Four inventions that trace their origins to the School of Computer Science and, particularly, the Robotics Institute, have been honored by Popular Science’s annual Best of What’s New Awards.
This year’s winners from the Robotics Institute, published in the magazine’s December issue now on sale, include the Flex System, a head and neck surgery tool based on snake robot research; 360fly, a panoramic video camera; and 3-D Object Manipulation Software, a photo editing tool. Also honored from SCS was LiveLight, a method for automatically editing out the boring parts of personal or security videos;
“For 27 years, Popular Science has honored the innovations that surprise and amaze us − those that make a positive impact on our world today and challenge our view of whatʼs possible in the future,” said Cliff Ransom, editor-in-chief of Popular Science. “The Best of Whatʼs New Award is the magazineʼs top honor, and the 100 winners − chosen from among thousands of entrants − each a revolution in its field.”
The editors of Popular Science review thousands of products in search of the top 100 tech innovations of the year in 12 categories: Aerospace, Automotive, Engineering, Entertainment, Gadgets, Green, Hardware, Health, Home, Recreation, Security, and Software.
“Winners of Popular Science’s Best of What’s New Award tend to change what the future will look like,” Ransom said. “This year’s 100 honorees are no different: They are revolutionary in their respective fields.”
The Carnegie Mellon winners are:
• 3-D Object Manipulation Software was developed by Natasha Kholgade, a Ph.D. student in the Robotics Institute, and Yaser Sheikh, associate research professor of robotics, and colleagues. It uses available 3-D models of common objects to enable photo editors to manipulate objects in three dimensions within a two-dimensional photo. Objects can be turned or flipped in any direction, even exposing surfaces not visible in the original photo. It is a winner in the Software category.
• Flex System, a robot-assisted surgical device, was developed by Howie Choset, professor of robotics, along with then post-doc Alon Wolf and Dr. Marco Zenati of the Harvard Medical School. Medrobotics Corp., a company that the trio co-founded, has begun limited marketing in Europe of the flexible endoscopic system that enables surgeons to access and visualize hard-to-reach anatomical locations in the head and neck. It is a winner in the Health category.
• 360fly, formerly known as EyeSee360, is a spinout of the Robotics Institute. It is producing a rugged, waterproof and lightweight camera that provides a unique, 360-degree horizontal and 240-degree vertical view of the world. The Pittsburgh company, founded in 1998, expects to rollout the camera next year. The camera is a winner in the Gadget category.
• LiveLight, created by Eric P. Xing, professor of machine learning, and Bin Zhao, a Ph.D. student in the Machine Learning Department, is a method for automatically identifying the unique parts of videos and producing a mini-trailer of the video’s highlights. They have launched a startup company, PanOptus, to develop an application that automatically summarizes security videos. It is a winner in the Security category.