Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University
In this episode, Lauren Klein interviews Michal Luria, a PhD candidate in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, about research that explores the boundaries of Human-Robot Interaction. Michal draws inspiration from the Medieval Times for her project to test how historical automata can inform modern robotics. She also discusses her work with cathartic objects to support emotional release.
In this episode of Robots in Depth, Per Sjöborg speaks with Federico Pecora about AI and robotics. Federico Pecora is Associate Professor in Computer Science at the Center for Applied Autonomous Sensor Systems at Örebro University, Sweden.
Image: Computer History Museum
By Adam Conner-Simons | Rachel Gordon
Fernando “Corby” Corbató, an MIT professor emeritus whose work in the 1960s on time-sharing systems broke important ground in democratizing the use of computers, died on Friday, July 12, at his home in Newburyport, Massachusetts. He was 93.
The installation Concrete Choreography presents the first robotically 3D printed concrete stage, consisting of columns fabricated without formwork and printed in full height within 2.5 hours. Robotic concrete printing allows customised fabrication of complex components that uses concrete more efficiently.
Credit: Subramanian Sundaram
By Rob Matheson
An automated system developed by MIT researchers designs and 3-D prints complex robotic parts called actuators that are optimized according to an enormous number of specifications. In short, the system does automatically what is virtually impossible for humans to do by hand.
Photo: Jason Dorfman/MIT CSAIL
By Adam Conner-Simons and Rachel Gordon
Patrick Winston, a beloved professor and computer scientist at MIT, died on July 19 at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. He was 76.
A professor at MIT for almost 50 years, Winston was director of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory from 1972 to 1997 before it merged with the Laboratory for Computer Science to become MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
In this episode of Robots in Depth, Per Sjöborg speaks with Andreas Bihlmaier about modular robotics and starting a robotics company.
In a world first, Australian Centre for Robotic Vision researchers are pushing the boundaries of evolution to create bespoke, miniaturised surgical robots, uniquely matched to individual patient anatomy.
The cutting-edge research project is the brainchild of Centre PhD researcher Andrew Razjigaev, who impressed HRH The Duke of York with the Centre’s first SnakeBot prototype designed for knee arthroscopy, last November.
Photo by Will Langford
By David L. Chandler
Years ago, MIT Professor Neil Gershenfeld had an audacious thought. Struck by the fact that all the world’s living things are built out of combinations of just 20 amino acids, he wondered: Might it be possible to create a kit of just 20 fundamental parts that could be used to assemble all of the different technological products in the world?
In this episode, join our interviewer Andrew Vaziri at Promat 2019, the largest expo for manufacturing and supply chain professionals in North and South America. Andrew interviews a handful of companies which provide warehouse fulfillment robots that can autonomous pick and place items. Our guests explain how advances in AI have made autonomous picking possible. They also talk about the unique technologies they use to stand out in a crowded field of competing products.
Pipeline inspection robot
I was on the phone recently with a large multinational corporate investor discussing the applications for robotics in the energy market. He expressed his frustration about the lack of products to inspect and repair active oil and gas pipelines, citing too many catastrophic accidents. His point was further endorsed by a Huffington Post article that reported in a twenty-year period such tragedies have led to 534 deaths, more than 2,400 injuries, and more than $7.5 billion in damages. The study concluded that an incident occurs every 30 hours across America’s vast transcontinental pipelines.
Image: Courtesy of the Personal Robots Group, MIT Media Lab
A new study demonstrates, for the first time, that “social robots” used in support sessions held in pediatric units at hospitals can lead to more positive emotions in sick children.
In this episode, Audrow Nash interviews Bilge Mutlu, Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, about design-thinking in human-robot interaction. Professor Mutlu discusses design-thinking at a high-level, how design relates to science, and he speaks about the main areas of his work: the design space, the evaluation space, and how features are used within a context. He also gives advice on how to apply a design-oriented mindset.
Racing team 2018-2019: Christophe De Wagter, Guido de Croon, Shuo Li, Phillipp Dürnay, Jiahao Lin, Simon Spronk
Autonomous drone racing
Drone racing is becoming a major e-sports. Enthusiasts – and now also professionals – transform drones into seriously fast racing platforms. Expert drone racers can reach speeds up to 190 km/h. They fly by looking at a first-person view (FPV) of their drone, which has a camera transmitting images mounted on the front.
iRobot Corp. announced its acquisition of Root Robotics, Inc., whose educational Root coding robot got its start as a summer research project at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering in 2011 and subsequently developed into a robust learning tool that is being used in over 500 schools to teach children between the ages of four and twelve how to code in an engaging, intuitive way. iRobot plans to incorporate the Root robot into its growing portfolio of educational robot products, and continue the work of scaling up production and expanding Root’s programming content that began when Root Robotics was founded by former Wyss Institute members in 2017.
