I actually graduated from WPI at the same time as this research was going on (2017), and I remember discussing this with a few graduate students who worked in the same lab but on other research.
All the students in the lab knew the research wasn't particularly exciting but that the research space had a lot of potential. There was a lot of hype on the campus when this article (and I think a few other similar ones) came out and started circulating, but I think it made the students who actually did the research uncomfortable, because it was made clear that their advisor had hyped the research for funding purposes.
Academia ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
