Today’s New York Times reports on a Stanford AI course that will be available online and has already attracted nearly 60,000 students.

I’ve been interacting with the international press quite a bit with the spate of disasters in Japan and here in the US. I’m thrilled with the “where are the robots?” questions for a couple of reasons. First, there’s the Sally Fields effect- they like robots! Finally, I was getting tired of hearing about the Terminator and robot uprisings. Second, I get to point that out that there is a set of land, sea, and marine vehicles sufficiently hardened to be of use- while putting in a pitch for the government to fund acquisition. (But no worries, these robots are the first generation and need lots of improvements and fundamental research […]

I’ve just returned from Japan advising the “Mt. Fuji” team on UAVs for the Fukushima nuclear situation and I’ll be going back next week with a team of experts and robots to assist several prefectures with tsunami damage inspection and the grim task of underwater victim recovery.  (Read more about this in The New York Times.)  This will be the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue’s (CRASAR) twelfth response since the first use of rescue robots at the 9/11 World Trade Center collapse just short of a decade ago. What has changed in rescue robotics in the last 10 years?  The robots, of course!  Rescue robots originally meant small ground vehicles […]

The CRA website has an interesting white paper on the role of postdocs in computer science.  The paper is relatively short and very readable.  Right under the white paper is an area for readers to post their thoughts and reactions.  The authors of the white paper plan to write a follow-on report that synthesizes the views of the computing community, so please share your thoughts by March 15.

Professor Maja J. Matarić, a computer scientist at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, has been awarded the the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM). Professor Mataric was recognized for her outstanding efforts in mentoring at all levels — K-12 students, students at USC, and young faculty colleagues. It is exciting to see mentoring acknowledged and rewarded at this level! Congratulations Maja! Read the White House announcement here.

Dr. Dawn Xiadong Song, Associate Professor of Computer Science at U.C. Berkeley, is one of 23 recipients of the 2010 Macarthur Grants awarded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.  An article on this year’s grants recipients appeared in today’s New York Times.