MIT Media Lab celebrates 25 years (photos)

CAMBRIDGE, Mass--The MIT Media Lab opened its doors to outsiders today during its 25-year anniversary celebration to show current work, including projects from the Fluid Interfaces group.

One such project from that group is called LuminAR, which is a system for projecting computer interfaces on to everyday surfaces. The device, which screws into a light bulb socket, can track the gestures of people and project images. A person could, for example, have an "augmented magazine" that combines both paper and digital data. Or people could scan items, such as soda cans, to get more information. Pictured here is an earlier version of LuminAR.

A closer look at the components of the LuminAR system, which includes an Intel Atom-based processor, power supply, projector, and sensor. MIT Media Lab's Natan Linder thinks that projected images will complement existing computers interfaces.

MIT Media Lab researcher Pranav Sistry operates his laptop by using the tabletop as his mouse. He is developing an alternative to the computer mouse that uses a laser to read people's gestures. He says the system can cost less than $10 and be integrated into laptop computers.

MIT Media Lab researcher Seth Hunter demonstrates the MemTable project which is a touch-screen table connected to projectors and computers. It's designed for multiple people to collaborate around a table and record interactions.

One of the projects to come out of the MIT Media Lab is the SmartCities effort, which re-imagines transportation in the city. The CityCar, a prototype of which is pictured here, is a car that can be shared between drivers in a city and folded up to take up minimal space.

Two of the most fun projects to recently come out of the MIT Media Lab is the Lego Mindstorm programmable robot and the Scratch programming application for kids. Here, a researcher in the MIT Media Lab's Lego Lab demonstrates how a scratch program can operate a Lego creation.