MIT News recently posted an article “An Easier Way to Teach Robots New Skills” that features a new technique for more efficient robotic programming. The research is being done at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and enables robots to learn new “pick-and-place” tasks and recognize unfamiliar objects with only a handful of human demonstrations. As it now stands, robots are only trained to handle narrow tasks and have to be reprogrammed for every slight deviation. Retraining can involve hours to weeks of human labor. For example, if a robot is placed in a warehouse and assigned the task of moving cups from the shelf to the a box for shipping, […]
Computing Community Consortium Blog
The goal of the Computing Community Consortium (CCC) is to catalyze the computing research community to debate longer range, more audacious research challenges; to build consensus around research visions; to evolve the most promising visions toward clearly defined initiatives; and to work with the funding organizations to move challenges and visions toward funding initiatives. The purpose of this blog is to provide a more immediate, online mechanism for dissemination of visioning concepts and community discussion/debate about them.
MIT Researchers Working on new Technique to More Efficiently Train Robots
April 29th, 2022 / in AAAS / by Maddy HunterNSF Distinguished Lecture: Socially Interactive Robots for Equitable Healthcare Outcomes
April 28th, 2022 / in CCC, NSF, robotics / by Maddy HunterDr. Ayanna Howard, Dean of Engineering at The Ohio State University and Monte Ahuja Endowed Dean’s Chair will speak on “Socially Interactive Robots for Equitable Healthcare Outcomes” as a part of the NSF Distinguished Lecture Series. The event, to be held May 4th at 11 AM Eastern, will focus on how robots (particularly healthcare robots) and artificial intelligence can be positively integrated into everyday life and tasks. Research and development of helper robots exploded during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to grow as people realize positive potential and impact these technologies can have on the healthcare field. Abstract Dr. Howard’s lecture will provide insights into how robots and artificial intelligence […]
NSF Announces New Investment RINGS
April 26th, 2022 / in Announcements, awards, NSF, research horizons, Research News / by Maddy HunterModern communication devices are becoming an increasingly vital part of society and everyday life. These technologies provide users with the ability to conveniently and instantaneously perform vital services and tasks. To meet this growing area of development, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a new investment of over $37 million to catalyze research pertaining to the development of intelligent, resilient, and reliable next generation — or NextG — networks. The public-private investment, Resilient and Intelligent Next-Generation Systems (RINGS) seeks to increase the competitiveness of the U.S. NextG networking and computing technologies to ensure the security and resilience of our systems. Partnered with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense […]
Daniel Larremore Recognized as one of the Three Scientists Receiving the 2022 Alan T. Waterman Award
April 22nd, 2022 / in Announcements, awards, Great Innovative Idea, research horizons, Research News / by Maddy HunterThe National Science Foundation just named the winners of the Alan T. Waterman Award. The annual award recognizes an outstanding young researcher in any field of science or engineering supported by the National Science Foundation. This was the first year that three scientists were recognized. The nation’s highest honor for early career researchers went to Daniel B. Larremore (Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at University of Colorado Boulder), Lara A. Thompson (Associate Professor for the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of the District of Columbia), and Jessica E. Tierney (Associate Professor of Geosciences and Global Change and the University of Arizona). The fifth Computer Scientist […]
AAAS Annual Meeting 2022 – Robotics: Empowering not Replacing People
April 21st, 2022 / in AAAS, research horizons, robotics / by Maddy HunterAs further advancements in Artificial Intelligence are made, automated processes and robotics are becoming a ubiquitous entity in the workforce. As a result, there is a growing concern among the public that robots will replace humans and cause a massive job shortage. The Computing Community Consortium (CCC) organized the “Robotics: Empowering not Replacing People” scientific session at the 2022 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in February to address this concern in the public perception. The panel moderated by CCC Council Member, Maria Gini (University of Minnesota, Twin Cities) and featuring Henrik Christensen (University of California, San Diego), Michelle Johnson (University of Pennsylvania) and Julie Shah […]
NSF Convergence Accelerator Funding Opportunities
April 19th, 2022 / in Announcements, CCC, NSF / by Catherine GillThe NSF Convergence Accelerator has released a new funding opportunity for three new research tracks: Enhancing Opportunities for Persons with Disabilities (Track H), Sustainable Materials for Global Challenges (Track I), and Food & Nutrition Security (Track J). Track H will focus on improving the quality of life and access to employment and opportunities for persons with disabilities (PWD) and will convene researchers in the fields of social sciences, behavioral sciences, engineering, computer science, ethics, and economics. In 2015, the CCC put on a workshop “Prompting Strategic Research on Inclusive Access to Rich Online Content and Services” to address challenges and opportunities surrounding access to online content and services, including rich, […]
