Research

Stanford engineers’ optical concentrator could help solar arrays capture more light even on a cloudy day without tracking the sun

Researchers imagined, designed, and tested an elegant lens device that can efficiently gather light from all angles and concentrate it at a fixed output position. These graded index optics also have applications in areas such as light management in solid-state lighting, laser couplers, and display technology to improve coupling and resolution.

HAI Industry Brief: Robotics and AI

This industry brief provides a cross-section of key research – at HAI and across Stanford – that leverages AI methods into new algorithms for human robot interaction and robot navigation. Discover how researchers are designing intelligent robots that learn and adapt to human demonstration, and how they could be used to disrupt and create markets in a wide range of industries including manufacturing, healthcare, autonomous vehicles, and many more.

A day in the life of an electricity and cool cow engineer

Gustavo Cezar wears two colorful hats as an engineer with SLAC’s GISMo lab. In addition to his work on the farm where his team installed smart fans, solar panels, batteries, electricity meters and weather sensors, his lab - GISMo for Grid Integration, Systems and Mobility - is currently modeling the ways in which the increasing number of EVs in California will affect the grid's total load, infrastructure and reliability.

Sustainability Accelerator brings people, policy to fast-track real-world solutions

The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability’s Sustainability Accelerator has funded its first cohort of 30 teams with solutions generated through collaborations through partners locally and globally. One of the three large-scale projects funded is a project led by Ram Rajagopal, Marco Pavone, Nicholas Bambos, Liang Min, Omer Karaduman and Gustavo Cezar working to develop battery storage deployment to demonstrate a scalable 24/7 carbon-free solution with the Stanford electrified bus fleet. 

Enhancing International Cooperation in AI Research: The Case for a Multilateral AI Research Institute

Based upon its final report published in March 2021 by the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence, this white paper outlines a blueprint for an AI research institute that can champion human-centered approaches to AI research, promote multi-stakeholder international R&D cooperation to unleash innovation and economic prosperity and cultivate AI talent.

Stanford University launches research initiative on hydrogen as a climate solution

The Stanford Energy Hydrogen Initiative was launched to figure out the best uses of hydrogen for decarbonization and to fund development of the necessary technologies, policies and financial mechanisms. More than 30 Stanford research programs are working on hydrogen-related challenges. The Hydrogen Initiative is intended to bolster that strength with additional research dollars and more interdisciplinary teams.

Training Smarter Bots for the Real World

Using the breakthrough approach to Imitation Learning called, IQ-Learn, Divyansh Garg and Edmund Mills, placed second in an AI bot challenge. Garg developed this new method in collaboration with Stefano Ermon, associate professor in computer science. “IQ-Learn is performing beyond our own expectations,” Garg says. “It’s a new paradigm for scaling intelligent machines that will be able to do everything from autonomous driving to helping provide health care. 

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