Research

Impact Areas

Lead

Wojciech Matusik

Research Group

Distributed Robotics Laboratory

We aim to develop the science of autonomy toward a future with robots and AI systems integrated into everyday life, supporting people with cognitive and physical tasks.

+12

Daniela Rus

Leads

Daniela Rus

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Daniela Rus

+12

Daniela Rus

Research Group

Geometric Data Processing Group

Our group studies geometric problems in computer graphics, computer vision, machine learning, optimization, and other disciplines.

Justin Solomon

Leads

Justin Solomon

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Justin Solomon

Community of Research

Human-Computer Interaction Community of Research

The focus of the HCI CoR is inventing new systems and technology that lie at the interface between people and computation, and understanding their design, implementation, and societal impact.

Stefanie Mueller

Leads

Stefanie Mueller

Research Areas

Programming Languages & Software Engineering

Impact Areas

Education

Entertainment

Lead

Stefanie Mueller

Research Group

Interactive Robotics Group

The Interactive Robotics Group aims to imagine the future of work by designing collaborative robot teammates that enhance human capability.

Julie Shah

Leads

Julie Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Julie Shah

Research Group

Learning and Intelligent Systems

We conduct interdisciplinary research aimed at discovering the principles underlying the design of artificially intelligent robots.

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Leads

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research Group

Model-Based Embedded and Robotics Systems Group

We are working to elevate robots from mechanical creations controlled by low-level scripts with a considerable amount of human guidance to truly cognitive robots.

Brian Williams

Leads

Brian Williams

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Brian Williams

Research Group

Robot Locomotion Group

We research building machines which exploit their natural dynamics to achieve extraordinary agility and efficiency.

Russ Tedrake

Leads

Russ Tedrake

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Russ Tedrake

Research Group

Robust Robotics Group

We build unmanned vehicles that can fly and drive without maps or GPS.

Nicholas Roy

Leads

Nicholas Roy

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Nicholas Roy

Research Group

Sensing, Learning and Inference

We develop scalable algorithms for analysis of complex, high-dimensional data.

John Fisher

Leads

John Fisher

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Big Data

Energy

Internet of Things

Lead

John Fisher

Community of Research

Vertical AI Community of Research

This CoR takes a unified approach to cover the full range of research areas required for success in artificial intelligence, including hardware, foundations, software systems, and applications.

Martin Rinard

Leads

Martin Rinard

Research Areas

Programming Languages & Software Engineering

Security & Cryptography

Systems & Networking

Impact Areas

Lead

Martin Rinard

28 Project Results

Project

3D Generative Adversarial Networks

Vision Group

Cognitive AI Community of Research

We study the problem of 3D object generation. We propose a novel framework, 3D Generative Adversarial Network (3D-GAN), leveraging recent advances in volumetric convolutional networks and generative adversarial nets.

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Computational Design and Fabrication Group

Project

3D-Printed Organic Solar Cells

Using our inkjet printer system, the goal of this project is to produce a light sensor / solar cell that is composed entirely of 3D printed materials.

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Project

Apprenticeship Scheduling: Learning to Schedule From Human Experts

Robot scheduling via learning from demonstration for tasks in medicine and more

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Computation Structures Group

Project

Artificial Social Intelligence for Successful Teams (ASIST)

Computational Cognitive Science Group

Our goal is to develop a socially intelligent team coacher agent that helps humans communicate, strategize, and work together efficiently.

Leads

Howard Shrobe

Brian Williams

Boris Katz

Zhutian Yang

Research Areas

Computer Architecture

Impact Areas

Computational Design and Fabrication Group

Wireless

Project

Computational Knitting: Patterning and Shaping for Everyone

Knitting is the new 3d printing. It has become popular again with the widespread availability of patterns and templates, together with the maker movements. Lower-cost industrial knitting machines are starting to emerge, but we are still missing the corresponding design tools. Our goal is to fill this gap.

Alexandre Kaspar

Leads

Alexandre Kaspar

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Entertainment

Alexandre Kaspar

Project

Computational Multicopter Design

Computer Graphics Group

A system that can help you to design our own drone!

Tao Du

Leads

Tao Du

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Energy

Tao Du

Project

Deterministic Algorithms for Robotic Task and Motion Planning

Our goal is to investigate deterministic algorithms for robotic task and motion planning.

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Project

Efficient Communication for Human-Machine Teams

Our goal is to develop collaborative agents (software or robots) that can efficiently communicate with their human teammates. Key threads involve designing algorithms for inferring human behavior and for decision-making under uncertainty.

X. Jessie Yang

Julie Shah

Leads

Julie Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

X. Jessie Yang

Julie Shah

Project

Foundry: Design for Multi-Material 3-D Printing

A new approach for designs in multi-material fabrication

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Project

Geometry in Large-Scale Machine Learning

Machine Learning

Data often has geometric structure which can enable better inference; this project aims to scale up geometry-aware techniques for use in machine learning settings with lots of data, so that this structure may be utilized in practice.

Justin Solomon

Stefanie Jegelka

Leads

Justin Solomon

Stefanie Jegelka

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Big Data

Internet of Things

Justin Solomon

Stefanie Jegelka

Project

Helping robots learn using demonstrations

Help robots learn faster by providing demonstrations when they need help

Joseph DelPreto

Leads

Joseph DelPreto

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Joseph DelPreto

Project

Human-Guided Transfer for Robot Learning

Our goal is to develop computational learning models for agents that intelligently use various types of human feedback to help an agent adapt and transfer knowledge to new situations.

Julie Shah

Leads

Julie Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Julie Shah

Project

Human-Robot Collaboration in Shared Workspace

Models and algorithms to predict in real time the next actions of a human working together with a robot

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Project

Inferring 3D Shape Distributions for Robot Perception and Planning

Robust Robotics Group

Our goal is to develop methods for a mobile robot to reason about volumetric spatial uncertainty of objects in its environment.

Nicholas Roy

Leads

Nicholas Roy

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Nicholas Roy

Project

InstantCAD: Interactive Design Exploration/Optimization for CAD Models

Almost every object we use is developed with computer-aided design (CAD). While CAD programs are good for creating designs, using them to actually improve existing designs can be difficult and time-consuming.

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Project

Learning complex task structures from demonstrations

Our goal is to learn the structure of complex multi-step tasks from demonstration of human experts.

Ankit Shah

Leads

Ankit Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Ankit Shah

Project

Printable Hydraulics

Printable Hydraulics allows fluid-actuated robots to be automatically fabricated using 3D printers.

Youbin Kim

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Energy

Youbin Kim

Project

Robot Compiler

The Robot Compiler allows non-engineering users to rapidly fabricate customized robots, facilitating the proliferation of robots in everyday life. It thereby marks an important step towards the realization of personal robots that have captured imaginations for decades.

Leads

Joseph DelPreto

Andrew Spielberg

Daniela Rus

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Education

Internet of Things

Project

Robotic Planning and Manipulation with Force Information

Our goal is to allow planners to exploit the forces and contacts between objects so as to carry out complex manipulation tasks in the presence of uncertainty.

Leads

Gustavo N. Goretkin

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Project

Robots Adapting to Human Intent

Cognitive AI Community of Research

Our goal is to develop algorithms for allowing robots to adapt intelligently to humans when they are working together as a team.

Brian Williams

Leads

Brian Williams

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Brian Williams

Project

Robots that collaborate with humans to form team plans

People, including doctors, nurses, and military personnel, often learn their roles in complex organizations through a training and apprenticeship process.

Julie Shah

Leads

Julie Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Julie Shah

Project

Robots that Quickly Adjust Team Plans to Disturbance

Once a human-machine team has formed a high-quality, flexible plan for working together, the robot must execute its part of the plan and work with its teammate.

Julie Shah

Leads

Julie Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Julie Shah

Project

Robust Intelligent Robots

How can a mobile-manipulation robot operate robustly and flexibly in complicated uncertain environments, such as households and disaster zones.

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Leads

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Project

Sensible Deep Learning for 3D Data

Machine Learning

Developing state-of-the-art deep learning algorithms for analyzing and modeling 3D geometry

Justin Solomon

Leads

Justin Solomon

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Big Data

Justin Solomon

22 People Results

PI
Core/Dual

Ted Adelson

Professor

Vision, touch sensing, robotics

E adelson@csail.mit.edu

T 253-0645

Lead

Vision Group

Blood Pressure Imager

Visual Computing Community of Research

Member

Vision, touch sensing, robotics

Noam Buckman

Graduate Student

PhD Candidate. Autonomous vehicles. Multi-robot systems.

E nbuckman@mit.edu

Member

Self-Driving Vehicles

PhD Candidate. Autonomous vehicles. Multi-robot systems.

Richard Camilli

Research Affiliate

E romeo@mit.edu

Member

Sensorized Soft Electric Hands with Handed Shearing Auxetics

Lillian Chin

Graduate Student

E ltchin@mit.edu

Lead

Member

Computational Multicopter Design

Mustafa Doga Dogan

Graduate Student

E doga@mit.edu

Member

HCI Engineering Group

Tao Du

Graduate Student

CS PhD student

E taodu@csail.mit.edu

Lead

CS PhD student

Michael Foshey

Mechanical Engineer/Project Manager

Additive Manufacturing, Robotics, Digital Fabrication

E mfoshey@mit.edu

Additive Manufacturing, Robotics, Digital Fabrication

Ramin Hasani

Postdoctoral Associate

Machine learning Scientist

E rhasani@csail.mit.edu

Machine learning Scientist

PI
Core/Dual

Leslie Kaelbling

Professor

Robotics, machine learning, motion planning

E lpk@csail.mit.edu

T 258-9695

Lead

Learning and Optimization

Machine Learning

Robotic Planning and Manipulation with Force Information

Reliable Robotic Construction of Multi-object Arrangements

Learning and Planning with Compressed Linear Expectation Models

Active Learning of Models for Planning

Task and Motion Planning for Autonomous Robots

Member

Crowdsourcing in Graphics and Vision

Robotics, machine learning, motion planning

Alexandre Kaspar

Graduate Student

Graphics, crowdsourcing and hybrid fabrication.

E akaspar@mit.edu

Lead

Computational Knitting: Patterning and Shaping for Everyone

Graphics, crowdsourcing and hybrid fabrication.

PI
Core/Dual

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Professor

Robotics, artificial intelligence

E tlp@csail.mit.edu

T 253-7889

Lead

Learning and Optimization

Robotic Planning and Manipulation with Force Information

Reliable Robotic Construction of Multi-object Arrangements

Learning and Planning with Compressed Linear Expectation Models

Active Learning of Models for Planning

Task and Motion Planning for Autonomous Robots

Member

Computational Design and Fabrication Group

Robotics, artificial intelligence

PI
Core/Dual

Wojciech Matusik

Professor

Graphics, vision, fabrication, robotics, hci

E wojciech@csail.mit.edu

T 324-8432

Lead

Computer Graphics Group

Member

Computational Multicopter Design

Simit: A Language for Computing on Sparse Systems

InstantCAD: Interactive Design Exploration/Optimization for CAD Models

Visual Computing Community of Research

Graphics, vision, fabrication, robotics, hci

Radhen Patel

Postdoctoral Associate

Robotics | Haptics | Vision | Machine Learning

E radhen@csail.mit.edu

Robotics | Haptics | Vision | Machine Learning

PI
Core/Dual

Daniela Rus

Director

CSAIL director, robotics, AI, data science, privacy

E rus@csail.mit.edu

T 258-7567

RM 32/ 32-368/ 374

Lead

Social Network Extraction from GPS Datasets with Coresets

Safety Standards for Autonomous Vehicles

Soft Contact Modeling

Practical Secure Computation

Self-Driving Vehicles

Robust Learning for Autonomous Vehicles

Brain-Controlled Robots

Planning in Congestion for Autonomous Vehicles

Socially-Compliant Behavior for Autonomous Driving

Coresets for Machine Learning Algorithms

M-Blocks Modular Robotics

Robot Compiler

Distributed Robot Garden

Route and Motion Planning for Mobility-on-Demand with Rules of the Road

Member

Social Network Extraction from GPS Datasets with Coresets

Task-Driven Co-Optimization Of Articulated Robots

Wearable Blind Navigation

Drones that Drive

Better Models for Ride-Sharing

SoFi - The Soft Robotic Fish

Controlling drones and other robots with gestures

Using Muscle Signals to Lift Objects with Robots

Helping robots learn using demonstrations

CSAIL director, robotics, AI, data science, privacy

PI
Core/Dual

Julie Shah

Associate Professor

Robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence

E julie_a_shah@csail.mit.edu

T 324-4879

Lead

Robots that collaborate with humans to form team plans

Robots that Quickly Adjust Team Plans to Disturbance

Human-Guided Transfer for Robot Learning

Efficient Communication for Human-Machine Teams

Member

Apprenticeship Scheduling: Learning to Schedule From Human Experts

Robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence

Yu She

Postdoctoral Associate

E yushe@csail.mit.edu

RM 32/ 32-311/ D542

Postdoctoral Associate

Dmitriy Smirnov

Graduate Student

https://people.csail.mit.edu/smirnov/

E smirnov@mit.edu

RM 32-D475B

Member

Sensible Deep Learning for 3D Data

https://people.csail.mit.edu/smirnov/

PI
Core/Dual

Justin Solomon

Assistant Professor

Geometry, graphics, vision, machine learning, optimization.

E jsolomon@mit.edu

Lead

Computer Graphics Group

Geometry in Large-Scale Machine Learning

Political Geometry: Establishing Fair Mathematical Standards for Political Redistricting

Sensible Deep Learning for 3D Data

Optimal transport for statistics and machine learning

Geometry and topology for scientific computing and shape analysis

Member

Visual Computing Community of Research

Geometry, graphics, vision, machine learning, optimization.

Andrew Spielberg

Graduate Student

E aespielberg@gmail.com

Lead

Task-Driven Co-Optimization Of Articulated Robots

Robot Compiler

Member

Localizing External Contact Using Proprioceptive Sensors

PI
Core/Dual

Russ Tedrake

Professor

Robotics, machine learning, motion planning and control

E russt@csail.mit.edu

T 253-1778

RM 32-380B

Lead

Robot Locomotion Group

Tactile and Physical Perception

Soft Contact Modeling

Self-Driving Vehicles

Member

Tactile and Physical Perception

Task-Driven Co-Optimization Of Articulated Robots

Center for Deployable Machine Learning (CDML)

Robotics, machine learning, motion planning and control

Yu Wang

Graduate Student

E wangyu9@mit.edu

RM 32-D475A

Member

Geometry and topology for scientific computing and shape analysis

PI
Core/Dual

Brian Williams

Professor

Robotics, autonomy, artificial intelligence, machine learning

E williams@csail.mit.edu

T 253-2739

Lead