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MIT Design Intelligence Lab

@designintelligencelab

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An MIT research lab inventing new ways to embody and physically interact with artificial intelligence
Dir. Marcelo Coelho @marcelosco

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Proud to share that @playgeni just won the Toys & Play Award at the 2026 @core77 Design Awards. 🎉

A spin-out from our lab, @playgeni is a toy that lets kids construct audio stories the way they build with blocks, arranging and remixing them into unique adventures.

This award recognizes our awesome team and the countless hours spent with kids and parents, helping to shape each feature into something that fundamentally supports creativity.

Thanks to every kid who sat down, picked up a block, and told us about the wonderful world they'd build.

We're just getting started. 💛

@designatmit
@mitarchitecture
@mitsap
@mitdesignacad
@designx
@artsatmit by @designintelligencelab

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3 months ago

Join HARD MODE, the Hardware x AI community for an evening of physical intelligence • THU 28th MAY for BosTechWeek (RSVP LINK IN BIO)

What you’ll experience:
• Interactive prototypes from the HARD MODE community including: Duck Typing, Human Operator, Dreaming Objects, and more
• Live demo of “I gave an AI a body” (15M+ views online, now in person)
• Lightning showcases from builders

We’re bringing together the engineers, designers, builders and founders of tomorrow alongside working hardware you can touch, test, and talk about with the people who built it.

Bring your curiosity. Bring your own project if you’ve got one. Just show up ready to interact with intelligence that’s left the screen.

🗓️ Thursday, May 28, 6-9pm
📍 MIT Media Lab, Building E15-341

Co-hosted with E14 Fund, MIT Media Lab’s AHA (Advancing Humans with AI) and MIT Design Intelligence Lab (Department of Architecture).

Part of Boston Tech Week 2026.

—
HARD MODE is the Hardware × AI community — 300+ builders creating the future of physical intelligence. We run hackathons, develop products, and create the infrastructure to find, shape, and amplify the best new hardware founders.

Our first event brought 200 hackers to MIT Media Lab, producing 40 projects with support from Anthropic, Qualcomm, and Akamai.

E14 Fund is the early-stage venture fund officially affiliated with MIT. E14 invests in AI and deep tech startups from MIT and beyond, while also donating a share of profits back to MIT. www.e14.vc

This event is a part of #BosTechWeek—a week of events hosted by VCs and startups to bring together the tech ecosystem. Learn more at www.tech-week.com by @designintelligencelab

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4 months ago

Wonderful visit from @lcdsoundsystem to MIT this weekend!

Thanks to everyone for sharing their incredible work on new materials, fabrication, and physical AI. @cjacobpayne @berfinataman @mateoferfer @cyrusclarke @ethanchang.design @skylartibbits And to @nancywhang and @whitneybedford for making this all happen. 🔥

@mit
@mitarchitecture
@selfassemblylab
@artsatmit taken in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by @designintelligencelab

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5 months ago

Excited to launch Geni @playgeni today! This is the culmination of everything we’ve learned about building physical AI experiences at MIT, working with families, and most importantly, how AI can positively impact learning and education. It’s deeply inspired by some of my personal heroes: Froebel, Piaget, and Papert, and their shared belief that children learn best by making. In a world increasingly shaped by AI and passive media consumption, their ideas feel more important than ever.

Thanks for all the support from
@mitdesignx
@mitdesignacademy
@mitarchitecture
@mitsap by @designintelligencelab

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6 months ago

At the @hardmodemit hackathon, we tried to rethink what future ai in objects should look like…

When we think of giving ai physical capabilities, the first thought is a humanoid robot that can do everything, but that isn’t cute.

So instead of giving a bunch of new ability to one device, we tried to buff up each object a little💪, so they can all coordinate and do stuff together in a way that’s slightly more lovely.

Which object is your favorite?

#aiobjects #aihardware #mit #hackathon by @designintelligencelab

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6 months ago

One week since Demo Day at HARD MODE: the first Hardware × AI Hackathon at MIT Media Lab.

200+ hackers. 48 hours. 40+ projects across 6 tracks all reimagining what AI can be.

Teams built projects like a mechanical rubber duck that helps when you’re stuck on code. One team gave an AI a (human) body. Others went SOFT MODE and used clay as an interface. There were plushies powered by AI, an AI that questions rather than answers, new interfaces using Pepper’s Ghost, Intelligent objects that live their own lives and much more….

Huge thanks to our sponsors and judges from Anthropic, Qualcomm, and Akamai. Also Bambu Lab, E14 Fund, Gig Labs, Institute of Foundation Models, and all our amazing volunteers!

More projects, photos, and videos coming soon.

Photo credits:
@hahatango
Jonathan Williams & Paula Aguilera
@cyrusclarke

Thanks to
@aha_medialab @designintelligencelab

hardmode.media.mit.edu by @designintelligencelab

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6 months ago

We are part of this year’s Core77 Design Awards jury in the Emerging Technologies category with Aria Xiying Bao @xixixi_aria and Greg Tran @gregtran.

From commercial to cultural, environmental to discursive, The Core77 Design Awards honor excellence across all areas of design enterprise. The Emerging Technologies category encompasses systems, services, research, hardware, or software products created with the aid of recently created or developed software and hardware technologies. Examples can include projects that incorporate the use of artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), blockchain technologies, robotics, biometrics, advanced materials or new production processes.

@designatmit
@mitarchitecture
@mitsap
@mitdesignacad
@artsatmit by @designintelligencelab

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6 months ago

Meet Feral…
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@designintelligencelab @hardmodemit taken in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by @designintelligencelab

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7 months ago

HARD MODE: what a weekend. 🔧🤘🚀
200+ builders. 40+ teams. 48 hours. One mission: prototype the future of AI that helps humans truly flourish.🌟

Engineers, designers, researchers, and makers from across the US came together to build physical systems — things you can hold, wear, share, and interact with. The challenge? Rethink how hardware powered by AI can help humans connect, learn, reflect, work, play, and thrive.

The final demo day was something else. Watching teams present working prototypes across all six categories of human flourishing — in just 48 hours — reminded us exactly why this work matters.
We’re in awe of what this community built. 🥹
A huge thank you to our sponsors for making this possible — including platinum sponsors Anthropic, Akamai, and Qualcomm, who also hosted workshops throughout the weekend. And a special shoutout to Marc Raibert, founder of @bostondynamicsofficial and director of @robotics_and_ai_institute , for bringing Spot along and giving us all a glimpse of where intelligent hardware is headed.

This is what advancing humans with AI looks like. 🤖

#HARDMODEhackathon #MIThackathon #AHA #AdvancingHumansWithAI taken in MIT Media Lab by @designintelligencelab

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7 months ago

Incredible weekend at @hardmodemit hackathon. 200 participants came from all over the world to create new physical forms and behaviors for artificial intelligence. taken in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) by @designintelligencelab

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7 months ago

What if AI wasn’t just an assistant you open in an app?

We propose AI Cohabitants: physical AI companions that live alongside you with their own character and autonomy. Instead of waiting for commands, they quietly exist in your space, learning and interacting over time.

The Stochastic Parrot is a project from the MIT Media Lab and the MIT Design Intelligence Lab.
Link: https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/the-stochastic-parrot/overview/

Come checkout HARDMODE to imagine new ways of interacting with AI!
#ai #medialab #mit #aicompanion #hackathon by @designintelligencelab

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7 months ago

[Blank] Scope is an AI-powered binocular that lets users see the world both as it is—and as it could be. One lens shows live reality, while the other reveals a real-time, AI-generated transformation based on the user's chosen time period and cultural perspective. By turning physical dials, users shift between historical visions and speculative futures, blending memory, perception, and imagination into a single, embodied experience.

Created by Chiun Lee @chiunleekim, Qingyun Liu @k_universe_d, and Krystal Montgomery @krystal.montgomery for 4.043/4.044 Interaction Intelligence: a course at MIT taught by Marcelo Coelho @marcelosco and supported by William McKenna, Sergio Mutis @sergiomutis1, Xdd @realxdd44, and Quincy Kuang @quincykuang.

@mitarchitecture
@mitsap
@mitdesignacad
@designatmit
@artsatmit

#ai #artificialintelligence #genai #llm #largelanguagemodels #llo #largelanguageobjects #vr #ar #mixedreality by @designintelligencelab

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7 months ago