Stata Center Research Articles

Automated Model And Parameter Selection: Incorporating Expert Input into Geotechnical Analyses

Excavation for construction of MIT Stata Center in Cambridge, MA. This complex soil-structure interaction problem required advanced numerical methods and soil constitutive models. A) PLAXIS 3D model of intermediate excavation stage; B) Model settlements at intermediate stage; C) Photo showing intermediate excavation stage; D) Model settlements at near-final state. Graphics courtesy of Zhandos Orazalin and Andrew Whittle.

RTAB‐Map as an open‐source lidar and visual simultaneous localization and mapping library for large‐scale and long‐term online operation

AbstractDistributed as an open‐source library since 2013, real‐time appearance‐based mapping (RTAB‐Map) started as an appearance‐based loop closure detection approach with memory management to deal with large‐scale and long‐term online operation. It then grew to implement simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) on various robots and mobile platforms. As each application brings its own set of constraints on sensors, processing capabilities, and locomotion, it raises the question of which SLAM approach is the most appropriate to use in terms of cost, accuracy, computation power, and ease of integration. Since most of SLAM approaches are either visual‐ or lidar‐based, comparison is difficult. Therefore, we decided to extend RTAB‐Map to support both visual and lidar SLAM, providing in one package a tool allowing users to implement and compare a variety of 3D and 2D solutions for a wide range of applications with different robots and sensors. This paper presents this extended version of RTAB‐Map and its use in comparing, both quantitatively and qualitatively, a large selection of popular real‐world datasets (e.g., KITTI, EuRoC, TUM RGB‐D, MIT Stata Center on PR2 robot), outlining strengths, and limitations of visual and lidar SLAM configurations from a practical perspective for autonomous navigation applications.

Windowed multiscan optimization using weighted least squares for improving localization accuracy of mobile robots

The localization and trajectory estimation of mobile robots is one of the fundamental problems in contemporary robotics. To solve it, robots often rely on the laser scanner data, which is being processed by scan-matcher algorithms followed by a simple integration of acquired transformations. Here we propose algorithm to improve the accuracy of trajectory estimation using additional correspondences between scans and the idea that all transformations between pairs of “not too far away" scans should be consistent between themselves. Additionally, weighting based on the scan-matcher error estimation allows us to reduce the importance of scan-matcher results, which can not be reliably matched. Our approach can be used to improve the performance of existing simultaneous localization and mapping setups in the form of an easily pluggable middleware, which depends only on the laser scanner and odometry data. Experimental evaluation on MIT Stata Center dataset shows that our method outperforms standard keyframe approach by more than 20% by root mean square error metric. In an experiment performed at the Skoltech using different setup our method showed almost 35% improvement.

Three-Dimensional Analyses of Excavation Support System for the Stata Center Basement on the MIT Campus

The basement of the Stata Center building on the MIT campus required 12.8 m deep excavations covering a large open-plan site and underlain by more than 25 m of lightly overconsolidated Boston Blue Clay. The excavations were supported by a floating, perimeter diaphragm and braced with a system of internal corner struts, rakers, and tieback anchors. The project involved a complex sequence of berms, access ramps, and phased construction of the concrete mat foundation. One of the key goals of the design was to limit ground movements in order to prevent damage to adjacent structures, including the Alumni Pool building, which was founded on shallow caissons and located less than 1.5 m from the south wall. Lateral wall movements and building settlements were closely monitored throughout construction, while photos from a network of webcams located around the open-plan site provide a detailed time history of the construction processes. This paper describes the development of a comprehensive three-dimensional (3D) finite-element (FE) model for the Stata Center basement excavation, which has been enabled by recent advances made available in a FE software package, including efficient multicore iterative solving capabilities, importing of geometric data from computer-aided design files, and use of embedded pile elements to represent tieback anchors. The analyses highlight the effects of the 3D excavation and support geometry on wall and ground movements. The base case results using a simple elasto-plastic Mohr–Coulomb soil model with undrained conditions in the clay are generally in very good agreement with measured performance. The effects of refined constitutive modeling and partial drainage within the clay have a secondary role in numerical predictions for this project.

The MIT Stata Center dataset

This paper presents a large scale dataset of vision (stereo and RGB-D), laser and proprioceptive data collected over an extended duration by a Willow Garage PR2 robot in the 10 story MIT Stata Center. As of September 2012 the dataset comprises over 2.3 TB, 38 h and 42 km (the length of a marathon). The dataset is of particular interest to robotics and computer vision researchers interested in long-term autonomy. It is expected to be useful in a variety of research areas—robotic mapping (long-term, visual, RGB-D or laser), change detection in indoor environments, human pattern analysis, long-term path planning. For ease of use the original ROS ‘bag’ log files are provided and also a derivative version combining human readable data and imagery in standard formats. Of particular importance, this dataset also includes ground-truth position estimates of the robot at every instance (to typical accuracy of 2 cm) using as-built floor-plans—which were carefully extracted using our software tools. The provision of ground-truth for such a large dataset enables more meaningful comparison between algorithms than has previously been possible.

Real-time 6-DOF multi-session visual SLAM over large-scale environments

This paper describes a system for performing real-time multi-session visual mapping in large-scale environments. Multi-session mapping considers the problem of combining the results of multiple simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) missions performed repeatedly over time in the same environment. The goal is to robustly combine multiple maps in a common metrical coordinate system, with consistent estimates of uncertainty. Our work employs incremental smoothing and mapping (iSAM) as the underlying SLAM state estimator and uses an improved appearance-based method for detecting loop closures within single mapping sessions and across multiple sessions. To stitch together pose graph maps from multiple visual mapping sessions, we employ spatial separator variables, called anchor nodes, to link together multiple relative pose graphs.The system architecture consists of a separate front-end for computing visual odometry and windowed bundle adjustment on individual sessions, in conjunction with a back-end for performing the place recognition and multi-session mapping. We provide experimental results for real-time multi-session visual mapping on wheeled and handheld datasets in the MIT Stata Center. These results demonstrate key capabilities that will serve as a foundation for future work in large-scale persistent visual mapping.

Climate change again, MIT plans, exoskeleton, WikiLeaks

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review developments on the internet, especially those of general cybernetic interest.Design/methodology/approachThe need to reduce carbon emissions on account of the atmospheric greenhouse effect has recently been queried, but observations of effects on the oceans confirm its continuing importance. A means of viewing new buildings in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the site of origin of much of cybernetics, is indicated, as is also a remarkable development of an advanced prosthetic device. Sources of information about the recent WikiLeaks or “Cablegate” events are reviewed.FindingsEffects of acidification on ocean biota are serious. New buildings on the MIT campus are not following the example of the bizarre Stata Center. The robotic exoskeleton is a valuable development made under unusual conditions. No attempt is made to judge ethics or long‐term effects of WikiLeaks activity but it is shown to be wide ranging and to be defended eloquently by its main operative.Practical implicationsThe need to reduce carbon emissions is confirmed by studies of the oceans, probably among other factors. The exoskeleton development is a valuable addition to prosthetic technology as well as an example of what can be done with limited resources.Originality/valueIt is hoped this is a valuable periodic review.

MIT architecture and values: Gehry’s Stata and Holl’s Simmons

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000 initiated a billion dollar building program featuring buildings by world‐renowned architects, including Frank Gehry and Steven Holl. Gehry’s Stata Center, which houses computer scientists, and Holl’s Simmons Hall dormitory raise questions about the relationship of architecture to MIT’s values. Many MIT faculty, students, and administrators celebrate Gehry’s Stata and Holl’s Simmons as expressing the inventiveness, energy, and excellence of the people within them and as moving the campus into the twenty‐first century. Others ask if MIT has lost its way by choosing elite, costly buildings at an institution historically characterized by utilitarian and functional values.

The sourcebook of contemporary architecture

The Sourcebook of Contemporary Architecture presents more than 300 noteworthy case studies in its 650 pages. Each case study includes a succinct description of the project at hand, listing its name, client, and location and presenting its unique objectives, challenges, and solutions. Every case study also features numerous full-colour photographs and detailed renderings of site and floor plans. Finally, each case study provides a full listing of those involved in the project: the architectural firm and its participating architects; engineers; consultants; and contractors. The book features the work of world-renowned architects such as Gehry Partners, Ateliers Jean Nouvel, Santiago Calatrava, Richard Meier and Partners, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, Philippe Starck, Tod Williams Billie Tsien and Associates, Daniel Claudio Taddei, Diller Scofidio, and others. Well-known projects include New York's Modern Museum of Art redesign and Time Warner Center, England's Selfridges Birmingham, and the MIT Stata Center in Cambridge, MA. This incredible volume is organised into the following categories: Public Buildings: Offices, banks, corporate buildings, convention and exhibition centers, research centers, factories, and skyscrapers; Urban Planning and Transportation: Airports, train stations, urban transportation centers, bridges, communications towers, urban parks, peripheral parks, urban monuments and land art; Cultural Facilities: Museums, art galleries, cultural centers and foundations, schools and universities, libraries, and houses of worship; Public Buildings: Auditoriums; theaters and cinemas; sports facilities; theme parks and attractions; bars, clubs, and game rooms; shopping malls; stores and showrooms; and restaurants; Private Homes: Multifamily urban homes, multifamily suburban homes, hotels and residences, semidetached and row houses, single family suburban homes, single family country homes, single family seaside homes; and Future Architecture: Art galleries, theaters and cinemas, and others.

New Media Feminism

WAM! WOMEN, ACTION AND THE MEDIA CONFERENCE MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS MARCH 28-30, 2008 WAM! Women Action and Media Conference took place March 28-30, 2008, at Masschusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) Stata Center as a weekend of media activist crosspollination among 600 (mostly) women journalists, media activists, bloggers, and producers. This weekend of kinetic shareware mimicked the positive aspects of Web community technology, with intergenerational women surfing Second Wave, Third Wave, and rogue waves of progressive ideas. Topics included the changing millennial media terrain, girl geck-doms, youth activism, alternative and mainstream publications, analogue and on-line publishing, and multi-platform marketing. WAM! is the brainchild of Laura Zimmerman, former Executive Director of the Center for New Words, an independent community bookstore with a clear mission: To use the power and creativity of words and ideas to strengthen the voice of progressive and marginalized women in society. Now in its fifth year, the WAM! conference has been amped up by a range of co-sponsoring organizations and publications including the MIT Program in Women's Studies, Bitch Magazine, Feministing.com, Nation, In These Times, Seal Press, Women In Media and News, and many others. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Participants from across the United States and Canada met for a marathon of downloadable ideas via workshops, breakout sessions, and how-to networking. While daily virtual gatherings light up myriad electric conversations from the computer screen, the conference's face-to-face encounters with entire collectives of media visionaries writing, producing, sparking, and creating provided another version of 3D community. Adventures in Girl-pedia wikis of generosity proliferated at WAM!, along with sessions on DIY New Media, optimal blogging, book proposal writing, and screen-loads. Veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas delivered the Friday night keynote address with quote gems that included My adrenaline is outrage. Dubbed by Ann Friedman of Feministing.com in her introductory comments as The Patron Saint of Not Shutting Up, Thomas spoke to a packed house about her experiences in a ringside seat to history, covering nine presidents over more than forty years, beginning with John F. Kennedy (the most visionary) and the current President Bush, who in her opinion has done end runs around the constitution. Summing up the foreign policy of the current administration, Thomas declares You don't spread democracy through the barrel of a gun. In response to her courageous articulations, the packed house gave the octogenearian reporter not one, but three separate standing ovations. Clearly, Thomas continues to serve as First Amendment incarnate. Saturday morning began with a keynote talk by Haifa Zangana, an Iraqi novelist, political commentator for the Guardian in London, and weekly columnist for al-Quds newspaper. …

Development of an inducible three colour bacterial water colour system

Here we present the work of the 2006 University of Arizona team in the iGEM (international Genetically Engineered Machine) competition sponsored by MIT. Our aim was to develop an inducible water colour system for painting bacteria in three colours. Using BioBricks, a plasmid was designed for insertion into E. coli which would allow the bacterium to respond to each of three different chemical inducers by producing yellow, cyan or red fluorescent proteins. In principle the inducers could be deposited on a bacterial lawn using a high-resolution printer so that three colour images could be produced with a spatial resolution matching the size of the bacterium. This could be the first step towards producing a bacterial lawn that behaves like a canvas for watercolour painting or eventually a three-colour television set. The application connects with current interest in precise control of cellular response desired in biosensors and bioengineered materials. The University of Arizona iGEM team called the ‘Cell Raisers’ was assembled in May 2006 and worked enthusiastically throughout the summer. The team was comprised of six undergraduates (Tyler Brown, Brian Heinze, Patrick Hollinger, Josh Kittleson, Kevin MacDow, and Dan Reavis), one graduate student (Carlos Chang), and two faculty members (Joan Curry and Mark Riley). This proved to be an ambitious project, and while the final goal was not fully realised, first steps were made in terms of design, plasmid construction and bacterial deposition with an inkjet printer. Patrick Hollinger and Brian Heinze gave the technical presentation to judges and competing teams on Saturday, November 4, 2006 in MIT's Stata Center. The team also presented a poster that was viewed in the evening after all the presentations. For their efforts, the University of Arizona team received honourable mention with special consideration: ‘For progress toward synthetic biology in three colours’.

A Conversation with Michael Stonebraker and Margo Seltzer

Over the past 30 years Michael Stonebraker has left an indelible mark on the database technology world. Stonebraker’s legacy began with Ingres, an early relational database initially developed in the 1970s at UC Berkeley, where he taught for 25 years. The Ingres technology lives on today in both the Ingres Corporation’s commercial products and the open source PostgreSQL software. A prolific entrepreneur, Stonebraker also started successful companies focused on the federated database and stream-processing markets. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1998 and currently is adjunct professor of computer science at MIT. Interviewing Stonebraker is Margo Seltzer, one of the founders of Sleepycat Software, makers of Berkeley DB, a popular embedded database engine now owned by Oracle. Seltzer now spends most of her time teaching and doing research at Harvard, where she is full professor of computer science. She was kind enough to lend us her time and travel down the Charles River to speak with Stonebraker, her former Ph.D. advisor, at MIT’s striking Stata Center.

Rapid Speech Transmission Index predictions and auralizations of unusual instructional spaces at MIT’s new Stata Center

The Stata Center for Computer, Information and Intelligence Sciences, recently opened at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, includes a variety of oddly-shaped seminar rooms in addition to lecture spaces of somewhat more conventional form. The architects design approach prohibited following conventional, well understood room-acoustical behavior yet MIT and the design team were keenly interested in ensuring that these spaces functioned exceptionally well, acoustically. CATT-Acoustic room modeling was employed to assess RASTI through multiple design iterations for all these spaces. Presented here are computational and descriptive results achieved for these rooms which are highly-regarded by faculty. They all sound peculiarly good, given their unusual form. In addition, binaural auralizations for selected spaces are provided.

The Ray and Maria Stata Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Ray and Maria Stata Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Building Stata: the design and construction of Frank O. Gehry's Stata Center at MIT

This stunning, lavishly illustrated book chronicles the entire planning and construction process of the Frank Gehry-designed Ray and Maria Stata Center at MIT. Taking us from the historical background and architectural context at MIT through the interaction of the clients' needs and the architect's vision to the choice of building materials and construction methods, Building Stata offers a uniquely detailed look at the evolution of a major work by a master architect.The purpose of the Stata Center is to bring the intelligence sciences--computer science, artificial intelligence, information and decision systems, linguistics, and philosophy--together into a space that emphasizes research-focused collaboration. Frank Gehry's design integrates flexible and interconnected workspaces and incorporates a series of steps from public to private space, with places for social and intellectual interaction on lower levels giving way to space for study and contemplation on the upper floors; thus a two-level warehouse-like space is topped by two towers. The Center is wrapped around a series of outdoor terraces visible from a central court in both towers. The characteristic Gehry curves are clad in metal, the more block-like elements in brick.The architectural drawings and photographs -- 300 of them in color -- in Building Stata document the making of the Stata Center from concept to concrete reality. The photographs by Richard Sobol portray a work in progress, evoking the beauty of its architectural form and capturing the telling detail -- the building's sculptured shape against a clear blue sky, or construction workers perched on a massive curve of metal.

Four-Dimensional Modeling to Support Construction Planning of the Stata Center Project

The application of 4-D models to the Ray and Maria Stata Center project on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is summarized. The general contractor’s decision to build the 4-D models is discussed, and details of the 4-D modeling process are given to illustrate the effect of the models on the project. It is shown that once a 3-D model is available a 4-D model can be created relatively cheaply, thereby extracting additional benefit from the investment made in generating the 3-D model.

A graphical approach to assessing speech privacy and speech intrusion in offices

Several very effective closed-form solutions for computing speech intelligibility and speech privacy have been available for designers since Kryters seminal work on articulation index (AI) in the early 1960s. Presented here is a unique graphical solution derived from many of these that lends itself remarkably well to visually assessing, for given room constants and source spectra, the relative contributions of noise insulation class and NC to both speech privacy and intrusion. A principal benefit of this graphical approach is the client’s much-improved grasp of the relative merits of current conditions versus alternate designs. Research faculty offices at MIT’s new Stata Center, presently in design by architect Frank O. Gehry, are discussed in a case study.