Opened to engage the wider world with the university’s vast wealth of pioneering research, the medium-sized attraction is based on a solid foundation of student work.
The museum quickly reveals another less expected angle – the close connection between art and engineering. Established 50 years ago, the university’s Center for Advanced Visual Studies was a “bold experiment” dedicated to exploring the boundaries of science and expression.
Some striking pieces are on display – a full-body reflective suit to “protect against over-illumination” stands defiant in front of the inflated limbs of Cereus, a once-airborne public artwork that now sits flailing gently like a giant narcoleptic octopus.
Other eclectic work fills the ground floor, including a prototype one-person Hyperloop pod that will probably fail to convince critics who already think it is an impractical transport system.
A ‘tactile calliper’, on the other hand, is pure practicality. Created by students Pranay Jain and Anshul Singhal, the device gives blind engineers instant measurements in Braille.
A wonderful tool helping open up engineering to everyone, the calliper was built in Jain and Singhal’s spare time.
Work at MIT is hyper-advanced, but the calliper – and the educational programmable ‘turtles’, the Ideas Hub where visitors build ‘kinetic sculptures’ of gears and pulleys, and much more at the museum – show a spirit of breaking down walls and giving people the tools they need to realise their visions.
Altruistic androids
Upstairs via a musical staircase is Robots and Beyond, focusing on MIT’s pioneering research on artificial intelligence and robotics.
The imposing M Tallchief stands like a degloved Terminator, but is much more altruistic. MIT built the 2m-high robot for NASA to test spacesuits, to ensure that wearers could bend down to pick up objects.
Created between 1967 and 1973, the Minsky arm drops down from the ceiling, four cubit-length actuators wrapped in cables and ending with a humanoid metal hand.
The robot used early computer vision from a mounted camera to move toy blocks. The aim, said its inventor Marvin Minsky, was to reveal that there is no “magical trick” to human intelligence – something that becomes clearer with every passing year.
Other displays also reveal an impact on fields that are only now reaching the mainstream. Developed from 1993, RoboTuna showed the fluid mechanics of ‘flapping foil’ propulsion in the quest for better underwater autonomous vehicles, while the Phantom haptic feedback device helped lead to today’s robotic surgery systems.
Walking into the next room, a moment is needed to work out what is going on. A chicken wishbone walks jauntily along a track.
A chair explodes into its component parts before reassembling. A doll’s head follows a blue ball with an uncanny firm gaze, while another machine periodically drenches itself in oil.
These are the kinetic sculptures of Arthur Ganson, each leaping into action via complex arrangements of wheels and gears after visitors press pedals.
They are amusing, provocative and whimsical, but they manage to enthuse visitors with the joy of engineering.
Countless creations
There are more galleries, but even the most attentive visitor shouldn’t need more than two hours for a decent look around. The university could fill the vast Tate Modern with its myriad creations, but there would be no point.
Its alumni’s work surrounds us every day – the World Wide Web, GPS, Gillette razors, microchips, email, transistor radios and countless other era-defining tools were invented or influenced by the institute.
The MIT Museum could never be comprehensive, but what it does is fascinating, inclusive and truly inspiring.
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.