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.

+15

Daniela Rus

Leads

Daniela Rus

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Daniela Rus

+15

Daniela Rus

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

Marine Robotics Group

Our projects are centered around the problems of navigation and mapping for autonomous mobile robots operating in underwater and terrestrial environments.

John Leonard

Leads

John Leonard

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

John Leonard

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.

+10

Brian Williams

Leads

Brian Williams

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Brian Williams

+10

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

55 Project Results matching all criteria

Project

Driver-Friendly Bilateral Control for Suppressing Traffic Instabilities

We are studying how best to implement bilateral control and make it acceptable to drivers

Berthold Horn

Leads

Berthold Horn

Research Areas

Systems & Networking

Impact Areas

Model-Based Embedded and Robotics Systems Group

Berthold Horn

Project

Geordi: A Driver's Assistant for Risk-bounded Maneuvering

Our goal is to create an online risk-aware planner for vehicle maneuvers that can make driving safer and less stressful through a “parallel” autonomous system that assists the driver by watching for risky situations, and by helping the driver take proactive, compensating actions before they become crises.

Brian Williams

Leads

Brian Williams

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Brian Williams

Project

Printable Hydraulics

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

Youbin Kim

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Youbin Kim

Project

Inferring 3D Shape Distributions for Robot Perception and Planning

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

Deep Inverse Planning

Deep inverse planning for learning from high-dimensional demonstrations

Leads

Research Areas

Computational 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.

James Minor

Leads

James Minor

Research Areas

Impact Areas

James Minor

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

Tao Du

Project

Localizing External Contact Using Proprioceptive Sensors

The goal is to detect when a robot is contacting the world using only proprioceptive sensors, i.e. joint position and torque sensors, imu's etc.

Lucas Manuelli

Russ Tedrake

Leads

Lucas Manuelli

Russ Tedrake

Research Areas

Lucas Manuelli

Russ Tedrake

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

Model-Based Embedded and Robotics Systems Group

Project

Robots Adapting to Human Intent

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

Tactile and Physical Perception

Robot Locomotion Group

We aim to provide our robots with accurate and robust object pose estimates by taking advantage of tactile, geometric, and physical information.

Gregory Izatt

Russ Tedrake

Leads

Gregory Izatt

Russ Tedrake

Research Areas

Gregory Izatt

Russ Tedrake

Project

Reliable Robotic Construction of Multi-object Arrangements

Our goal is to improve the reliability of robot manipulation by creating models that predict the range of results from interactions between multiple objects and then using these models to plan for reliable manipulation.

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Leads

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research Areas

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Project

Learning and Planning with Compressed Linear Expectation Models

Our goal is to learn models suitable for efficient planning from data obtained from interactions with a dynamical system.

Leads

Clement Gehring

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research Areas

Project

Task and Motion Planning for Autonomous Robots

Our goal is to design algorithms that enable robots to operate in human environments by simultaneously reasoning about high-level task actions as well as low-level motions.

Leads

Caelan Garrett

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research Areas

Impact Areas

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

Task-Driven Co-Optimization Of Articulated Robots

A robot's physical form and its motion are innately coupled - in order to change its physical design, one must often change the way it moves, and vice versa. Can computers automatically and simultaneously design robot structure and motion?

Andrew Spielberg

Leads

Andrew Spielberg

Research Areas

Andrew Spielberg

Project

Safety Standards for Autonomous Vehicles

In this project, we aim to develop a framework that can ensure and certify the safety of an autonomous vehicle. By leveraging research from the area of formal verification, this framework aims to assess the safety, i.e., free of collisions, of a broad class of autonomous car controllers/planners for a given traffic model.

Leads

Lucas Liebenwein

Wilko Schwarting

Daniela Rus

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Project

SoFi - The Soft Robotic Fish

Exploration of underwater life with an acoustically controlled soft robotic fish

Joseph DelPreto

Leads

Joseph DelPreto

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Entertainment

Joseph DelPreto

Project

Soft Contact Modeling

Robot Locomotion Group

We are juggling a puck sliding on a table, using only a pretensioned rubber band.

Daniela Rus

Russ Tedrake

Leads

Daniela Rus

Russ Tedrake

Research Areas

Daniela Rus

Russ Tedrake

Project

Wearable Blind Navigation

We enable independent navigation for visually impaired users through a wearable feedback system using time-of-light sensors or depth cameras.

Leads

Research Areas

Impact Areas

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

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

Wearable Ultrasonic Echolocation

The goal of this project is to develop and test a wearable ultrasonic echolocation aid for people who are blind and visually impaired. We combine concepts from engineering, acoustic physics, and neuroscience to make echolocation accessible as a research tool and mobility aid.

Santani Teng

Leads

Santani Teng

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Santani Teng

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

Spoken Language Systems Group

Julie Shah

2 People Results matching all criteria

Francois Grondin

Postdoctoral Fellow

Postdoctoral Research Associate

E fgrondin@csail.mit.edu

Member

Postdoctoral Research Associate

Markus Ryll

Postdoctoral Associate

E ryll@csail.mit.edu

RM 32-334

37 News Results matching all criteria

Algorithms & Theory AI & Machine Learning Robotics

November 13 '19

Autonomous system improves environmental sampling at sea

Robotic boats could more rapidly locate the most valuable sampling spots in uncharted waters.

Autonomous system improves environmental sampling at sea

AI & Machine Learning Robotics Manufacturing Transportation

October 30 '19

Self-transforming robot blocks jump, spin, flip, and identify each other

Developed at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, a team of robots can self-assemble to form different structures with applications in inspection, disaster response, and manufacturing

Self-transforming robot blocks jump, spin, flip, and identify each other

Algorithms & Theory AI & Machine Learning Robotics

October 29 '19

Deep learning with point clouds

Research aims to make it easier for self-driving cars, robotics, and other applications to understand the 3D world.

Deep learning with point clouds

Algorithms & Theory AI & Machine Learning Robotics Transportation

August 29 '19

MIT’s fleet of autonomous boats can now shapeshift

New capabilities allow “roboats” to change configurations to form pop-up bridges, stages, and other structures.

MIT’s fleet of autonomous boats can now shapeshift

AI & Machine Learning Robotics Health Care

July 22 '19

Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands tours MIT

Dutch delegation visits the Institute for a tour focused on computing, robotics, and health care innovation.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte of the Netherlands tours MIT

Algorithms & Theory Graphics & Vision Robotics Manufacturing

July 22 '19

Automated system generates robotic parts for novel tasks

When designing actuators involves too many variables for humans to test by hand, this system can step in.

Automated system generates robotic parts for novel tasks

Algorithms & Theory AI & Machine Learning Computational Biology Computer Architecture Graphics & Vision Human-Computer Interaction Programming Languages & Software Engineering Robotics Security & Cryptography Systems & Networking Cybersecurity Education Energy Entertainment Health Care Manufacturing Transportation Wireless

June 27 '19

CSAIL hosts first-ever TEDxMIT

Speakers — all women — discuss everything from gravitational waves to robot nurses

CSAIL hosts first-ever TEDxMIT

Algorithms & Theory Robotics Transportation

June 27 '19

Autonomous boats can target and latch onto each other

Fleet of “roboats” could collect garbage or self-assemble into floating structures in Amsterdam’s many canals.

Autonomous boats can target and latch onto each other

AI & Machine Learning Robotics Manufacturing

May 22 '19

This robot helps you lift objects — by looking at your biceps

CSAIL system can mirror a user's motions and follow nonverbal commands by monitoring arm muscles.

This robot helps you lift objects — by looking at your biceps

AI & Machine Learning Robotics Energy Health Care

April 18 '19

Robots that can sort recycling

CSAIL’s "RoCycle" system uses in-hand sensors to detect if an object is paper, metal or plastic.

Robots that can sort recycling

Robotics

April 09 '19

BU-led Research Team Wins Competitive $7.5 million MURI Grant to Create Neuro-Autonomous Robots

Dream Team of Engineers, Computer Scientists, and Neuroscientists from BU, MIT, and Australia to develop neuro-inspired capabilities for Land, Sea, and Air-based Autonomous Robots.

BU-led Research Team Wins Competitive $7.5 million MURI Grant to Create Neuro-Autonomous Robots

Robotics Manufacturing

March 18 '19

Robot precisely moves objects it’s never seen before

kPAM system allows robots to do finer manipulation, like hanging a small mug on a tiny hook

Robot precisely moves objects it’s never seen before

AI & Machine Learning Robotics Health Care Manufacturing

March 14 '19

New robot hand is soft and strong

Gripper inspired by “origami magic ball” can grasp wide array of delicate and heavy objects

New robot hand is soft and strong

Algorithms & Theory AI & Machine Learning Robotics Transportation

February 01 '19

Engineers program marine robots to take calculated risks

Algorithm could help autonomous underwater vehicles explore risky but scientifically-rewarding environments.

Engineers program marine robots to take calculated risks

Algorithms & Theory AI & Machine Learning Robotics Transportation

January 25 '19

Identifying artificial intelligence “blind spots”

Model identifies instances when autonomous systems have learned from examples that may cause dangerous errors in the real world.

Identifying artificial intelligence “blind spots”

AI & Machine Learning Robotics Health Care Transportation

November 01 '18

Fleets of drones could aid searches for lost hikers

System allows drones to cooperatively explore terrain under thick forest canopies where GPS signals are unreliable.

Fleets of drones could aid searches for lost hikers

Machines that learn language more like kids do 2

AI & Machine Learning Graphics & Vision Robotics

October 31 '18

Machines that learn language more like kids do

Computer model could improve human-machine interaction, provide insight into how children learn language.

Machines that learn language more like kids do

model helps robots naviagte like humans 1

Algorithms & Theory AI & Machine Learning Robotics Transportation

October 04 '18

Model helps robots navigate more like humans do

In simulations, robots move through new environments by exploring, observing, and drawing from learned experiences.

Model helps robots navigate more like humans do

Algorithms & Theory AI & Machine Learning Graphics & Vision Robotics

September 17 '18

Helping computers fill in the gaps between video frames

Machine learning system efficiently recognizes activities by observing how objects change in only a few key frames.

Helping computers fill in the gaps between video frames

Algorithms & Theory Graphics & Vision Robotics Manufacturing

September 10 '18

Robots can now pick up any object after inspecting it

Breakthrough CSAIL system suggests robots could one day be able to see well enough to be useful in people’s homes and offices.

Robots can now pick up any object after inspecting it

Algorithms & Theory AI & Machine Learning Robotics Transportation

May 23 '18

Making driverless cars change lanes more like human drivers do

Algorithm computes “buffer zones” around autonomous vehicles and reassess them on the fly.

Making driverless cars change lanes more like human drivers do

AI & Machine Learning Robotics Manufacturing

May 14 '18

Materials that can change size and shape by twisting

Approach opens up new possibilities for robots, spacecraft, and more

Materials that can change size and shape by twisting

AI & Machine Learning Graphics & Vision Robotics Transportation

May 07 '18

Self-driving cars for country roads

For all the progress made in self-driving technologies, there still aren’t many places where they can actually drive. Companies like Google only test their fleets in major cities where they’ve spent countless hours meticulously labeling the exact 3-D positions of lanes, curbs, off-ramps, and stop signs.

Self-driving cars for country roads

AI & Machine Learning Robotics Manufacturing Transportation

March 21 '18

Soft robotic fish swims alongside real ones in coral reefs

Made of silicone rubber, CSAIL’s “SoFi” could enable a closer study of aquatic life.

Soft robotic fish swims alongside real ones in coral reefs

8 Group Results

Research Group

Computational Fabrication Group

Our research centers on digital manufacturing, 3D printing and computer graphics, as well as computational photography and displays, and virtual humans and robotics.

Wojciech Matusik

Leads

Wojciech Matusik

Research Areas

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.

+15

Daniela Rus

Leads

Daniela Rus

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Daniela Rus

+15

Daniela Rus

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

Marine Robotics Group

Our projects are centered around the problems of navigation and mapping for autonomous mobile robots operating in underwater and terrestrial environments.

John Leonard

Leads

John Leonard

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

John Leonard

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.

+10

Brian Williams

Leads

Brian Williams

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Lead

Brian Williams

+10

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

Computational Fabrication Group

Lead

Nicholas Roy

55 Project Results

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.

James Minor

Leads

James Minor

Research Areas

Impact Areas

James Minor

Project

Active Learning of Models for Planning

Machine Learning

We aim to develop a systematic framework for robots to build models of the world and to use these to make effective and safe choices of actions to take in complex scenarios.

Leads

Zi Wang

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research Areas

Computer-Aided Programming

Impact Areas

Big Data

Education

Entertainment

Project

An Interlock for Self Driving Cars

Software Design Group

Self-driving cars are likely to be safer, on average, than human-driven cars. But they may fail in new and catastrophic ways that a human driver could prevent. This project is designing a new architecture for a highly dependable self-driving car.

Daniel Jackson

Armando Solar-Lezama

Leads

Daniel Jackson

Armando Solar-Lezama

Research Areas

Programming Languages & Software Engineering

Systems & Networking

Impact Areas

Daniel Jackson

Armando Solar-Lezama

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

Project

Blood Pressure Imager

Development of affordable wearable continuous blood pressure monitor based on radial arterial pulse imaged from the skin surface of human wrist

Mumin Jin

Aya G. Halawi

Jianhua Li

Leads

Abhijit Biswas

Ted Adelson

Mandayam A. Srinivasan

Mohan Thanikachalam

Research Areas

Computational Biology

Mumin Jin

Aya G. Halawi

Jianhua Li

Project

Brain-Controlled Robots

This project aims to let people correct robot mistakes with nothing more than their brain signals - to allow robots to adapt to humans rather than the other way around

Frank H. Guenther

Daniela Rus

Joseph DelPreto

Leads

Daniela Rus

Joseph DelPreto

Research Areas

Frank H. Guenther

Daniela Rus

Joseph DelPreto

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

Tao Du

Project

Deep Inverse Planning

Deep inverse planning for learning from high-dimensional demonstrations

Leads

Research Areas

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

Distributed Robot Garden

The robot garden provides an aesthetically pleasing educational platform that can visualize computer science concepts and encourage young students to pursue programming and robotics.

Leads

Joseph DelPreto

Lindsay Sanneman

Daniela Rus

Research Areas

Programming Languages & Software Engineering

Impact Areas

Education

Entertainment

Project

Driver-Friendly Bilateral Control for Suppressing Traffic Instabilities

We are studying how best to implement bilateral control and make it acceptable to drivers

Berthold Horn

Leads

Berthold Horn

Research Areas

Systems & Networking

Impact Areas

Berthold Horn

Project

Drones that Drive

Multi-robot path planning for robot swarms that can both fly and drive

Brandon Araki

Leads

Brandon Araki

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Brandon Araki

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

Vaibhav V. Unhelkar

Julie Shah

Leads

Vaibhav V. Unhelkar

Julie Shah

Research Areas

Impact Areas

X. Jessie Yang

Vaibhav V. Unhelkar

Julie Shah

Project

Enabling Semantic Understanding for Autonomous Marine Robots

Our goal is to develop unsupervised or minimally supervised marine learning frameworks that allow autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to explore unknown marine environments and communicate their findings in a semantically meaningful manner.

Yogesh Girdhar

Genevieve Flaspohler

Leads

Genevieve Flaspohler

Research Areas

Yogesh Girdhar

Genevieve Flaspohler

Project

Fast Lightweight Autonomy

The goal of the FLA program is to explore non-traditional perception and autonomy methods that could enable a new class of algorithms for minimalistic high-speed navigation in cluttered environments.

John Carter

Jake Ware

Leads

John Carter

Jake Ware

Research Areas

Model-Based Embedded and Robotics Systems Group

John Carter

Jake Ware

Project

Geordi: A Driver's Assistant for Risk-bounded Maneuvering

Brian Williams

Leads

Brian Williams

Research Areas

Impact Areas

Brian Williams

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

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

Learning and Planning with Compressed Linear Expectation Models

Our goal is to learn models suitable for efficient planning from data obtained from interactions with a dynamical system.

Leads

Clement Gehring

Leslie Kaelbling

Tomas Lozano-Perez

Research 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

Localizing External Contact Using Proprioceptive Sensors

The goal is to detect when a robot is contacting the world using only proprioceptive sensors, i.e. joint position and torque sensors, imu's etc.

Lucas Manuelli

Russ Tedrake

Leads

Lucas Manuelli

Russ Tedrake

Research Areas

Lucas Manuelli

Russ Tedrake

Project

M-Blocks Modular Robotics

Creating modular robotic systems which can reconfigure themselves in order to create new robots.

John Romanishin

Daniela Rus

Leads

John Romanishin

Daniela Rus

Research Areas

John Romanishin

Daniela Rus

Project

Natural language Understanding for Human-Robot Interaction

Our goal is to enable robots to understand and execute natural language commands from human agents. We develop algorithms that allow a robot to interpret, learn and reason about semantic concepts embedded in language in the context of low-level metric representations perceived from sensors.

Nicole Glabinski

Subhro Roy

Leads

Subhro Roy

Research Areas