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asl
Advancing human wellbeing by developing new ways to communicate, understand, and respond to emotion
“Us” aims to help people develop their sense of empathy. It uses machine learning to analyze interlocutors’ signals (e.g., choice of words,…
Several of our projects aim to support learning and creativity. While some systems focus on a specific skill to be strengthened, e.g.,…
Pataranutaporn, P., Liu, R., Finn, E. et al. Influencing human–AI interaction by priming beliefs about AI can increase perceived trustworthiness, empathy and effectiveness. Nat Mach Intell (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42256-023-00720-7
Future Worlds | Design and action for the future we want to live in
City Science researchers are developing a slew of tangible and digital platforms dedicated to solving spatial design and urban planning cha…
Their paper won the award in the Theory + Methods category.
Invent new tangible and embodied interactions that inspire and engage people
Haar Horowitz, Adam, Ishaan Grover, Pedro Reynolds-Cuéllar, Cynthia Breazeal, and Pattie Maes. "Dormio: Interfacing with dreams." In Extended Abstracts of the 2018 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 1-10. 2018.
Researchers from the Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group and Harvard Medical School find that brief naps appear to enhance creativity.
The NIH reports on research from the Fluid Interfaces group and Harvard Medical School investigating the effect of naps on creativity.
In a new study, researchers from the Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group & Harvard Medical School find that brief naps can enhance creativity
The Washington Post reports on research from the Media Lab’s Fluid Interfaces group & Harvard Medical School that naps could aid creativity.
Human-computer interaction (HCI) has traditionally focused on designing and investigating interfaces that provide explicit visual, auditory…
Targeted dream incubation (TDI) is a methodology for guiding (or “incubating”) dreams towards specific themes. Please read the FAQ below to…
InspirationSleep is a forgotten country of the mind. A vast majority of our technologies are built for our waking state, even though a thir…
The close relationship between touch, gesture, and sound plays a critical role in expressive musical performance. Many acoustic instruments…
Lecamwasam, K.H.M. (2023). Pharmamusicology: Exploring the Impact of Music on the Physiology and Psychology of Anxiety Disorders and Well-Being. Master's Thesis, MIT Media Lab.
Extending expression, learning, and health through innovations in musical composition, performance, and participation
KnitworkVR is an immersive virtual experience designed to simulate the Living Knitwork Pavilion showcased at Burning Man, through the use o…
In El País, researchers from Fluid Interfaces discuss their study that found users' beliefs about a chatbot influenced their interactions.
This thesis project explores how emerging (AI) technologies might transform how we shape and interact with typography. I will create three …
Cultivating Creativity | Catalyzing a global movement enabling everyone to unlock and unleash their individual and collective creativity
When materials sciences meet HCI and e-textiles, for custom sensors and actuatorsIn this project we explore the process of polymerization t…
Interested in learning more about the Commalla project? Fill out this form!
ChainFORM is a modular hardware system for designing linear shape-changing interfaces. Each module is developed based on a servo motor with…
Living in space could have significant physical and mental impacts on astronauts. Wearables have the potential to play a critical role in m…
The Harvard Business Review dives into a technology that Media Lab alum Simon Greenwold named in his 2003 master's thesis.
Augmental co-founders have been recognized in the Social Impact category of the 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 list.
Emotional wellbeing is an important indicator of overall health and poor emotional wellbeing can equally adversely affect one's overal…
Research from the Fluid Interfaces group finds that users' perceptions of an AI chatbot influence their interactions with the technology.
In Scientific American, PhD student Pat Pataranutaporn talks about how a user's impressions of AI chatbots may influence their interactions.
Ancient textiles have played a major role in the social, economic, and religious structures of communities around the world. Iconic, indige…
Gallery of images of the interactive art installation: Illuminate.Artwork by Chelsi Alise Cocking of the Future Sketches group. Photography…
Designing tools, methods and systems that connect rather than divide us to create a healthier society
Pat Pataranutaporn discusses the inspiration behind his research at the intersection of biological systems and digital technology.
Historically, technology transfer has been associated with efforts to construct mechanisms allowing the exporting/importing of technol…
MACH, My Automated Conversation coacH, is a system for people to practice social interactions in face-to-face scenarios. MACH consists of a…
There are currently UROP openings for this project. AttentivU is a device, in the form factor of a pair of gla…
Making the invisible visible–inside our bodies, around us, and beyond–for health, work, and connection
Working with leading neuroscientist Richard Davidson and the Healthy Minds Institute, we are developing objective biomarkers to interpret a…
Kumar, I. K. (2023). FOSTERING WELL-BEING: Designing Technology to Improve the Psychological Well-being of Foster-Involved Youth (thesis).
A paper led by Ehsan Hoque, alum of the Affective Computing group, receives UbiComp's 10-Years Impact Award.
Community Biotechnology
OmniFiber is a reconfigurable fiber technology for movement-based interactions based on thin fluidic fiber actuators with closed-loop strai…
We further explore conversation visualization as a method of extracting and translating meaning for third party audiences who wish to bette…
Through an embodied, spatial audio experience, Collective Echos makes tangible a living library of human experiences.In the face of intensi…
CyberBiome is a programmable bio-digital organ, a wearable biosynthesis platform for personalized, on-demand production of therapeutics and…
A tool for exploring the Media Lab’s research and synthesizing new project ideas.
AbstractAs conversational agents powered by large language models become more human-like, users are starting to view them as companions rat…
The Power of WITHOUT is a research theme in the City Science group. The theme proposes that heavy infrastructure solutions are not financia…
During facilitated small-group conversations, facilitators have to manage many tasks, including handling the technology, managin…
The Joy Branch project explores different user interfaces to allow parrots to shape their sonic environment. Animal agency—contr…
The most meaningful connections between people are often formed through expression of shared vulnerability and emotional experiences. Despi…
We take as a starting point for our work the recent scholarship by Sasha Costanza-Chock, Design Justice, in which she described design jus…
Study shows users can be primed to believe certain things about an AI chatbot’s motives, which influences their interactions with the bot.
Project shares ways to create community around design equity, ethics, and justice.
Many community organizations want to engage in conversations with their constituents but lack the support they need to analyze feedback. Mo…
Media Lab Professor Alex 'Sandy' Pentland, MIT CSAIL Director Daniela Rus, and Prof. Josh Tenenbaum discuss the future of intelligence.
For BBC Science Focus, Media Lab research scientist Dr. Kate Darling considers the potential harms of mistreating robots.
With Ghost in the Machine, alum Misha Sra and collaborator Purav Bhardwaj invite participants to consider the anthropomorphization of AI,
Sharifa Alghowinem, a research scientist at the Media Lab, explores personal robot technology that explains emotions in English and Arabic.
The Clubhouse provides a creative and safe out-of-school learning environment where young people from underserved communities around the wo…
Public libraries are one of most trusted public institutions in the U.S. and increasingly provide a broad range of education services, rang…
