After a side trip to New Brunswick to visit a friend I made at last years British Society for Literature and Science conference I travelled back into the US to visit Boston. My main aim was to visit MIT. I had an appointment with someone in the Personal Robotics group at MIT Media Lab, and I also wanted to visit the MIT Museum.
I had originally planned to visit Guy Hoffman, designer and builder of AUR the robotic lighting assistant, but unfortunately he ended up being out of the country when I was there (some people will go to any lengths to avoid meeting with me)! 🙂 However, Mikey Siegel kindly agreed to talk to me about his work, and to show me around the Media Lab.
It was an interesting tour, and the lab is just as cluttered with boxes and wires as any other I’ve visited. The only difference in the Personal Robotics section is the large number of cuddly toys that are strewn about the place. I should have asked if I could take some photos, but for some reason felt a bit awkward about this, as if they were bound to say no. I did, however, take some in the museum, just so that I could prove I had “met” Kismet and Cog.
I also spent some time just walking around MIT:
Then I headed off to the Harvard end of town, and into the best book store that I have ever visited. The Harward Book Store shelves are piled high, the staff are helpful and it was packed with browsers.