Neighborhood of innovation
In the MIT Media Lab on Thursday afternoon, a crowd gathered around PhD student Sang Won Leigh, who controlled a “writing” drone remotely with an inkless pen. Whatever lines Leigh (and excited volunteers) traced on a desk, the quadrocopter would duplicate with an attached black marker on a whiteboard a few yards away. Behind the scenes, a line of cameras tracked the drone and pen, and software synched the two patterns, Leigh explained. The technology could lead, among other things, to a future of airborne furniture, he added: “Imagine, for example, you have a lamp on [a drone]. Cameras could track your movement and the lamp would follow.” The demonstration was a small part of Thursday’s immense “Inside Kendall Square” program, hosted by HUBweek, which offered crowds a glimpse of the scientific and technological innovations, and various initiatives, springing up from MIT and its neighborhood. The roughly 30 events, held at various spots throughout...