The framework is cloud-based and lets stores, schools and other facilities contribute their data to registries.

The limitations of the system are quite clear. It’s based on voluntary submissions, so it’s most likely to be used by those eager to promote privacy — if it’s not in the registry, you won’t know about it. A business determined to track its workers may be reluctant to let staff know they’re being monitored, let alone give them a chance to opt out. This also assumes that there are enough people concerned about privacy to download an app and check if the sensor over their head is a privacy risk. The Carnegie team is betting that companies and institutions will use the infrastucture to ensure they’re obeying rules like the California Consumer Privacy Act and Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation, but there’s no guarantee they’ll feel pressure to adopt this technology.

Argo AI has pledged $15 million over five years, and the funding will support five faculty, along with a group of doctoral candidates. The center will work to advance autonomous vehicle tech as a whole, but it will also help Argo AI develop its next-generation technology and push into more cities. According to Argo, neither industry nor academia alone can solve the challenges of developing and deploying self-driving cars and the infrastructure needed to support them; together, though, Argo and CMU might stand a chance. Argo isn’t the first autonomous vehicle company to partner with CMU. A few years ago, Uber was charged with poaching the university’s robotics lab of top staff. It’s likely this time around CMU will be looking for a more collaborative endeavor.

The approach could be vital to medicine. Ultimately, the team hopes its tool (ExMicroVR) will provide a greater level of understanding about diseases that could lead to more effective treatments. As many as six people can experience data at the same time, ensuring that scientists can work together. And crucially, Carnegie Mellon wants this to be “affordable and easily accessible” to developing countries. You wouldn’t need costly microscopes or an abundance of studying time to further medical research.

Luria and his team created four cathartic objects that were designed to handle a wide range of emotions and behaviors. “Object 1” looks like an everyday black sofa pillow, but it’s designed to be stabbed with sharp objects. After it gets stabbed, it begins to shake, and keeps shaking until the user removes all the objects. Another object looks like a light-up crystal and is designed to be cursed at. One object laughs in an irritating, “Tickle Me Elmo” way and only stops laughing after the user begins to hit it against a surface. Another object allows users to write a personalized message on a ceramic tile and then completely annihilate it with a hammer. As the tile breaks, the object begins to emit light and sound.

Psychologists have long warned patients that bottling up or suppressing anger is dangerous. But it’s unclear whether hitting a punching bag, spouting out profanity or beating up on one of these “cathartic objects” can do much good. Scientific evidence supporting catharsis theory, which is the belief that ruminating on anger is better than ignoring it, is pretty weak. One study from 1999 published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology purposely angered its participants in a lab experiment. The participants were then split into two groups; one group got the opportunity to hit a punching bag and one group did nothing. In a later test, the punching bag group acted more aggressively than the control group.

But the researchers realize that no one wants to feel angry on-purpose. Luria noted in an interview with IEEE Spectrum that people tend to feel “aversion” towards negative emotions. But if we have no choice but to be angry or to feed sad, why not take our anger out at a robot rather than a living, breathing human being? “This is why I think it might be an interesting space for robotic objects: We don’t want to take our aggressions on other people, but we also frequently don’t let that energy out when we are alone. Maybe there is a safe space to express negative emotions with technology,” said Luria.