CMU Teams Recognized in Moonshots AI Competition
Friday, April 17, 2026
From the lab to deployment, Carnegie Mellon University researchers build tools designed to make tangible differences in how people live, learn and work. That research recently earned top recognition in the Laude Institute's Moonshots competition, which concentrates on applying AI to some of society’s most pressing challenges, from workforce reskilling to expanding access to education.
The top award went to “ARISTOS: Reskilling for a Physical Workforce,” a pioneering CMU project that reimagines how hands-on skills are taught in an AI-driven world.
The work is led by:
Changliu Liu, an associate professor in the CMU Robotics Institute (RI).
Deva Ramanan, principal investigator and RI professor.
Raj Reddy, the Moza Bint Nasser University Professor in the RI.
Katia Sycara, the Edward Fredkin Research Professor in the RI.
Jun-Yan Zhu, the Michael B. Donohue Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Robotics.
The ARISTOS team was one of eight winners to receive a $250,000 seed grant and a mandate to develop their ideas into fully scoped proposals for a $10 million Moonshot lab. Lab winners will be selected later this year.