Carnegie Mellon

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Microsoft Study Finds Relying on AI Kills Your Critical Thinking Skills

Researchers from Microsoft and Carnegie Mellon University warn that the more you use AI, the more your cognitive abilities deteriorate.

Artificial Intelligence AJ Dellinger Feb 10

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Next year, Big Tech can't be the only one building AI. Regulators need to give access to more people.

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Carnegie Mellon Professor Who Wished Queen Elizabeth II ‘Excruciating’ Death Says Her Job Is Safe

Professor Uju Anya told supporters that the university would not be taking action against her.

Tech News Jody Serrano Sep 14

This New ‘Skinterface’ Could Make Smartwatches Suck Less

If smartwatches are going to create a gadget future beyond smartphones, they’ll have to up their game. Researchers from Carnegie Mellon may have just the thing with a new smartwatch interface that uses that fleshy bezel right next to the typically tiny displays: your arm. Called SkinTrack, this “whoa future” idea comes in two parts,…

Gadgets Darren Orf May 5

DARPA’s Latest Concept Video Looks Like a Bad 90s Movie in an Awesome Way

DARPA is working on the next-generation of fighting vehicle. And instead of making them safer through extra armor, they’re betting that speed and agility are the future of ground war. “DARPA’s performers for GXV-T are helping defy the ‘more armor equals better protection’ axiom that has constrained armored ground vehicle design for the past 100…

Tech News Matt Novak Apr 26

Humanity’s Future Will Be In Caves … On the Moon

While I talked with the legendary roboticist Red Whittaker in his lab at Carnegie Mellon, a half-moon shaped remnant of a Lifesaver was resting on his knee. He nibbled on it as we talked about sending autonomous robots to explore the Moon. That’s when he told me about the Moon caves that could be humanity’s…

Space & Spaceflight Adam Clark Estes Jun 15

This Hexapod’s Appendages Are Made From Robotic Snakes

Though it may look like a spider, the legs of this hexapod are actually made from the same technology that allows for sidewinding robotic snakes. The result is a rather creepy, but surprisingly strong and resilient, “snake monster.” This DARPA-funded hexapod was developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon’s Biorobotics Lab, the same team that developed…

io9 George Dvorsky Dec 24

8 Real-Life Robots That Inspired Big Hero 6

The star of the new Disney-Marvel movie Big Hero 6 is a poofy robot named Baymax who can assess your health with a laser-enabled two-second full-body scan. He also might soon be a reality. Baymax and other robots in the film were inspired by eight actual robots, some of which were designed and built in…

Tech News Alissa Walker Nov 6

This Nifty Tool Helps Roommates Find The Fairest Way to Split the Rent

It’s impossible enough to find a decent apartment these days, let alone the humans to share it who won’t dismember you in the night. Far more difficult, however, is deciding which roommate pays which portion of the rent, which has been known to end more than one friendship before it even started. A new online…

Tech News Alissa Walker Nov 5

Oh Great, Surgeons Want To Shove These Robot Snakes Down Our Throats

In addition to completely freaking us out, it turns out that the robotic snakes being developed at universities like Carnegie Mellonsome serve some practical purposes as well. A company called Medrobotics Corporation will soon begin marketing robot snake-assisted surgical device designed to crawl down a patient’s throat. Yeah, that’s far less creepy. Since the snakebot…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Apr 4

These Robotic Super Socks Will Aid Rehabilitation

Science fiction has given us a vision of the future where humans might one day enjoy super-strength and abilities while wearing a rigid robotic exoskeleton suit. But back here in reality, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a soft bio-robotic socks designed to assist those who have difficulty with something as simple as walking.…

Health Andrew Liszewski Jan 22

Why Is A Cheap Color Sensor Such A Big Deal?

We expect our devices to know what’s going on. Automatic doors, smartphones, temperature control systems and beyond all perform actions when they detect certain conditions. And it seems like it would just be convenient to put cameras on everything so devices could have eyes on all different situations. It would also be creepy, but we’ll…

Tech News Lily Hay Newman Sep 1

Does This Self-Burying Bot Mean We’re Close to Robo-Tremors?

We already have autonomous robots that can drive, fly, swim—even operate in space. And now, thanks to researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute, we’ll soon be dealing with bots that can tackle the final frontier here on earth—or should we say inside earth—with a self-burrowing robot that works underground. It’s hard to see…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Jun 25

The Military Has Enlisted a Laser-Wielding, Paint-Stripping Robot

Anyone who’s ever done any home renovation knows what a messy job removing paint can be. But imagine that instead of a flat wall you were tasked with stripping a curvy streamlined fighter plane. And the paint you were removing was designed to endure the stresses of supersonic flight. It’s a daunting task, which is…

Tech News Andrew Liszewski Nov 27

Savagely Beating Cellphones Into Silent Mode: A Proposal

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Intel Labs have developed a system of “whack gestures” that could allow any phone with an accelerometer to be silenced with a punch. This is brilliant. Tap gestures as a concept aren’t totally new, but the new software promises a much lower error rate than previous solutions, as well…

Tech News John Herrman Jan 13

After Pressing, Touching, Tapping and Shaking? A Scratch

Remember that bizarre, inflatable touchscreen with buttons that crawled out of Carnegie Mellon University’s labs a few months back? Those same researchers—who can’t get enough of unorthodox input methods—have another one for you: scratch input! https://gizmodo.com/step-aside-multitouch-and-haptics-this-touchscreen-ha-5230732 Here’s the vision: anything from a phone to a wall to a desk can be fitted with a small…

Tech News John Herrman Aug 10

Bossa Nova Penbo: The “First Real Robot for Girls” Is a Pink, Waddling Penguin With a Baby

The adorable pink counterpart to Prime-8, Penbo is supposedly the “first real robot for girls.” It uses the same locomotion tech derived from the buggy RHex robot, but cutified so it waddles: https://gizmodo.com/bossa-nova-prime-8-robot-walks-runs-on-his-hands-smash-5310979 And yes, it has a baby. Called Bebe. Cute overload, for sure. Unlike Prime-8, it’s not strictly remote-controlled—it responds to touch and…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 9

Bossa Nova Prime-8 Robot Walks Runs on His Hands, Smashes Aibos to Bits

What’s special about Bossa Nova‘s Prime-8 robot—a $100 descendant of DARPA and Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute’s $20,000-a-pop all-terrain RHex designed for 10-year-old boys? It’s the fastest bipedal toy robot ever. Just watch. https://gizmodo.com/hrex-robot-can-conquer-any-terrain-with-manic-thrashing-321020 Prime-8 and Penbo (shown here) are the launch products for Bossa Nova Robotics, a spinoff of Carnegie Mellon‘s Robotics Institute with a…

Tech News Matt Buchanan Jul 9

Fraud Protection Algorithm Breeds Method to Guess SSN Using Personal Details

The same algorithm developed by the government to protect people from applying for fraudulent social security numbers is now being adapted by Carnegie Mellon researchers to guess—within a few points of accuracy—your entire SSN. Their method varies in accuracy from state to state, but the basics of it is that they use your birth date…

Tech News Jason Chen Jul 7

Step Aside, Multitouch and Haptics: This Touchscreen Has Buttons

A couple of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, apparently tired of this whole touchscreen vs. button debate, have decided to just do away with the distinction entirely. The video below explains the concept in depth, but here’s the gist: A hard acrylic chamber, perforated with fixed button shapes, is surrounded by latex on both sides.…

Tech News John Herrman Apr 28

Carnegie Mellon

Microsoft Study Finds Relying on AI Kills Your Critical Thinking Skills

How to Make Artificial Intelligence More Human in 2024

Carnegie Mellon Professor Who Wished Queen Elizabeth II ‘Excruciating’ Death Says Her Job Is Safe

This New ‘Skinterface’ Could Make Smartwatches Suck Less

DARPA’s Latest Concept Video Looks Like a Bad 90s Movie in an Awesome Way

Humanity’s Future Will Be In Caves … On the Moon

This Hexapod’s Appendages Are Made From Robotic Snakes

8 Real-Life Robots That Inspired Big Hero 6

This Nifty Tool Helps Roommates Find The Fairest Way to Split the Rent

Oh Great, Surgeons Want To Shove These Robot Snakes Down Our Throats

These Robotic Super Socks Will Aid Rehabilitation

Why Is A Cheap Color Sensor Such A Big Deal?

Does This Self-Burying Bot Mean We’re Close to Robo-Tremors?

The Military Has Enlisted a Laser-Wielding, Paint-Stripping Robot

Savagely Beating Cellphones Into Silent Mode: A Proposal

After Pressing, Touching, Tapping and Shaking? A Scratch

Bossa Nova Penbo: The “First Real Robot for Girls” Is a Pink, Waddling Penguin With a Baby

Bossa Nova Prime-8 Robot Walks Runs on His Hands, Smashes Aibos to Bits

Fraud Protection Algorithm Breeds Method to Guess SSN Using Personal Details

Step Aside, Multitouch and Haptics: This Touchscreen Has Buttons

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