You can’t squash this roach-inspired robot
08/01/19 — A new insect-sized robot created by Berkeley researchers can scurry across the floor and squeeze into tight spaces like a cockroach, a big advantage in search-and-rescue missions.
Robotics & AI
Algorithms uncover hidden scientific knowledge
07/05/19 Berkeley Lab — A team of materials science researchers from Berkeley Lab and Berkeley Engineering has found that with minimal training, machine-learning text mining of the existing scientific literature can lead to new discoveries.
Adobe Research and UC Berkeley: Detecting Facial Manipulations in Adobe Photoshop
06/19/19 Adobe — UC Berkeley and Adobe researchers have developed a method for detecting edits to images that were made using Photoshop's Face Aware Liquify feature. While still in its early stages, this collaboration between Adobe Research and UC Berkeley, is a step towards democratizing image forensics, the science of uncovering and analyzing changes to digital images.
AI researchers race to detect ‘deepfake’ videos: ‘We are outgunned’
06/13/19 Washington Post — EECS graduate student Shruti Agarwal and incoming professor Hany Farid argue that powerful new AI software has effectively democratized the creation of convincing “deepfake” videos, making it easier than ever to fabricate someone appearing to say or do something they didn't really do.
Cassie Cal makes campus moves on hovershoes
06/12/19 TechXplore — A new video by the Hybrid Robotics Group shows bipedal robot Cassie Cal riding in hovershoes down a few stairs, on uneven outdoor terrain, up and down steep inclines and leaning into a turn to navigate corners.
Salto the jumping robot
05/22/19 — Topping out at less than a foot, Salto the robot looks like a "Star Wars" imperial walker in miniature. But don't be fooled by its size - this little robot has a mighty spring in its step.
Dean’s note: Why a world with AI needs more EQ
05/01/19 — To prepare students for a rapidly evolving workplace, engineering courses must offer training that augments social and emotional skills.
Shifting gears
05/01/19 — The integration of self-driving vehicles requires policy decisions that consider how travel behavior will shift with the introduction of new mobility choices.
Squishy robots can drop from a helicopter and land safely
04/24/19 — New soccer-ball-shaped robots, created by engineers at Berkeley and Squishy Robotics, can fall hundreds of feet and be no worse for wear, or shape-shift in order to crawl from one point to another.
A robot that can be safely dropped out of a helicopter
04/18/19 Tech Crunch — Squishy Robotics, developed in part by mechanical engineering professor Alice Agogino, may someday help first responders assess a situation before they jump into it.
A robot has figured out how to use tools
04/15/19 MIT Tech Review — A machine built by UC Berkeley researchers drew on experimentation, data and observation of humans to learn how simple implements could help it achieve a task.
Meet Blue, the low-cost, human-friendly AI robot
04/09/19 — Blue uses advances in artificial intelligence and deep reinforcement learning to master intricate human tasks, while remaining affordable and safe enough that every AI researcher - and eventually every home - could have one.
Mass-producing biomaterials
04/08/19 — Researchers have developed a device that allows living tissue, bone, blood vessels and even whole organs to be printed on demand.
Jitendra Malik receives 2019 IEEE’s Computer Pioneer Award
04/02/19 IEEE — Jitendra Malik, Arthur J. Chick Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at the University of California at Berkeley, has been named to receive the IEEE Computer Society's 2019 Computer Pioneer Award.
How malevolent machine learning could derail AI
03/26/19 MIT Technology Review — Berkeley Engineering AI security expert Dawn Song warns that “adversarial machine learning” could be used to reverse-engineer systems - including those used in defense.
‘Ambidextrous’ robots could dramatically speed e-commerce
01/16/19 — In a new paper, Berkeley engineers build on 35 years of research with new algorithms that compute robust robot pick points, enabling robot grasping of a diverse range of products without training.
Clever clumsiness: Self-taught walking robot
01/09/19 Wired — Researchers from the Berkeley AI Research Lab and Google Brain have taught a robot to teach itself how to walk, through trial and error, in just two hours; the results "are as awkward as they are magical."
Artificial intelligence opens health data privacy to attack
12/21/18 — Current privacy laws and regulations are nowhere near sufficient to keep an individual's health data private in the face of advances in artificial intelligence, according to a new study from IEOR professor Anil Aswani and his team.
These robots are learning the old-fashioned way—by playing
12/19/18 California Magazine — Unlike most robots, the ones in the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR) Lab haven't been programmed to perform a specific task. Instead, they've been programmed to learn new stuff by observation or through physical trial and error.
Watch just a few self-driving cars stop traffic jams
11/19/18 Science — Anyone can start a traffic jam - just by tapping the brakes. Now, scientists at Berkeley have shown that a few self-driving cars can prevent such jams - and in some cases double the average speed of surrounding vehicles.