Merge design and pc science in inventive methods | MIT Information

The pace at which new applied sciences collide with the market is nothing in comparison with the pace at which proficient researchers discover inventive methods to make use of them, prepare them, and switch them into issues that we can not reside in. One such researcher is a MIT MAD Fellow Alexander htet kyawa graduate scholar pursuing a dual-master diploma in architectural research in computational and electrical engineering and pc science.

Kyaw employs applied sciences corresponding to synthetic intelligence, augmented actuality, and robotics, and combines them with gestures, voice, and object recognition to work together with the constructed setting, modify purchasing, design complicated buildings, and create human workflows that may create bodily issues.

Certainly one of his newest improvements is Curator AI, and he and his MIT graduate scholar companions gained $26,000 in Openai merchandise and money on AI builds on the MIT AI Convention. In partnership with Kyaw, Richa Gupta (Structure) and Bradley Bunch, Nidhish Sagar and Michael gained.

Curator AI is designed to streamline on-line furnishings purchasing through the use of AI and AR to supply context-conscious product suggestions. The platform makes use of AR to measure the room the place home windows, doorways and current furnishings areas are situated. The person can then discuss to the software program and clarify the brand new furnishings they want. The system makes use of a imaginative and prescient language AI mannequin to go looking and show a wide range of choices that swimsuit each the person’s prompts and the visible traits of the room.

“Consumers can select from recommended choices, visualize AR merchandise, use pure language to request search modifications, and make the furnishings choice course of extra intuitive, environment friendly and personalised,” says Kyaw. “The issue we’re making an attempt to unravel is that most individuals do not know the place to start out when offering a room, so we developed Curator AI to supply good context suggestions based mostly on the looks of the room.” Curator AI was developed for furnishings purchasing, however could be expanded to be used in different markets.

One other instance of Kyaw’s work is a product created by him and three different graduate college students on the March 2024 MIT Sloan Product Tech Convention hackathon. The main focus of that competitors was to assist small companies. Kyaw and the group determined to work on the premise of a Cambridge portray firm that employs 10 individuals. Estimates use AR and object recognition AI expertise to acquire correct measurements of the room and generate detailed value estimates for renovation and/or portray jobs. It additionally makes use of technology AI to show photos of rooms and rooms that will seem to have been painted or refurbished, and generates an bill as soon as the venture is full.

The group gained that hackathon and $5,000 in money. Kyaw’s teammates are Guillaume Allegre, Might Khine and Anna Mathy, all graduated from MIT in 2024 with a Masters in Enterprise Analytics.

In April, Kyaw will give a TEDX lecture at Cornell College’s alma mater. CornellUniversity discusses AI, AR, and different initiatives that use Robotics to design and construct issues.

Certainly one of these initiatives is UNLOG, the place Kyaw connects AR with gesture recognition to construct software program enter from fingertip touches to the floor of the fabric to map the size of constructing parts. That is how Unlog, a towering artwork sculpture produced from ash logs standing on the Cornell campus, was born.

UNLOG represents the chance that you may transfer your logs to a timber mill and convert them into boards or 2 x 4, then construct a construction immediately from the complete log, relatively than being shipped to a wholesaler or retailer. This expresses Kyaw’s want to make use of constructing supplies in a extra sustainable approach. Paper on this work,Feedback-based mixed reality manufacturing gesture recognition UNLOG tower case studywas printed in January 2024, minutes of the fifth Worldwide Convention on Computational Design and Robotic Manufacturing by Kyaw, Leslie Lok, Lawson Spencer and Sasa Zivkovic.

One other system developed by Kyaw integrates physics simulation, gesture recognition and AR to design lively bending buildings constructed with bamboo poles. Gesture recognition permits customers to function digital bamboo modules in AR. It additionally integrates physics simulations to visualise how bamboo bends and the way bamboo poles could be visualized in a approach that creates a secure construction. This work was printed in August 2023 in Proceedings of the forty first Schooling and Analysis in Pc-Assisted Architectural Design in Europe as “”.Active bending in physics-based mixed reality: Design and manufacturing of reconfigurable modular bamboo systems. ”

Kyaw used the bamboo module to pitch related concepts and created a deployable construction in Mitdesignx final 12 months. Mitdesignx is a MIT MAD program that gives teaching and funding to pick promising startups and launch them. Kyaw was later established Bend Shelter He’ll construct prefabricated modular bamboo shelters and neighborhood areas for refugees and displaced individuals in his residence nation, Myanmar.

“The place I grew up, in Myanmar, there are plenty of day by day impacts of local weather change and excessive poverty,” says Kyaw. “There is a main refugee disaster on this nation. I wish to take into consideration how I can contribute to my neighborhood.”

His work with Bendshelters has been acknowledged by the MIT Sandbox, the PKG Social Innovation Problem and the Social Good Awards of Amazon Robotics.

At MIT, Kyaw is working with Professor Neil Gershenfeld, director of the BITS and ATOMS Centre, and doctoral scholar Miana Smith to create workflows that may construct objects in an accessible, on-demand, and sustainable approach utilizing Speech Specification recognition, 3D technology AI, and robotic arms. Kyaw holds a Bachelor’s diploma in Structure and Pc Science from Cornell. Final 12 months he was awarded an SJA Fellowship by The Steve Jobs Archive. It funds the venture on the intersection of expertise and humanities.

“I get pleasure from exploring various kinds of expertise, designing and creating issues,” says Kyaw. “Being a part of MAD helped me take into consideration how all work would join and make clear my intentions. My analysis imaginative and prescient is to design and develop techniques and merchandise that enable for pure interactions between people, machines and the world round us.”