CSAIL Weekly
MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL)
MIT CSAIL pioneers approaches to computing that improve how people work, play and learn.
Welcome! After a festive break, the CSAIL Weekly has returned 🎆
This week: robots galore, a chat about computer chips, and a new CSAIL joint research venture! 🦾
Top News from MIT CSAIL
1. DexWrist
Take a look at Assistant Professor Pulkit Agrawal's new project: DexWrist.
2. MIT teaches soft robots body awareness through AI and vision
Forbes featured new research from Professor Daniela Rus and others from MIT CSAIL. Their soft robotic hands learn to grasp objects entirely through visual observation with no sensors, no prior model, and no manual programming.
3. NEW PODCAST! 🎤
The future of AI depends not just on better software but on smarter, faster hardware. Host Kara Miller interviews Tufts professor and author Chris Miller about how the chip industry evolved from independent manufacturing giants to specialized global supply chains and why that’s both a strength and a vulnerability.
4. MIT + Sofia University
MIT CSAIL and Sofia University's INSAIT - Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology have joined forces to accelerate progress in computer science and AI.
5. Winner Winner: Dr. Luis Muniz, Bayer! 🏆
Congratulations to Luis Muniz, Ph.D. of Bayer! He won the 2025 CSAIL Alliances Connector Award, recognizing his efforts to bring together academia and industry for real, measurable impact.
Read more via CSAIL Alliances →
6. Autonomous Underwater Gliders 🌊
An AI pipeline developed by CSAIL researchers enables unique hydrodynamic designs for boogie board-sized vehicles that glide underwater and could help scientists gather marine data.
The MIT scientists say that this design pipeline could create new, more efficient machines that help oceanographers measure water temperature and salt levels, gather more detailed insights about currents, and monitor the impacts of climate change.
7. LLMs and complex reasoning
Can LLMs be trained to perform better with difficult, unpredictable problems? MIT researchers are developing a way to make LLMs more adaptable to challenging tasks like strategic planning or process optimization.
Dive Deeper with MIT CSAIL
A Robotic Wrist for Constrained and Dynamic Manipulation
Nearly all robotic and prosthetic arms incorporate some type of wrist... Yet both the academic and industrial research communities have tended to place more focus on hand/gripper development than that of wrist systems.
🦾 Curious about the potential and possibilities of DexWrist? Read the paper by Martin Peticco, Gabriella Ulloa, John Marangola, Pulkit Agrawal. Check out more videos of DexWrist in action, and join the waitlist to purchase.
Level Up with CSAIL
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Learn from top CSAIL leaders and faculty, including Srini Devadas, Daniela Rus, Armando Solar-Lezama, Taylor Reynolds, Una- May O'Reilly, Vinod Vaikuntanathan, Nickolai Zeldovich, Mengjia Yan, David Clark, Daniel Weitzner, Daniel Jackson, Christina Delimitrou, Adam Chlipala. Save 15% (more than $400!) with code CSAIL15!
Thanks for reading! See you next week.
This edition of the CSAIL Weekly is brought to you by a tasty snack 🍎