Artificial Intelligence
Automated “time machine” reconstructs ancient languages
February 12, 2013 1:10 pm | by Yasmin Anwar, UC Berkeley | News | Comments
Ancient languages hold a treasure trove of information about the culture, politics and commerce of millennia past. Yet, reconstructing them to reveal clues into human history can require decades of painstaking work. Now, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have created an automated “time machine,” of sorts, that will greatly accelerate and improve the process of reconstructing hundreds of ancestral languages.
Technique finds software bugs in surgical robots
April 9, 2013 5:08 am | News | Comments
Surgical robots could make some types of surgery safer and more effective, but proving...
Swarming robots could be the servants of the future
April 3, 2013 10:56 am | News | Comments
Researchers in the U.K. have been working to program a group of 40 robots to carry out...
Memristor that “learns” provides blueprint for artificial brain
February 27, 2013 11:41 am | News | Comments
Memristors are made of fine nanolayers and can be used to connect electric circuits and for...
Software spots, isolates cyberattacks to protect networked control systems
May 14, 2013 11:06 am | News | CommentsResearchers from North Carolina State University have developed a software algorithm that detects and isolates cyberattacks on networked control systems—which are used to coordinate transportation, power, and other infrastructure across the United States.
New research could let vehicles, robots collaborate with humans
May 3, 2013 7:39 am | by Helen Knight, MIT News correspondent | News | CommentsYou get into your car and ask it to get you home in time for the start of the big game, stopping off at your favorite Chinese restaurant on the way for takeout. But the car informs you that the road past the Chinese restaurant is closed for repairs, and you will have to choose a different place. You select a nearby Korean restaurant from the options the car suggests. Autonomous devices could soon collaborate with humans in this way.
Robots able to reach through clutter with whole-arm tactile sensing
April 30, 2013 9:57 am | News | CommentsWhether reaching for a book out of a cluttered cabinet or pruning a bush in the backyard, a person’s arm frequently makes contact with objects during everyday tasks. Animals do it too, when foraging for food, for example. Much in the same way, robots are now able to intelligently maneuver within clutter, gently making contact with objects while accomplishing a task. This new control method has wide applications.
Knowing the unknown
March 27, 2013 7:34 am | by Helen Knight, MIT News correspondent | News | CommentsRobot butlers that tidy your house or cook you a meal have long been the dream of science-fiction writers and artificial intelligence researchers alike. But if robots are ever going to move effectively around our constantly changing homes or workspaces performing such complex tasks, they will need to be more aware of their own limitations, according to researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Robot meets world
March 22, 2013 7:54 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsWhen a robot is moving one of its limbs through free space, its behavior is well described by a few simple equations. But as soon as it strikes something solid, those equations break down. Roboticists typically use ad hoc control strategies to negotiate collisions and then revert to their rigorous mathematical models when the robot begins to move again. Researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology are hoping to change that, with a new mathematical framework that unifies the analysis of both collisions and movement through free space.
Computer system predicts NCAA basketball champion
March 21, 2013 8:03 am | News | CommentsWhen Georgia Tech opens the doors to the Georgia Dome next month as the host institution for the 2013 Final Four, expect third-seeded Florida to walk out as the national champion. That's the prediction from Georgia Tech's Logistic Regression/Markov Chain (LRMC) college basketball ranking system, a computerized model that has chosen the men's basketball national champ in three of the last five years.
Teaching robots lateral thinking
February 25, 2013 9:12 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMany commercial robotic arms perform what roboticists call "pick-and-place" tasks: The arm picks up an object in one location and places it in another. Usually, the objects are positioned so that the arm can easily grasp them; the appendage that does the grasping may even be tailored to the objects' shape. General-purpose household robots, however, would have to be able to manipulate objects of any shape, left in any location. And today, commercially available robots don't have anything like the dexterity of the human hand. Until now.
Artificial intelligence helps sort used batteries
December 19, 2012 12:07 pm | News | CommentsResearch at the University of Gothenburg and Chalmers University of Technology has resulted in a new type of machine that sorts used batteries by means of artificial intelligence (AI). One machine is now being used in the U.K., sorting one-third of the country's recycled batteries.
A leap forward in brain-controlled computer cursors
November 19, 2012 9:00 am | News | CommentsStanford University researchers have designed the fastest, most accurate algorithm yet for brain-implantable prosthetic systems that can help disabled people maneuver computer cursors with their thoughts. The algorithm's speed, accuracy, and natural movement approach those of a real arm, doubling performance of existing algorithms.
Researchers help make Sudoku puzzles less puzzling
October 11, 2012 4:54 pm | News | CommentsFor anyone who has ever struggled while attempting to solve a Sudoku puzzle, University of Notre Dame researchers are riding to the rescue. They can not only explain why some Sudoku puzzles are harder than others, they have also developed a mathematical algorithm that solves Sudoku puzzles very quickly, without any guessing or backtracking.
Artificially intelligent game bots pass the Turing test
September 28, 2012 10:15 am | News | CommentsOne hundred years after the birth of mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing, whose “Turing test” stands as one of the foundational definitions of what constitutes true machine intelligence, a virtual “gamer” created by computer scientists at The University of Texas at Austin has won the annual BotPrize by convincing a panel of judges that their software-based robot was more human-like than half the humans it competed against.
New 'ATM' takes old phones and gives back green
September 17, 2012 10:09 am | News | CommentsDeveloped by a company in San Diego, a new automated system that lets consumers trade in cell phones and mobile devices for reimbursement or recycling relies artificial intelliigence and sophisticated machine vision diagnostics. The building blocks for the ecoATM have existed for many years, but none, until now, have been applied to the particular problem of consumer recycling.
Deciphering the language of transcription factors
September 11, 2012 3:25 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA new, Massachusetts Institute of Technology-developed analytical method identifies the precise binding sites of transcription factors—proteins that regulate the production of other proteins—with 10 times the accuracy of its predecessors.
Emotion detector developed using a genetic algorithm
September 10, 2012 9:00 am | News | CommentsResearchers in Malaysia have developed a system that allows a computer to “read lips”. The invention involves a genetic algorithm that gets better and better with each iteration to match irregular ellipse fitting equations to the shape of the human mouth displaying different emotions. The system could improve the way we interact with computers and perhaps allow disabled people to use communications devices more effectively.
Mapping neurological disease
September 5, 2012 4:36 am | by Helen Knight, MIT News correspondent | News | CommentsDisorders such as schizophrenia can originate in certain regions of the brain and then spread out to affect connected areas. Identifying these regions of the brain, and how they affect the other areas they communicate with, would allow drug companies to develop better treatments and could ultimately help doctors make a diagnosis. But interpreting the vast amount of data produced by brain scans to identify these connecting regions has so far proved impossible, until now.
Making Web applications more efficient
September 4, 2012 3:54 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMost major Websites maintain huge databases. Almost any transaction on a shopping site, travel site, or social networking site require multiple database queries, which can slow response time. Now, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a system that automatically streamlines Websites' database access patterns, making the sites up to three times as fast.
Artificial intelligence helps detect subtle differences in mutant worms
August 20, 2012 4:35 am | News | CommentsResearch into the genetic factors behind certain disease mechanisms, illness progression, and response to new drugs is frequently carried out using tiny multicellular animals such as nematodes. Often progress relies on the microscopic visual examination of many individual animals to detect mutants worthy of further study. Now, scientists have demonstrated an automated system that uses artificial intelligence and image processing to examine large numbers of individual Caenorhabditis elegans .
Georgia Tech advances potential commercial space flight system
August 15, 2012 3:32 am | News | CommentsLast spring private industry successfully sent a spacecraft carrying cargo to the International Space Station. Now the race is on to see which company will be the first to make commercial human spaceflight a reality. Sierra Nevada Corporation will receive hundreds of millions of dollars to further develop its commercial human spacecraft system, NASA announced earlier this month; and they are now turning to Georgia Tech for help.
Engineers are designing, building mechanical ray
July 24, 2012 5:26 am | News | CommentsBatoid rays, such as stingrays and manta rays, are among nature's most elegant swimmers. They are fast, highly maneuverable, graceful, energy efficient, can cruise, bird-like, for long distances in the deep, open ocean, and rest on the sea bottom. A team from the University of Virginia and other universities is trying to emulate the seemingly effortless, but powerful, swimming motions of rays by engineering their own ray-like machine modeled on nature.
Autonomous robot maps ship hulls for mines
July 17, 2012 3:51 am | by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMassachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have designed algorithms that vastly improve robots' navigation and feature-detecting capabilities. Using the group's algorithms, robots are able to swim around a ship's hull and view complex structures such as propellers and shafts. The goal is to achieve a resolution fine enough to detect a 10-cm mine attached to the side of a ship.
Engineers develop an intelligent co-pilot for cars
July 13, 2012 4:10 am | by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office | News | CommentsMassachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a new semiautonomous safety system to keep drivers safe. The system uses an onboard camera and laser rangefinder to identify hazards in vehicle's environment. An algorithm then analyzes the data obtained and identifies safe zones. The system allows a driver to control the vehicle, only taking the wheel when the drive is about to exit a safe zone.
Searching genomic data faster
July 10, 2012 12:44 pm | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsBiologists' capacity for generating genomic data is increasing more rapidly than computer power. A team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University researchers have developed a new algorithm that reduces the time it takes to find a particular gene sequence in a database of genomes.
Smart headlight system will allow drivers to see through the rain
July 9, 2012 12:19 pm | News | CommentsDrivers can struggle to see when driving at night in a rainstorm or snowstorm, but a smart headlight system invented by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute can improve visibility by constantly redirecting light to shine between particles of precipitation. The system, demonstrated in laboratory tests, prevents the distracting and sometimes dangerous glare that occurs when headlight beams are reflected by precipitation back toward the driver.
Computer science tackles 30-year-old economics problem
June 25, 2012 5:44 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsNobel winner Roger Myerson's work on single-item auctions was groundbreaking research, but his question regarding the best way to organize an auction in which bidders are competing for multiple items has remained unanswered for decades. Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed an algorithm to generalize this problem.
Researchers advance biometric security
June 21, 2012 11:11 am | News | CommentsResearchers in the Biometric Technologies Laboratory at the University of Calgary have developed a way for security systems to combine different biometric measurements—such as eye color, face shape, or fingerprints—and create a learning system that simulates the brain in making decisions about information from different sources.
