MIT engineers have developed a new training method to help ensure the safe operation of multiagent systems, including robots, search-and-rescue drones and self-driving cars, reports Jijo Malayil for Interesting Engineering. The new approach “doesn’t focus on rigid paths but rather enables agents to continuously map their safety margins—the boundaries within which they must stay,” writes Malayil.
Graduate students Suhan Kim and Yi-Hsuan (Nemo) Hsiao speak with Tech Briefs reporter Andrew Corselli about their work developing insect-sized robots capable of artificial pollination. “Typical drones use electromagnetic motors plus propellers. But, our system is a little different in that we are primarily using an artificial muscle,” explains Kim.
Researchers from MIT and elsewhere have develop insect-sized robots that could one day be used to help with farming practices like artificial pollination, reports Alice Rizzo for Reuters. "These type of robots will open up a very new type of use case," says graduate student Suhan Kim. "We can start thinking of using our robot, if it works well, for tools like indoor farming."
Researchers at MIT have developed an insect-like, flying robot capable of performing acrobatic maneuvers and hovering in the air for up to 15 minutes without failing, reports Alex Wilkins for New Scientist. “By having a hugely increased [flying] lifetime, we were able to work on the controller parts so that the robot can achieve precise trajectory tracking, plus aggressive maneuvers like somersaults,” says graduate student Suhan Kim.
Prof. Daron Acemoglu highlights the economic and societal implications of integrating automation in the workforce, reports Taylor Nicole Rogers for The Financial Times. “Acemoglu says that robots’ current capabilities mean that those most at risk of being displaced are in blue-collar jobs and lack college degrees, which may make it difficult for them to shift into the high-tech roles likely to be created by automation,” writes Rogers.
Prof. Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL, speaks with NBC Boston reporter Colton Bradford about her work developing a new AI system aimed at making grocery shopping easier, more personalized and more efficient. “I think there is an important synergy between what people can do and what machines can do,” says Rus. “You can think of it as machines have speed, but people have wisdom. Machines can lift heavy things, but people can reason about what to do with those heavy things.”
Using a new technique developed to examine the risks of multimodal large language models used in robots, MIT researchers were able to have a “simulated robot arm do unsafe things like knocking items off a table or throwing them by describing actions in ways that the LLM did not recognize as harmful and reject,” writes Will Knight for Wired. “With LLMs a few wrong words don’t matter as much,” explains Prof. Pulkit Agrawal. “In robotics a few wrong actions can compound and result in task failure more easily.”
Prof. Daniela Rus, director of CSAIL, and Prof. Russ Tedrake speak with the Financial Times about how advances in AI have made it possible for robots to learn new skills and perform complex tasks. “All these cool things that we only dreamed of, we can now begin to realize,” says Rus. “Now we have to make sure that what we do with all these superpowers is good.”
Researchers at MIT have developed a robot capable of assembling “building blocks called voxels to build an object with almost any shape,” reports Alex Wilkins for New Scientist. “You can get furniture-scale objects really fast in a very sustainable way, because you can reuse these modular components and ask a robot to reassemble them into different large-scale objects,” says graduate student Alexander Htet Kyaw.
Researchers at MIT have developed a new virtual training program for four-legged robots by taking “popular computer simulation software that follows the principles of real-world physics and inserting a generative AI model to produce artificial environments,” reports Jeremy Hsu for New Scientist. “Despite never being able to ‘see’ the real world during training, the robot successfully chased real-world balls and climbed over objects 88 per cent of the time after the AI-enhanced training,” writes Hsu. "When the robot relied solely on training by a human teacher, it only succeeded 15 per cent of the time.”
Researchers at MIT have developed a new model for training robots dubbed Heterogeneous Pretrained Transformers (HPT), reports Brain Heater for TechCrunch. The new model “pulls together information from different sensors and different environments,” explains Heater. “A transformer was then used to pull together the data into training models. The larger the transformer, the better the output. Users then input the robot design, configuration, and the job they want done.”
MIT researchers have developed a new training technique called Heterogeneous Pretrained Transformers (HPT) that could help make general-purpose robots more efficient and adaptable, reports Christopher Isak for TechAcute. “The main advantage of this technique is its ability to integrate data from different sources into a unified system,” explains Isak. “This approach is similar to how large language models are trained, showing proficiency across many tasks due to their extensive and varied training data. HPT enables robots to learn from a wide range of experiences and environments.”
Researchers at MIT have developed “Clio,” a new technique that “enables robots to make intuitive, task-relevant decisions,” reports Jennifer Kite-Powell for Forbes. The team’s new approach allows “a robot to quickly map a scene and identify the items they need to complete a given set of tasks,” writes Kite-Powell.
Researchers at MIT have developed a “set of wearable robotic limbs to help astronauts recover from falls,” reports Amy Gunia for CNN. “The so-called ‘SuperLimbs’ are designed to extend from a backpack containing the astronauts’ life support system,” explains Gunia. “When the wearer falls over, an extra pair of limbs can extend out to provide leverage to help them stand, conserving energy for other tasks.”
On October 8, the MIT Museum is hosting a “Techno, Art, and Music Robots talk with artist and engineer Moritz Simon Geist,” reports The Boston Globe. The talk will focus on “the intersection of music and robotics,” writes The Boston Globe.