One of the hottest topics in robotics is the field of soft robots, which utilizes squishy and flexible materials rather than traditional rigid materials. But soft robots have been limited due to their lack of good sensing. A good robotic gripper needs to feel what it is touching (tactile sensing), and it needs to sense the positions of its fingers (proprioception). Such sensing has been missing from most soft robots.

Scientists are moving robots along on that continuum by developing robotic skin that helps them gain the sense of touch. Researchers from Munich to Japan to Boston are currently looking into how to give robots tactile sensation and in some cases, feel pain.

A team from CSAIL came up with a method that dials us closer to more seamless human-robot collaboration. The system, called “Conduct-A-Bot,” uses human muscle signals from wearable sensors to pilot a robot’s movement. 

This week the White House announced that MIT Professor Daniela Rus, director of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), has been selected to serve on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST).

It can be hard to keep track of all the numbers, statistics, and charts swirling around the internet -- we’re inundated with information that can be rapidly disseminated and dissected. To carve through some of the sludge, here’s a selected highlight of recent computer science related efforts to fight COVID-19. 

Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) have developed a new framework called CommPlan that, rather than telling robots exactly when and how to communicate, gives them a few high-level principles for good etiquette and then leaves it to the robot to make decisions that would allow it to finish the task as efficiently as possible.

A simulation system invented at MIT to train driverless cars creates a photorealistic world with infinite steering possibilities, helping the cars learn to navigate a host of worse-case scenarios before cruising down real streets.  

Training interactive robots may one day be an easy job for everyone, even those without programming expertise. Roboticists are developing automated robots that can learn new tasks solely by observing humans. At home, you might someday show a domestic robot how to do routine chores. In the workplace, you could train robots like new employees, showing them how to perform many duties.

View the annual list from MIT Technology Review that includes technologies that "will make a real difference in solving important problems."