MIT Media Lab

"Speech to Reality: Generative AI and Robotic Assembly for Making Physical Objects," a project from the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA), has been selected as one of four winners in Academic Excellence in Fast Company's 2026 World Changing Ideas Awards!

The project combines generative AI with robotic assembly to quickly turn words into physical objects. Starting with a simple speech prompt, the system generates a design, and a robotic arm assembles it using reusable modular parts — creating an object in minutes.

The team includes CBA graduate student Miana Smith, CBA Director and MIT Professor Neil Gershenfeld, and other collaborators from the MIT Department of Architecture, MIT Mechanical Engineering, MIT EECS Department, and CSAIL - MIT.

Speech to Reality among winners of Fast Company's 2026 World Changing Ideas Awards – MIT Media Lab "Speech to Reality" is among winners in Academic Excellence in Fast Company's 2026 World Changing Ideas Awards.

Developed by researchers from the Tangible Media group and Politecnico Di Bari, electrofluidic fiber muscles mimic the way that natural muscle fibers bundle, and could enable compact, silent robotic and prosthetic systems.

A new type of electrically driven artificial muscle fiber New electrofluidic artificial muscle fibers could enable compact, silent, and power-dense robotic, prosthetic, and wearable assistive systems without bulky external pumps or motors. The work was led by researchers at the MIT Media Lab and Politecnico di Bari.

SpaceCHI 2026 will take place at the NASA Ames Research Center and online September 24–25, 2026. Submissions are due July 17! SpaceCHI adopts a broad interdisciplinary scope, welcoming papers and posters on a wide range of subjects related to human-computer interaction in space exploration.

SpaceCHI 2026 at the NASA Ames Research Center / Hybrid – MIT Media Lab ​Space exploration is at the dawn of a new era. Major reductions in launch costs and the rise of the private space industry are rapidly democratizing access to…

The Anemoia Device, created by Media Lab graduate researcher Cyrus Clarke, Professor Hiroshi Ishii, and collaborators from Harvard University, has won the Emerging Technologies category at the Core77 Design Awards 2026! The Anemoia Device is a “scent-memory machine” that turns analog photos into custom fragrances, exploring a vision for extending emerging AI technologies beyond digital interfaces into physical, sensory experiences.

The Anemoia Device wins Emerging Technologies category at Core77 Design Awards 2026 – MIT Media Lab The Anemoia Device by Cyrus Clarke of Tangible Media Group wins the Emerging Technologies category at Core77 Design Awards 2026.

In Fast Company, Jude Cramer looks at a study by Media Lab PhD students Anku Rani and Valdemar Danry, Professor Paul Liang, Dr. Andrew Lippman, and Professor Pattie Maes, which shows that chatbots can help people detect misinformation, but may also reduce users’ ability to spot fake news on their own — particularly if they simply provide answers, rather than guiding users to find the answer themselves.

AI's impact on cognitive ability: MIT study reveals more troubling data New research found relying too much on AI negatively affected people's ability to identify misinformation.

Congratulations to Media Lab Professor Canan Dagdeviren on receiving the Global Women’s Leadership Award from the Global Summit of Women! This award recognizes Professor Dagdeviren’s pioneering contributions to women’s health and her commitment to inspiring girls and women in STEM.

The Global Women’s Leadership Award is a lifetime achievement award honoring individuals whose work has increased opportunities for women and girls globally. Through her groundbreaking body-integrated and wearable healthcare technologies, her leadership of the MIT Media Lab’s Women’s Health Program, WHx, and her advocacy for greater representation in science and engineering, Professor Dagdeviren is helping transform women’s healthcare while empowering the next generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators.

Canan Dagdeviren Receives the Global Women’s Leadership Award – MIT Media Lab Professor Canan Dagdeviren, director of the Conformable Decoders research group, has received the Global Women’s Leadership Award from the Global Summit of Wom…

Congratulations to Media Lab Professor Pat Pataranutaporn on being selected as one of four winners of the 2026 Psychology of Technology Dissertation Award for his dissertation "Cyborg Psychology: The Art & Science of Designing Human-AI Systems that Support Human Flourishing."

Pat Pataranutaporn receives 2026 Psychology of Technology Dissertation Award – MIT Media Lab Pat Pataranutaporn wins a 2026 Psychology of Technology Dissertation Award for his work on human-AI flourishing.

Currently, when an organ is paralyzed and dysfunctional due to injury or disease, the most common options for restoring function are synthetic — pacemakers, for example, which regulate cardiac rhythms. However, new MIT research, published in Nature, demonstrates a new biohybrid system that uses rewired nerves to revive paralyzed organs. These “living implants” could open the door to a new genre of medicine, one in which a person’s own tissue becomes the hardware.

“Our research is on the brink of giving new life to various parts and extensions of the body,” says Dr. Guillermo Herrera-Arcos, a postdoctoral researcher in the Media Lab’s Biomechatronics group and co-lead of the study. “It’s exciting to think that our system could enhance human potential in ways that once only belonged to the realm of science fiction.”

Turning muscles into motors gives static organs new life A new biohybrid system reprograms living muscles into fatigue-resistant, computer-controlled motors that can be implanted inside the body to restore movement in organs. Development of the myoneural actuator was led by Hugh Herr and colleagues at MIT.

The MIT Media Lab is celebrating four faculty promotions! Canan Dagdeviren, Kevin Esvelt, and Danielle Wood have been granted tenure, and Fadel Adib has been promoted to full professor.

These four scholars exemplify the Media Lab's enduring commitment to transformative research that integrates scientific excellence with ethical commitment, technical originality with human purpose, and disciplinary depth with the courage to ask hard questions. We look forward to their continued contributions for many years to come.

https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/milestone-promotions-for-four-mit-media-lab-faculty/