MIT spinout Gradiant builds water recycling, treatment, and purification solutions for some of the world’s largest companies. “Our specialty is in the extreme water challenges that can’t be solved with traditional technologies,” Anurag Bajpayee SM ’08, PhD ’12 says.

Sometimes, it’s better to train an AI agent in an environment — like a Pac-Man game with predictable ghosts — that’s less noisy or random than the setting where it will be deployed, researchers found. Their work could help robots perform better in uncertain conditions.

Via @mitmuseum on Instagram: “After five years of meticulous planning and hard work, the MIT Museum Collection Team has completed the monumental task of relocating over 1.5 million objects to a new off-site collections facility!”

Luca Carlone works to give robots a more human-like awareness of their environment, so they can interact with people safely and seamlessly. “Perception is a big bottleneck toward getting robots to help us in the real world,” he says.

Builders pour concrete into temporary molds called formwork. Researchers have now invented a way to make these structures out of on-site soil. “It has the potential for immediate impact and doesn’t require changing the nature of the construction industry,” Sandy Curth says.

In the latest episode of Curiosity Unbounded, President Sally Kornbluth spoke with DUSP’s Andres Sevtsuk. They discussed the complex forces that shape our cities and the effects of urban planning on sustainable mobility and quality of life.