Research — MIT Media Lab

We are an interdisciplinary research lab working to invent the future of

human-machine interaction
health
art
learning
artificial intelligence
robotics
architecture
consumer electronics
kids
design
music
technology
networks
politics
wearable computing
entertainment
history
economy
bioengineering
cognition
archives
social science
storytelling
machine learning
data
interfaces
sensors
human-computer interaction
space
developing countries
prosthetics
computer science
environment
social robotics
wellbeing
engineering
ethics
social media
privacy
civic technology
civic media
synthetic biology
imaging
urban planning
neurobiology
affective computing
augmented reality
transportation
communications
virtual reality
industry
energy
data visualization
social change
food
computer vision
3d printing
biology
biotechnology
blockchain
community
agriculture
biomechanics
genetics
zero gravity
gaming
government
manufacturing
banking and finance
systems
behavioral science
open source
fashion
crowdsourcing
cryptocurrency
social networks
prosthetic design
wiesner
public health
alumni
collective intelligence
makers
data science
ocean
racial justice
security
medicine
neural interfacing and control
performance
language learning
ecology
internet of things
perception
women
climate change
nonverbal behavior
autonomous vehicles
construction
bionics
extended intelligence
visualization
mapping
human augmentation
fabrication
gesture interface
physiology
long-term interaction
civic action
interactive
startup
networking
holography
point of care
diversity
trust
orthotic design
electrical engineering
mechanical engineering
autism research
sports and fitness
cognitive science
pharmaceuticals
materials
member company
natural language processing
primary healthcare
trade
clinical science
hacking
academia
rfid
water
open access
clinical trials
gender studies
member event
marginalized communities
nanoscience
mechatronics
soft-tissue biomechanics
voice
chemistry
real estate
randomized experiment
biomedical imaging
microbiology
gis
physics
publishing
event
exhibit
cartography
metamaterials
creativity
installation

Looking beyond smart cities

SoapCam

SoapCam is a WIP Human Computer Interaction system that motivates proper hand washing routines."Hand hygiene is the most important measur...

Research

Responsive Environments

Augmenting and mediating human experience, interaction, and perception with sensor networks

Project Research

Proxymix: Influence of spatial configuration on human collaboration

Proxymix is a visualization tool to understand the influence of spatial configuration on human collaboration. This agent-based model at t...

Project Research

Wearable Wisdom

Wearable Wisdom: An Intelligent Audio-Based System for Mediating Wisdom and AdviceHaving good mentors and role models is important for pe...

Research

Fluid Interfaces

Designing systems for cognitive enhancement

Post Research

Fluid Interfaces researchers and David Kong win Best Paper Award at Augmented Humans International Conference

Congratulations to Pat Pataranutaporn, Angela Vujic, David Kong, Pattie Maes, and Misha Sra!

Project Research

Living Bits

Living Bits : Opportunities and Challenges for Integrating Living Microorganisms in Human-Computer InteractionThere are trillions of livi...

Project Research

Byte.it

Discreet Teeth Gestures for Mobile Device InteractionByte.it is a miniaturized, discreet interface that uses teeth gestures for hands-fre...

Archived

Project Research

LUI: Large User Interface with Gesture and Voice Feedback

LUI is a scalable, multimodal web-interface that uses a custom framework of nondiscrete, free-handed gestures and voice to control modula...

Archived

Research

Lifelong Kindergarten

Engaging people in creative learning experiences

Research

Scalable Cooperation

Reimagining human cooperation in the age of social media and artificial intelligence

Project Research

SensorNets

SensorNets: Towards Reconfigurable Multifunctional Fine-grained Soft and Stretchable Electronic Skins.SensorNets is a bio...

Project Research

The Deep Image of the City

How do you image a city that doesn't exist? DeepScope is a novel platform for interactive, real-time, and setup-less urban design vi...

Archived

Ethics Initiative

Advance human wellbeing by developing new ways to communicate, understand, and respond to emotion

Research

Space Exploration Initiative

Project Research

Commalla: Communication for All

(Note: this project was previously referred to as ECHOS)Approximately 3.5 million people in the US have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), o...

Project Research

City Science Network

MIT City Science has developed an international network of cooperative City Science LabsWe are developing concepts and key technology tha...

Project Research

CityScope Volpe

CityScope Volpe is demonstrating most of the urban planning, analysis, and prediction features developed for the CityScope project. The s...

Project Research

Theme | CityScope

City Science researchers are developing a slew of tangible and digital platforms dedicated to solving spatial design and urban planning c...

Project Research

AttentivU

[Update 02/04/2020: This project has open positions for UROPs/visiting students or interns. One position focuses around electrical engine...

Project Research

TRANS-DOCK

In the research realm of shape changing interfaces in human-computer interaction, a variety of pin-based shape display designs have been ...

Article Research

ETH Zurich at the WEF – RETHINKING Creativity

KnittedKeyboard at ETH Rethinking Creativity Pavilion

Project Research

KnittedKeyboard

Knitting is an established textile manufacturing technique that has been pervasive in the garment and technical fabrics manufacturing and...

Publication Research

Prototyping Interactive Fluidic Mechanisms

Hila Mor, Tianyu Yu, Ken Nakagaki, Benjamin Harvey Miller, Yichen Jia, Hiroshi Ishii. 2020. Prototyping Interactive Fluidic Mechanisms Studio. In TEI'20, February 9-12, 2020, Sydney, NSW, Australia. https://doi.org/10.1145/3374920.3374967

Project Research

User needs for augmentative communication interfaces

We are working on communication interfaces for people with speech and language disorders, incorporating technologies like physiological s...

Research

Viral Communications

Creating scalable technologies that evolve with user inventiveness

Research

Tangible Media

Seamlessly coupling the worlds of bits and atoms by giving dynamic physical form to digital information and computation

Research

Object-Based Media

Changing storytelling, communication, and everyday life through sensing, understanding, and new interface technologies

Publication Research

SociaBowl: A Dynamic Table Centerpiece to Mediate Group Conversations

Joanne Leong, Yuehan Wang, Romy Sayah, Stella Rossikopoulou Pappa, Florian Perteneder, Hiroshi Ishii. 2019. SociaBowl: A Dynamic Table Centerpiece to Mediate Group Conversations. In CHI’19 Extended Abstracts, May 4–9, 2019, Glasgow, Scotland Uk. https://doi.org/10.1145/3290607.3312775

Project Research

WraPr: Spool-Based Fabrication for Object Creation and Modification

In this work, we propose a novel fabrication method for 3D objects based on the principle of spooling. By wrapping off-the-shelf material...

Publication Research

WraPr: Spool-Based Fabrication for Object Creation and Modification

Joanne Leong, Jose Martinez, Florian Perteneder, Ken Nakagaki, Hiroshi Ishii. 2020. WraPr: Spool-Based Fabrication Method for Object Creation and Modification. In TEI'20, February 9-12, 2020, Sydney, NSW, Australia. https://doi.org/10.1145/3374920.3374990

Archived

Project Research

SociaBowl: A Dynamic Table Centerpiece to Mediate Group Conversations

We introduce SociaBowl, a dynamic table centerpiece to promote positive social dynamics in 2-way cooperative conversations. A centerpiece...

Archived

Project Research

Evergreen Blues

Evergreen Blues is a suite of interactive songs that together provide a collaborative musical narrative experience in the form of a multi...

Publication Research

Zero-Shot Transfer Learning to Enhance Communication for Minimally Verbal Individuals with Autism using Naturalistic Data

Narain, J.* & Johnson, K.T.*, Picard, R.W., Maes, P. "Zero-Shot Transfer Learning to Enhance Communication for Minimally Verbal Individuals with Autism using Naturalistic Data," NeurIPS Workshop on AI for Social Good, December 2019. (*equal contribution)

Project Research

AlterEgo

AlterEgo is a non-invasive, wearable, peripheral neural interface that allows humans to converse in natural language with mach...

Project Research

SuperGlue Kinesics

The relationship between news content and its presentation has been a long-studied problem in the communications domain. Often, chan...

Thesis Research

Massively Multiplayer Operas: Interactive Systems for Collaborative Musical Narrative

Su, D. (2019). Massively Multiplayer Operas: Interactive Systems for Collaborative Musical Narrative. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Post Research

Zero Gravity Flight 2019

This mission included participation from several departments at MIT and outside collaborators from across the globe.

Research

Biomechatronics

Enhancing human physical capability

Project Research

The Clubhouse Network

The Clubhouse provides a creative and safe out-of-school learning environment where young people from underserved communities around the ...

Article Research

Jaleesa Trapp shakes things up in the classroom and in computing

The PhD student and former high school teacher aims to study the ways young people of color interact with technology.

Project Research

[bike] swarm

As bikes navigate city streets after dark, they are often equipped with lights. The lights make the bikes visible to cars or other bikers...

Publication Research

Bike Swarm

Berke, A., Sanchez Lengeling, T., Nawyn, J., & Larson, K. (2019, November). Bike Swarm. In Conference Companion Publication of the 2019 on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (pp. 1-4). ACM.

Project Research

bioLogic—Science Advances

Cells’ biomechanical responses to external stimuli have been intensively studied but rarely implemented into devices that interact w...

Project Research

inTouch

inTouch explores new forms of interpersonal communication through touch. Force-feedback technology is employed to create the illusion tha...

Archived

Project Research

Dormio: Interfacing with Dreams

InspirationSleep is a forgotten country of the mind. A vast majority of our technologies are built for our waking state, even though a th...

Archived

Project Research

Deep Reality: An underwater VR experience to promote relaxation by unconscious HR, EDA, and brain activity biofeedback

We present an interactive virtual reality (VR) experience that uses biometric information for reflection and relaxation. We mon...

Archived

Research

Opera of the Future

Extending expression, learning, and health through innovations in musical composition, performance, and participation

Project Research

Bubble: Wearable assistive grasping augmentation based on soft inflatables

Bubble is a pneumatically actuated wearable system that enables people with handdisabilities to use their own hands to grasp objects with...

Project Research

MoveU

MoveU is a wearable vestibular stimulation device for providing proprioceptive haptic feedback in virtual reality (VR). The device ...

Project Research

Theme | Assistive Technology

Today’s assistive communication devices are far from perfect. Using state of the art small, wearable sensors and powerful machine learnin...

Project Research

Engagement with Voice-User Interface Agents

Voice-user interfaces (VUIs), such as Amazon Echo and Google Home, are increasingly becoming present in domestic environments. ...

Project Research

Designing robots in mixed reality

This is a joint proposal from graduate students Vik Parthiban (Media Lab) and Andrew Spielberg (MIT CSAIL, Distributed Robotics Laborator...

Archived

Publication Research

CityScope: A Data-Driven Interactive Simulation Tool for Urban Design. Use Case Volpe

Alonso, L., Zhang, Y. R., Grignard, A., Noyman, A., Sakai, Y., ElKatsha, M., ... & Larson, K. (2018, July). Cityscope: a data-driven interactive simulation tool for urban design. Use case volpe. In International Conference on Complex Systems (pp. 253-261). Springer, Cham.