to train a neural network to improve object recognition, grasping, and manipulation by robots and prostheses.
Giving robots a better feel for object manipulation
A new learning system developed by MIT researchers improves robots’ abilities to mold materials into target shapes and make predictions about interacting with solid objects and liquids. The system, known as a learning-based particle simulator, could give industrial robots a more refined touch – and it may have fun applications in personal robotics, such as…
Laundry robots could get foothold in the home for automation
Last week, attending the Our Crowd Summit, I felt engulfed by the breadth of innovation and minds gathered in Jerusalem’s International Convention Center. Jonathan Medved’s billion-dollar crowd-funding platform has launched some of Israel’s most promising mechatronic startups, including ReWalk, Intuition Robotics, Airobotics, and Argus Cyber Security. Household robotics, such as laundry robots, could yet be the next big…
MIT mini cheetah is the first four-legged robot to do a backflip
MIT’s new mini cheetah robot is springy and light on its feet, with a range of motion that rivals a champion gymnast. The four-legged power pack can bend and swing its legs wide, enabling it to walk either right-side up or upside down. The robot can also trot over uneven terrain about twice as fast…