In our ongoing audio series, Meet the Labbers, we hear people from all roles across the Media Lab talk about what they do and why they do it.

Today, meet Cameron Taylor. 

"I’m Cameron Taylor, a PhD candidate in the Biomechatronics group and I create technologies for human augmentation. I look around at the world and I think about what it is that people need in order to succeed better in life. And I think about the beauty of the human body, and how having hands and legs enables me to be more successful at the things that I do. And, being able to give that to someone else is not only powerful but it’s exciting, because it requires you to use every bit of your scientific knowledge in your development of the technology.

Think—what are people not expecting to happen yet and how can I make that happen?

Because the problems that we’re working on are so difficult and require different aspects of scientific knowledge, it’s not enough for us just to be good at what we do, we also have to be good about reaching out and knowing who to talk to. And because there’s such a diverse group in the Media Lab, I can have a problem that I’m working on and say, ‘Well, let me walk over and talk to someone in the Camera Culture group,’ and get their advice on how to process these images. Or, ‘Let me go talk to someone in the Tangible Media group,’ and get their inspiration about how to command the devices that I’m working with in a more intuitive manner. Or, I can walk up to the Personal Robots group and ask their advice on how to make my prosthetic limb feel like it’s part of my body so that I interact with it emotionally.

Being at the MIT Media Lab inspires you to do something that’s 10 years ahead of the pack, and to think even farther ahead; think—what are people not expecting to happen yet and how can I make that happen?”

Music: "Upbeat" by Saregama