# Labs

Course labs topics.
Week # | Topics | Lab Topics
--- | --- | ---
1 | What is Exercise? | Lab - Tour of DAPER facilities as "incoming research/design collective" Seminar - Microsoft® PowerPoint® presentation on the history of exercise in Western civilization
2 | The Physical Intelligence Model | Lab - Tooling: Using Theraband, students build machines designed to exercise key aspects of physical intelligence (e.g., the body's relation to gravity, whole body movement, the role of sense perception) Seminar - Survey of exercise machines/devices past and present
3 | Visual and Kinesthetic Perception | Lab - Subjective and Objective Experiences of the Body: Walking running, leaping, while blindfolded yields dramatic physical experiences Seminar - Review of preliminary project proposals: concept drawings of three exercise machines/devices designed to cultivate physical intelligence
4 | Physical Thinking | Lab - Thinking through the body for engineering insights: exploring our precognitive understanding of physical principles/properties (e.g., torsion, tension, weight, etc.) Seminar - Brainstorming session on project sketch prototypes
5 | Orientation Strategies: Balancing | Lab - Olympic Stumbling Competition: Playing the line between the maintenance and loss of balance as captured by high-speed video system. Best "compensatory dance" wins Seminar - The motor system at work: strategies for balance; review of student prototypes
6 | Learning Movement | Lab - Exploring unexplored movement: increasingly complex/unusual movements reveal the highly evolved process of feedback involved in physical learning Seminar - Peer review of class projects with prepared questionnaire
7 | Designing Physical Intelligence | Lab - Reworking traditional exercise machines for Physical Intelligence Seminar - Review of critical module; progress reports on projects
8 | E-motion | Lab - Walking a 4 inch beam 40 ft. in the air highlights the physical sensation of emotion and its effect on movement Seminar - May exhibition planning
9 | Applying Physical Intelligence | Lab - Fieldtrip to the MIT Museum: Attempts to build a running robot highlight key points of Physical Intelligence considered in past weeks Seminar - Sketch design session for May exhibition posters
10 | Complex Coordination: Walking Guest Speaker: Dr. Rob Playter, '90, Boston Dynamics Inc. "Physical Intelligence and the Design of Running Robots" | Lab - High-speed video imaging explores bipedal locomotion and the spinal engine model Seminar - Visit to the MIT Biomechatronics Lab for an on-site introduction to current projects (exoskeleton, "smart" prosthetics, etc.)
11 | Final Project and Peer Poster Review |
12 | Overview and Summary |