Planning system ensures a robot’s flight path will remain collision-free
Uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) could fly deep into the heart of a raging wildfire, avoiding sudden flare-ups and dodging falling tree branches to gather critical information for rescuers. But in this...
View ArticleComputational tools for society’s most complex challenges
As far back as she can remember, Cathy Wu ’12, MNG ’13 wanted to find ways to solve problems to improve people’s lives. Her parents were Taiwanese immigrants, and her father had a long commute to his...
View ArticlePowered by muscle cells, a paper-thin robot swims through watery maze
Swimming can take a lot of muscle. But as MIT engineers have found, even a single layer of muscle cells can power through water if designed right. In a paper appearing today in the journal Advanced...
View ArticleRobotic lab sets up and runs optics experiments on demand
Every new generation of phone display, television screen, and solar panel is a result of precision optics experiments, which use lasers and other light sources to measure the optical properties of...
View ArticleNew method enables AI for safety-critical situations
MIT researchers have developed a new technique that helps generative artificial intelligence models find solutions to high-stakes problems.In these settings, a plausible answer is not enough: The...
View ArticleMIT spinout turns plastic waste into resilient building materials
The world needs more homes. The world also has too much plastic. Perhaps the only thing those two problems have in common is that they’re hard to solve.Atlas Building Composites, a spinout of MIT, is...
View ArticleResearchers tune into Arctic under-ice sounds and test through-ice communication
Beneath the Arctic Ocean is an orchestra featuring natural and human composers, from cracking sea ice and whistling beluga whales to humming shipping-vessel engines. Researchers from MIT Lincoln...
View ArticleSystem helps humans predict when self-driving cars will make mistakes
Self-driving cars are often controlled by deep learning models that sometimes fail in unexpected situations. For instance, the car might inexplicably brake and block the path of an oncoming emergency...
View ArticleMIT engineers design a better controller for operating construction diggers
Anyone who’s ever wrestled with a claw machine at an arcade can appreciate the difficulty in pulling and pushing on joysticks, in just the right way, to get a mechanical arm to scoop up that one...
View ArticlePersonalized physical therapy: Stroke rehabilitation powered by AI
Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, affecting 15 million people each year and leaving 5 million with long-term impairments. There’s also a growing shortage of...
View ArticleDaniela Rus receives Bavarian Minister-President's High-Tech Prize
Daniela Rus, director of MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the Panasonic Professor of Computer Science, has received the 2026 High-Tech Prize of the Bavarian...
View ArticleCan AI build a jet engine? JARVIS Challenge tests role of AI copilots in...
Artificial intelligence has rapidly transformed software engineering. Generative AI and large language models (LLMs) can create huge volumes of code and documentation; machine-learning algorithms can...
View ArticleAI agents create virtual playgrounds to help robots get crucial training data
Robots walking down the street, surrounded by astounded onlookers, is an increasingly common sight. But these machines aren’t yet the do-it-all assistants you’d want working in a kitchen or factory,...
View ArticleNew flapping robot swims and flies like a diving bird
Loons, gulls, puffins, and petrels are some of the 100 species of birds that can both fly and swim. These diving birds can plunge in water to swim after prey, and leap back into the air to fly away....
View ArticleTiny robot boats build floating structures
Most people think of the waterfront as the edge of the city. A team of MIT researchers sees it as a dynamic, Lego-like construction site.Their new system, called “FloatForm,” is a swarm of small square...
View ArticleMIT student teams win top honors in NASA competition
Three teams comprising 35 students across eight different MIT departments and Wellesley College have been at work since fall 2025, designing critical early infrastructure elements that a moon base...
View ArticleLLMs help robots understand vague instructions and focus on key details
Imagine working at a warehouse or office sometime in the near future, and you’re asked to help a new trainee learn the basics of their job. The catch: It’s a robot. To teach them, you might want to...
View ArticleExploring the societal impacts of AI
At the recent AI and Society Forum at MIT, experts from across the Institute discussed the potential benefits and dangers of technological innovation on labor, the nature of work, civil discourse,...
View ArticleNew chip could help tiny robots traverse complex environments
A new chip developed by MIT researchers could help tiny, low-power UAVs avoid obstacles as they zip around tight corners inside an industrial HVAC system to check for gas leaks.The chip allows small...
View ArticleCould AI tell you where you left your keys?
An auto factory worker can remember the storage bin where she left a partly assembled component the night before, and quickly return to that spot to pick it up. But robots that may work side-by-side...
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