MIT art installation aims to empower a more discerning public
Videos doctored by artificial intelligence, culturally known as “deepfakes,” are being created and shared by the public at an alarming rate. Using advanced computer graphics and audio processing to...
View ArticleSENSE.nano awards seed grants in optoelectronics, interactive manufacturing
SENSE.nano has announced the recipients of the third annual SENSE.nano seed grants. This year’s grants serve to advance innovations in sensing technologies for augmented and virtual realities (AR/VR)...
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Bringing the benefits of in-person collaboration to the virtual world
Over the past few months, while many workers were adjusting to a newfound reliance on Zoom meetings and Slack messages, employees at companies including toy designer Mattel, banking giant BNP Paribas,...
View ArticleTackling the misinformation epidemic with “In Event of Moon Disaster”
Can you recognize a digitally manipulated video when you see one? It’s harder than most people realize. As the technology to produce realistic “deepfakes” becomes more easily available, distinguishing...
View ArticleExamining racial attitudes in virtual spaces through gaming
The national dialogue on race has progressed powerfully and painfully in the past year, and issues of racial bias in the news have become ubiquitous. However, for over a decade, researchers from MIT’s...
View ArticleEngineers produce a fisheye lens that’s completely flat
To capture panoramic views in a single shot, photographers typically use fisheye lenses — ultra-wide-angle lenses made from multiple pieces of curved glass, which distort incoming light to produce...
View ArticleMIT.nano Immersion Lab Gaming Program awards 2020 seed grants
MIT.nano has announced its second annual seed grants to support hardware and software research related to sensors, 3D/4D interaction and analysis, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), and gaming. The...
View ArticleMIT.nano’s Immersion Lab opens for researchers and students
The MIT.nano Immersion Lab, MIT’s first open-access facility for augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) and interacting with data, is now open and available to MIT students, faculty, researchers, and...
View ArticleUsing artificial intelligence to generate 3D holograms in real-time
Despite years of hype, virtual reality headsets have yet to topple TV or computer screens as the go-to devices for video viewing. One reason: VR can make users feel sick. Nausea and eye strain can...
View ArticleMIT.nano courses bring hands-on experimentation to virtual participants
Every minute, a person just sitting or standing without moving sheds 100,000 particles that are 500 nanometers or larger. Is that person exercising? Now it’s 10 million particles per minute, says Jorg...
View ArticleMIT baseball coach uses sensors, motion capture technology to teach pitching
The field of sports analytics is most known for assessing player and team performance during competition, but MIT Baseball’s pitching coach, Todd Carroll, is bringing a different kind of analytics to...
View ArticleMIT and U.S. Department of Defense team up to launch a new edX learning platform
MIT has pioneered many online learning solutions, and the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has taken note. MIT and the DoD have teamed up to launch a new edX learning platform,...
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This touchy-feely glove senses and maps tactile stimuli
When you pick up a balloon, the pressure to keep hold of it is different from what you would exert to grasp a jar. And now engineers at MIT and elsewhere have a way to precisely measure and map such...
View ArticleA serious plea for playful design
In 2010, the city of Rio de Janeiro opened its Operations Center, a high-tech command post centralizing the activities of 30 agencies. With its banks of monitors looming over rows of employees, the...
View ArticleTransformative truth-telling at the MIT Open Documentary Lab
A man’s ghostly voice speak-sings from the black screen: “Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetops …” It’s a tentative voice, unused to intoning lullabies, the voice of a man who was just released from prison....
View ArticleHow MIT students are transforming the art of narrative
If storytelling was once confined to a single medium — a tale told, for instance, in the pages of a book — the past few decades have seen narratives spill into different platforms and media, spreading...
View ArticleGenerating a realistic 3D world
While standing in a kitchen, you push some metal bowls across the counter into the sink with a clang, and drape a towel over the back of a chair. In another room, it sounds like some precariously...
View ArticleCharacters for good, created by artificial intelligence
As it becomes easier to create hyper-realistic digital characters using artificial intelligence, much of the conversation around these tools has centered on misleading and potentially dangerous...
View ArticleCynthia Breazeal named dean for digital learning at MIT
In a letter to the MIT community today, Vice President for Open Learning Sanjay Sarma announced the appointment of Professor Cynthia Breazeal as dean for digital learning, effective Feb. 1. As dean,...
View ArticleFostering media literacy in the age of deepfakes
While people turn to digital media for news at high rates, algorithms for manipulating media continue to grow more powerful. In a Pew Research Center survey (August/September 2020), 53 percent of...
View ArticleMIT.nano Immersion Lab Gaming Program awards third annual seed grants
MIT.nano has announced its next round of seed grants to support hardware and software research related to sensors, 3D/4D interaction and analysis, augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), and gaming. The...
View ArticleVirtual worlds apart
What is virtual reality? On a technical level, it is a headset-enabled system using images and sounds to make the user feel as if they are in another place altogether. But in terms of the content and...
View Article3 Questions: Teaching computational maker skills through gaming
The early stages of teaching maker skills, such as digital fabrication, typically involve simple exercises like laser cutting or 3D printing basic shapes and objects. In our hyperconnected,...
View ArticleProtecting maternal health in Rwanda
The world is facing a maternal health crisis. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 810 women die each day due to preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Two-thirds...
View ArticleMIT system “sees” the inner structure of the body during physical rehab
A growing number of people are living with conditions that could benefit from physical rehabilitation — but there aren’t enough physical therapists (PTs) to go around. The growing need for PTs is...
View ArticleDesktop simulation of MIT.nano die bonder enables virtual tool training
Packaging is the final step in the process for manufacturing a semiconductor device. A critical tool for packing is the die bonder, which facilitates device assembly typically by attaching a chip in a...
View ArticleUsing game engines and “twins” to co-create stories of climate futures
Imagine entering a 3D virtual story world that’s a digital twin of an existing physical space but also doubles as a vessel to dream up speculative climate stories and collective designs. Then, those...
View ArticleMeet the 2022-23 Accenture Fellows
Launched in October 2020, the MIT and Accenture Convergence Initiative for Industry and Technology underscores the ways in which industry and technology can collaborate to spur innovation. The...
View ArticleSimulating discrimination in virtual reality
Have you ever been advised to “walk a mile in someone else’s shoes?” Considering another person’s perspective can be a challenging endeavor — but recognizing our errors and biases is key to building...
View ArticleEngineers invent vertical, full-color microscopic LEDs
Take apart your laptop screen, and at its heart you’ll find a plate patterned with pixels of red, green, and blue LEDs, arranged end to end like a meticulous Lite Brite display. When electrically...
View ArticleAugmented reality headset enables users to see hidden objects
MIT researchers have built an augmented reality headset that gives the wearer X-ray vision.The headset combines computer vision and wireless perception to automatically locate a specific item that is...
View ArticleBoosting passenger experience and increasing connectivity at the Hong Kong...
Recently, a cohort of 36 students from MIT and universities across Hong Kong came together for the MIT Entrepreneurship and Maker Skills Integrator (MEMSI), an intense two-week startup boot camp hosted...
View ArticleTelling stories in space
There are certain basics about designing anything. The product has to be safe. It has to be reliable. It should be affordable. But it also has to function for the user. More than giving a cool...
View ArticleSay hello to Tim the BeaVR
MIT’s mascot Tim the Beaver is ready to travel virtually anywhere in the world!A new app developed by MIT undergraduate Daniel Portela lets individuals place virtual Tim anywhere they are using just...
View ArticleToward more flexible and rapid prototyping of electronic devices
Whether you are a new employee, a gymnast, or a bendy straw manufacturer, one trait is ideal across the board: flexibility. The same can now be said about prototyping electronic devices. While...
View ArticleArchitectural heritage like you haven’t seen it before
The shrine of Khwaja Abu Nasr Parsa is a spectacular mosque in Balkh, Afghanistan. Also known as the “Green Mosque” due to the brilliant color of its tiled and painted dome, the intricately decorated...
View ArticleFirst-of-its-kind Indigenous immersive incubator gathers on MIT campus
An historic delegation of 10 Indigenous artists and advisors recently gathered on MIT's campus to share their work with each other and with the MIT community. The theme of the ISO Indigenous Incubator...
View ArticleBringing the social and ethical responsibilities of computing to the forefront
There has been a remarkable surge in the use of algorithms and artificial intelligence to address a wide range of problems and challenges. While their adoption, particularly with the rise of AI, is...
View ArticleQ&A: A high-tech take on Wagner’s “Parsifal” opera
The world-famous Bayreuth Festival in Germany, annually centered around the works of composer Richard Wagner, launched this summer on July 25 with a production that has been making headlines. Director...
View ArticleArrays of quantum rods could enhance TVs or virtual reality devices
Flat screen TVs that incorporate quantum dots are now commercially available, but it has been more difficult to create arrays of their elongated cousins, quantum rods, for commercial devices. Quantum...
View ArticleCommunicating across time
Since the invention of the telegraph, humans have been able to communicate across great distances in real-time. Today, we can choose among myriad technologies — radio, telephone, video conference...
View ArticleInvisible tagging system enhances 3D object tracking
Stop me if you’ve seen this before: a black and white pixelated square in lieu of a physical menu at a restaurant.QR codes are seemingly ubiquitous in everyday life. Whether you see one on a coupon at...
View ArticleA system to keep cloud-based gamers in sync
Cloud gaming, which involves playing a video game remotely from the cloud, witnessed unprecedented growth during the lockdowns and gaming hardware shortages that occurred during the heart of the...
View ArticleMIT.nano Family Day invites those at home to come to work
Every day, researchers come to MIT.nano to investigate at the nanoscale, but what’s it like to work there? On Aug. 21, MIT.nano staff invited their family members to come see what it takes to support...
View ArticleA new way to integrate data with physical objects
To get a sense of what StructCode is all about, says Mustafa Doğa Doğan, think of Superman. Not the “faster than a speeding bullet” and “more powerful than a locomotive” version, but a Superman, or...
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A flexible solution to help artists improve animation
Artists who bring to life heroes and villains in animated movies and video games could have more control over their animations, thanks to a new technique introduced by MIT researchers.Their method...
View ArticleCo-creating climate futures with real-time data and spatial storytelling
Virtual story worlds and game engines aren’t just for video games anymore. They are now tools for scientists and storytellers to digitally twin existing physical spaces and then turn them into vessels...
View ArticleSmart glove teaches new physical skills
You’ve likely met someone who identifies as a visual or auditory learner, but others absorb knowledge through a different modality: touch. Being able to understand tactile interactions is especially...
View ArticleFaces of MIT: Lydia Brosnahan
A lot of behind-the-scenes work goes into creating an art installation or a theater production – not just by those making or performing their craft, but also by the staff members who coordinate the...
View ArticleBrain surgery training from an avatar
Benjamin Warf, a renowned neurosurgeon at Boston Children’s Hospital, stands in the MIT.nano Immersion Lab. More than 3,000 miles away, his virtual avatar stands next to Matheus Vasconcelos in Brazil...
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