Cristiano Da Silva, a current mechanical engineering undergraduate, was part of the group Dreaming Objects, which won $50,000 at HARD MODE, an invite-only hardware and artificial intelligence hackathon hosted by the MIT Media Lab.
The hackathon challenge required participants to build physical, AI-integrated prototypes within 48 hours.
The team’s vision was a future where artificial intelligence doesn’t live on screens or chat interfaces but in everyday objects around us. The team gave household objects unique personalities that could interact empathically, pick up on context cues, and help others thrive.
The money the team has won will help them turn their concept into reality. Learn more about the winning team in Engineering student takes top prize at MIT’s hardware-AI hackathon in Engineering News.