Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, in conjunction with industry partner Sentient Science, are making the discovery and design of new materials — a notoriously time-consuming and costly process — significantly easier through the development of an artificial intelligence-based computer modeling framework. The research was awarded $150,000 through the DOE’s…
Ironhand wins NASA Commercial Invention of the Year award
Establishing a sustainable presence on the Moon, preparing for crewed missions to Mars, exploring the cosmos, and innovating how society travels by air requires new technologies and software. Each year, through its Inventions and Contributions Board, NASA recognizes the efforts of its engineers, software developers and collaborative partners by awarding Invention of the Year and…
“Alexa, go to the kitchen and fetch me a snack”
By Jennifer Chu Wouldn’t we all appreciate a little help around the house, especially if that help came in the form of a smart, adaptable, uncomplaining robot? Sure, there are the one-trick Roombas of the appliance world. But MIT engineers are envisioning robots more like home helpers, able to follow high-level, Alexa-type commands, such as…
Quantum technology startup Q-CTRL announces global R&D partnership with Advanced Navigation
Q-CTRL, a startup that applies the principles of control engineering to accelerate the development of quantum technology, today announced a global research and technology development partnership with Advanced Navigation, a leader in AI-based navigational hardware. Q-CTRL and Advanced Navigation entered the partnership in early 2020 in support of their collaborative research and development in quantum-enabled sensing. The two…
Rice shares grant for AI-driven COVID-19 research
By Heather Ferreyra Rice University’s Brown School of Engineering computer scientist Todd Treangen has received a C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute Award for computational biology research applying artificial intelligence (AI) models to COVID-19 mitigation. Treangen is developing novel bioinformatics algorithms and driving comparative genomic analyses to determine how SARS-CoV-2 is changing over time. C3.ai is a…
Engineers put tens of thousands of artificial brain synapses on a single chip
Written by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office MIT engineers have designed a “brain-on-a-chip,” smaller than a piece of confetti, that is made from tens of thousands of artificial brain synapses known as memristors — silicon-based components that mimic the information-transmitting synapses in the human brain. The researchers borrowed from principles of metallurgy to fabricate each…
Smart farms of the future: Making bioenergy crops more environmentally friendly
By Julie Chao Farmers have enough worries – between bad weather, rising costs, and shifting market demands – without having to stress about the carbon footprint of their operations. But now a new set of projects by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) could make agriculture both more sustainable and more profitable.…
Biorelate offers free access to AI-based drug discovery tool: Galactic
Biorelate, a UK-based AI start up, is offering all researchers free use of Galactic, its cloud-based web tool, to support biomedical research while lab access is restricted around the world. Systematically analyzing the data available on targets, drugs and disease mechanisms from data repositories and academic papers takes researchers over a year on average. The…
Enabling highways and bridges to prevent their own damage
By Kayla Wiles Roads always seem to need repairs. Luna Lu is giving concrete the ability to “talk” and even heal itself. Her lab at Purdue University is developing technology that would allow concrete-paved bridges and highways to reveal more accurately when they need repairs and to come equipped with materials that respond to potential…
Reducing the carbon footprint of artificial intelligence
Written by Rob Matheson, MIT News Office Artificial intelligence has become a focus of certain ethical concerns, but it also has some major sustainability issues. Last June, researchers at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst released a startling report estimating that the amount of power required for training and searching a certain neural network architecture…
Digital Science partners with Zhipu.AI to conduct data challenges and build COVID-19 information portal
Digital Science, a technology company serving emergent needs across the research sector, is pleased to announce a partnership with Beijing-based technology company Zhipu.AI to conduct data challenges and collaborate in building a COVID-19 information portal. Zhipu.AI, a spin-out from Tsinghua University, aims to build an advanced artificial intelligence engine that can support and empower the…
Why and how researchers can benefit from eye tracking in virtual reality
By Ville Leppälä Virtual reality and eye tracking have been used in research for decades but until recently, the research community hasn’t been able to fully benefit from merging the two technologies. As a result of continued improvements in VR hardware and the underlying technologies that deliver a positive user experience, researchers are now able…
Free content on AI in Medicine
Access the Springer Nature virtual issue Over the years the role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in medicine has become increasingly important. A growing number of disciplines and branches of medicine are using AI in some capacity or other, they include radiology, genomics, oncology and cardiology, to name a few. AI assists researchers to solve complex…
Identify, track, capture
Sandia National Laboratories robotics experts are working on a way to intercept enemy unmanned aircraft systems midflight. They successfully tested their concept indoors with a swarm of four unmanned aircraft systems that flew in unison, each carrying one corner of a net. Acting as a team, they intercepted the flying target, trapped it in air…
Applied AI technology makes its mark on national suicide monitoring system
A joint project between Monash University and Eastern Health’s Turning Point, are using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to streamline the coding of national suicide-related ambulance data to help paramedics respond more effectively and ultimately prevent potential suicide rates. Ambulances are often the first point of contact in a crisis, making ambulance clinical records a unique data…
How to invest for a decade of technological change in biopharma
Predicting the future is hard – predicting the future of technology is even harder. In the last 10 years, everything from entertainment to travel has been upended by the likes of Airbnb, Spotify, and Instagram – none of which even existed a decade ago – while Netflix was still delivering DVDs by mail. Now, as…
“Sensorized” skin helps soft robots find their bearings
For the first time, MIT researchers have enabled a soft robotic arm to understand its configuration in 3D space, by leveraging only motion and position data from its own “sensorized” skin. Soft robots constructed from highly compliant materials, similar to those found in living organisms, are being championed as safer, and more adaptable, resilient, and…
Deep learning accurately forecasts heat waves, cold spells
Rice University engineers have created a deep learning computer system that taught itself to accurately predict extreme weather events, like heat waves, up to five days in advance using minimal information about current weather conditions. Ironically, Rice’s self-learning “capsule neural network” uses an analog method of weather forecasting that computers made obsolete in the 1950s.…
Using artificial intelligence to enrich digital maps
A model invented by researchers at MIT and Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) that uses satellite imagery to tag road features in digital maps could help improve GPS navigation. Showing drivers more details about their routes can often help them navigate in unfamiliar locations. Lane counts, for instance, can enable a GPS system to warn…
New AI model tries to synthesize patient data like doctors do
Artificial intelligence will never replace a doctor. However, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have taken a big step toward the day when AI can help physicians predict medical events. A new approach developed by PNNL scientists improves the accuracy of patient diagnosis up to 20 percent when compared to other…
Chameleon’s tongue strike inspires fast-acting robots that catch live insects in the blink of an eye
Chameleons, salamanders and many toads use stored elastic energy to launch their sticky tongues at unsuspecting insects located up to one-and-a-half body lengths away, catching them within a tenth of a second. Ramses Martinez, an assistant professor in Purdue’s School of Industrial Engineering and in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering in Purdue University’s College…
Watch your ghost teach a robot how to tag-team
When Tesla failed to hit weekly production targets in the first quarter of 2018, chief executive Elon Musk blamed it on “excessive automation.” The robots were slowing things down and “underrated” humans could do better. Musk resorted to pulling all-nighters and sleeping at the factory so that customer deliveries wouldn’t be further delayed. For those…
New Framework Makes AI Systems More Transparent Without Sacrificing Performance
Researchers are proposing a framework that would allow users to understand the rationale behind artificial intelligence (AI) decisions. The work is significant, given the push to move away from “black box” AI systems – particularly in sectors, such as military and law enforcement, where there is a need to justify decisions. “One thing that sets…
