The Download: training robots for unfamiliar environments, and all-new bird flu

September 20, 2024
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. AI models let robots carry out tasks in unfamiliar environments What’s new: It’s tricky to get robots to do things in environments they’ve never seen before. Typically, researchers need to train them on…

AI models let robots carry out tasks in unfamiliar environments

September 20, 2024
It’s tricky to get robots to do things in environments they’ve never seen before. Typically, researchers need to train them on new data for every new place they encounter, which can become very time-consuming and expensive. Now, researchers have developed a series of AI models that teach robots to complete basic tasks in new surroundings…

Flu season is coming—and so is the risk of an all-new bird flu

September 20, 2024
This article first appeared in The Checkup, MIT Technology Review’s weekly biotech newsletter. To receive it in your inbox every Thursday, and read articles like this first, sign up here. September will soon be drawing to a close. The kids are back to school, and those of us in the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing the joys the end…