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Lecture Series on Mechanical Engineering

One of the six founding courses of study at MIT, Mechanical Engineering embodies the motto “mens et manus” — mind and hand. Disciplinary depth and breadth, together with hands-on discovery and physical realization, characterize our nationally and internationally recognized leadership in research, education, and innovation. MIT mechanical engineers have always stood at the forefront in tackling the engineering challenges of the day: inventing new technologies, spawning new fields of study, and educating generations of leaders in industry, government, and academia.   Research and Innovation Today, mechanical engineering is one of the broadest and most versatile of the engineering professions. This…

Lecture Series on Mathematics

An undergraduate degree in mathematics provides an excellent basis for graduate work in mathematics or computer science, or for employment in such mathematics-related fields as systems analysis, operations research, or actuarial science.   Because the career objectives of undergraduate mathematics majors are so diverse, each undergraduate’s program is individually arranged through collaboration between the student and his or her faculty advisor. In general, students are encouraged to explore the various branches of mathematics, both pure and applied.   Undergraduates seriously interested in mathematics are encouraged to elect an upper-level mathematics seminar. This is normally done during the junior year or…

Lecture Series on Engineering Innovation and Design

Course Description Learn to produce great designs, be a more effective engineer, and communicate with high emotional and intellectual impact. This project based course gives students the ability to understand, contextualize, and analyze engineering designs and systems. By learning and applying design thinking, students will more effectively solve problems in any domain. Lectures focus on teaching a tested, iterative design process as well as techniques to sharpen creative analysis. Guest lectures from all disciplines illustrate different approaches to design thinking. This course develops students’ skills to conceive, organize, lead, implement, and evaluate successful projects in any engineering discipline. Additionally, students…

Lecture Series on Artificial Intelligence

Course Description This course introduces students to the basic knowledge representation, problem solving, and learning methods of artificial intelligence. Upon completion of 6.034, students should be able to develop intelligent systems by assembling solutions to concrete computational problems; understand the role of knowledge representation, problem solving, and learning in intelligent-system engineering; and appreciate the role of problem solving, vision, and language in understanding human intelligence from a computational perspective.   Course Features Video lectures Subtitles/transcript Assignments (no solutions) Exams (no solutions) Recitation videos Instructor insights This Course at MIT

Lecture Series on Introduction to Robotics

Course Description The purpose of this course is to introduce you to basics of modeling, design, planning, and control of robot systems. In essence, the material treated in this course is a brief survey of relevant results from geometry, kinematics, statics, dynamics, and control. The course is presented in a standard format of lectures, readings and problem sets. There will be an in-class midterm and final examination. These examinations will be open book. Lectures will be based mainly, but not exclusively, on material in the Lecture Notes book. Lectures will follow roughly the same sequence as the material presented in…

Lecture Series on Underactuated Robotics

Course Description Robots today move far too conservatively, using control systems that attempt to maintain full control authority at all times. Humans and animals move much more aggressively by routinely executing motions which involve a loss of instantaneous control authority. Controlling nonlinear systems without complete control authority requires methods that can reason about and exploit the natural dynamics of our machines.   This course discusses nonlinear dynamics and control of underactuated mechanical systems, with an emphasis on machine learning methods. Topics include nonlinear dynamics of passive robots (walkers, swimmers, flyers), motion planning, partial feedback linearization, energy-shaping control, analytical optimal control,…

What if 3D printing was 100x faster?

What we think of as 3D printing, says Joseph DeSimone, is really just 2D printing over and over … slowly. Onstage at TED2015, he unveils a bold new technique — inspired, yes, by Terminator 2 — that’s 25 to 100 times faster, and creates smooth, strong parts. Could it finally help to fulfill the tremendous promise of 3D printing?    

The levitating superconductor

How can a super-thin 3-inch disk levitate something 70,000 times its own weight? In a riveting demonstration, Boaz Almog shows how a phenomenon known as quantum locking allows a superconductor disk to float over a magnetic rail — completely frictionlessly and with zero energy loss. Experiment: Prof. Guy Deutscher, Mishael Azoulay, Boaz Almog, of the High Tc Superconductivity Group, School of Physics and Astronomy, Tel Aviv University.    

3 rules to spark learning

It took a life-threatening condition to jolt chemistry teacher Ramsey Musallam out of ten years of “pseudo-teaching” to understand the true role of the educator: to cultivate curiosity. In a fun and personal talk, Musallam gives 3 rules to spark imagination and learning, and get students excited about how the world works.  

Google’s driverless car

Sebastian Thrun helped build Google’s amazing driverless car, powered by a very personal quest to save lives and reduce traffic accidents. Jawdropping video shows the DARPA Challenge-winning car motoring through busy city traffic with no one behind the wheel, and dramatic test drive footage from TED2011 demonstrates how fast the thing can really go.  

The emergence of “4D printing”

3D printing has grown in sophistication since the late 1970s; TED Fellow Skylar Tibbits is shaping the next development, which he calls 4D printing, where the fourth dimension is time. This emerging technology will allow us to print objects that then reshape themselves or self-assemble over time. Think: a printed cube that folds before your eyes, or a printed pipe able to sense the need to expand or contract.    

Image recognition that triggers augmented reality

Matt Mills and Tamara Roukaerts demonstrate Aurasma, a new augmented reality tool that can seamlessly animate the world as seen through a smartphone. Going beyond previous augmented reality, their “auras” can do everything from making a painting talk to overlaying live news onto a printed newspaper.    

What’s next in 3D printing

Just like his beloved grandfather, Avi Reichental is a maker of things. The difference is, now he can use 3D printers to make almost anything, out of almost any material. Reichental tours us through the possibilities of 3D printing, for everything from printed candy to highly custom sneakers.  

Wireless data from every light bulb

What if every light bulb in the world could also transmit data? At TEDGlobal, Harald Haas demonstrates, for the first time, a device that could do exactly that. By flickering the light from a single LED, a change too quick for the human eye to detect, he can transmit far more data than a cellular tower — and do it in a way that’s more efficient, secure and widespread.    

A headset that reads your brainwaves

Tan Le’s astonishing new computer interface reads its user’s brainwaves, making it possible to control virtual objects, and even physical electronics, with mere thoughts (and a little concentration). She demos the headset, and talks about its far-reaching applications.    

Robots with “soul”

What kind of robots does an animator / jazz musician / roboticist make? Playful, reactive, curious ones. Guy Hoffman shows demo film of his family of unusual robots — including two musical bots that like to jam with humans.    

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