LabCAST

What if we could train a robot the way we train a pet? With the TAMER project, a technically unskilled user can teach a robot tasks and correct its behavior, improving the robot’s task performance through live interaction. This research on interactive learning focuses on algorithms that facilitate teaching by signals of approval and disapproval [...]

Contemporary 3D printing and traditional craft rarely meet in the same creation. The Hybrid Basketry project merges these two distinct traditions: 3D-printed structures are shaped to combine with hand‐woven patterns. The 3D-printed plastic elements contribute the aesthetics of digital curvatures and manifolds, while the hand‐woven natural fibers give the baskets a unique organic appeal.

MACH, My Automated Conversation coacH, is a system for people to practice social interactions in face-to-face scenarios. MACH consists of a 3D character that can see, hear, and make its own decisions in real time.

WaaZam is a creative telepresence system that allows people to be together in the same window during a networked video session. The goal of the project is to support shared experiences at a distance in an environment that is designed by the participants. 

Need a favor? Reach is a project that merges inherently local communications with user requests or offers of services. It is built atop data from services users already use, like Facebook and Google Latitude, and provides a new way to call upon services as needed. These can range from a broadcast offer to serve as [...]

Infinity-by-Nine makes viewing ordinary video more immersive. This system projects extensions to the screen, taking advantage of the reduced sensitivity to detail in our peripheral vision. It creates a richer experience for viewers.

Ever played piano on bananas? With Makey Makey and an alligator clip, you can connect the internet to just about anything. Start inventing the future!

Mood Meter is an interactive installation that encourages, recognizes, and monitors the smiles of a community, providing an indicator of emotional responses to certain events.

What if materials could defy gravity, so that we could leave them suspended in mid-air? ZeroN is a physical and digital interaction element that floats and moves in space by computer-controlled magnetic levitation.

Out of (Line of) Sight, But Not Out of View. The Camera Culture group at the Media Lab has created CORNAR: Looking around Corners with Femtophotography. With CORNAR, femtosecond imaging technology provides a way to see things beyond the line of sight–allowing us to see what’s around the corner.

NewsFlash uses a unique screen-to-phone data exchange to provide an interactive way to experience current events through dynamic interaction with the front pages of a variety of newspapers. The interaction is local to the phone, supporting many simultaneous users and creating a hub for discussion of global events.

Mediated Matter research integrates computational form-finding strategies with biologically inspired fabrication in order to enhance the relation between natural and man-made environments. The group seeks to establish new forms of design, and novel processes of material practice at the intersection of computer science, material engineering, design and ecology.

Boxie is a mobile interactive robotic camera built with the goal of actively capturing stories about its environment and the people within it.

LightBridge is a 10,000 pixel dynamic display created for the FAST Festival of Art, Science and Technology in celebration of MIT’s 150th anniversary. Sensors in the display respond to the movement of pedestrians on the bridge and ambient data such as the weather, blurring the boundaries between traditional city lighting and the responsive infrastructures of [...]

Part of a suite of portable projects for eyecare, CATRA is a new way to detect and quantify cataracts. CATRA is a compact eyepiece attached to a cell phone; it has no moving parts and is built from off-the-shelf components, making it well suited for the developing world.