Museum of Science, Boston

Exhibit [Return to listing page]
Blue Wing, Level 1

Cahners ComputerPlace — your portal into the digital world:

Bytes!

- Build your own computer model at the "Computer Build Bench."

- Chat with Ada and Grace, our new virtual human guides, and go behind the scenes at "InterFaces" (follow link above to enter the virtual exhibit). This is a collaboration with University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies.

- Get advice from Tinker, a relational agent who can remember meeting you! Tinker is a collaboration with Northeastern University.

- Design and program animations and games using Scratch.

- Build electronic inventions, like musical Play-Doh, using PicoCrickets.

Bots!

- Compare gecko-inspired climbing robots to live geckos with BioBots, a collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University.

- Train a robot dog to obey commands.

- Program a robot by connecting wooden blocks at "Robot Park," a collaboration with Tufts University.

- Operate a Personal Exploration Rover from Mission Control at the "Mars Yard."

- Check out a military robot that served in Iraq to protect soldiers from harm.

Visit Cahners ComputerPlace and chat about your digital world with our human educators.

Download our software list (below) for a descriptive list and sources for software presented in ComputerPlace.

When the Museum of Science Exhibit Halls are open, Cahners ComputerPlace is available:

Saturday - Thursday, 10:00 a.m. - 4:45 p.m.

Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Extended hours (MA school vacation weeks and summer through Labor Day):

Saturday - Thursday, 10:00 a.m. - 6:45 p.m.

Friday, 10:00 a.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Related Links:

Carnegie Mellon University's NanoRobotics Lab
Exponent's MARCbot: A Military Robot
iRobot Create: Programmable Robot
Magic of Magnetism
Personal Exploration Rover: Simulating a Mars Mission
PicoCricket: Electronic Invention Kit
Scratch: Programming Animations, Games and Music
Tern: Tangible Programming
Tinker: A Virtual Museum Guide