On a whim, I decided to check out the MIT campus on Windows Live Maps, something which I haven’t ever used before. What amused me the most was the “bird’s eye view” pictures, taken with the camera not pointed straight down, so the buildings had an illusion of depth.

Now, I understand that imaging companies don’t update their archives daily – and this is to be expected, unless someone has corporate-level OCD. Some times, though, the images are from years ago. Google Maps seems to still think the Walmart near where I lived in Atlanta (built in 2002) is still a dirt lot.

When you add in multiple-angle views to the situation, some times things get a little weird.

Let me direct your attention to the Stata Center, one of the examples of innovative architecture (or unarchitecture, depending on who you ask) on campus.

This picture was probably taken in late 2003 to early 2004, when the building was in the last phases of construction. This was okay – Google Maps just shows a big construction-equipment-littered mess, even now.

However, as soon as I scooted north a bit, half of it disappeared.

Rotating the map to face west, it seems to be in a different phase of construction.

 And moving a bit eastward (farther away), it seems to be slightly different again.

The observant will also notice something missing in the previous 3 pictures that was present in the first: the large white-draped building across the street. That would be one of the newest buildings, the Brain & Cognitive Sciences center.

The direct overhead view is the most recent, as it shows both buildings completed. The brain-surgery-like covering over the B&CS is, of course, gone.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working with the MIT Smart Cities group as an undergraduate lemming. However, in stark contrast with the horror stories of some of my fellow lemmings with positions in other departments and labs, my job freakin’ rawks. So does the whole Media Lab, in fact. It’s right up there on my favorite places on campus list, right next to the Mexican fast food place. I get to do what I do best – think of things and then build them.

Anyway, I’ve been specifically working on the light electric scooter/motorcycle doohickey, something all -3 of you who read my site should recall me talking about some time in early August. The responsibility of the group here is to create a display stand for the most innovative component – the self-contained in-wheel motor-suspension-et-cetera “wheel robot”.

AHH! It’s a wheel floating in midair!

Actually, the mount for the thing is just clear Lexan. Here’s the upper half of the display stand.

The “wheel robot” close up. The motor is a 600W brushed unit that cogs like a beast – indicative of beastly torque. The actual production model, according to the bigwigs, will be brushless. This I like.

The display stand case, painted “flat institute wall white”. LCD flat panels will fit in the rectangular gaps and interface with a PC on the inside to play boring presentations.

Here’s my main contribution. This unit mates some motor controllers, buttons, blinkenlichten, and an Arduino embedded controller to run both the drive motor and the suspension actuator (the coil-over shocks are replaced with small linear actuators to show the multi-link suspension movement). The Arduino takes button inputs and controls a Victor 48HV and Scorpion XL. It’s all smacked onto a piece of scrap Lexan, which somehow fit perfectly in a convenient location and was selected for the job based on this.

It can be seen running the show in one of the above pics.

Anyway, since this will be going to the Milan Motor Show in a few weeks, the next few days will concentrate on testing and generally beating the shit out of it. Because I’m not going to be in Milan, and therefore it cannot break. Ever. Ever, in this case, is defined as “Not until we get it back here”.

The display stand ships… in a few hours, which is why I went in to help out and to finish this off. After this is all done, there will be more exciting things to come.

It’s not just Battlebots any more.

Oh, and if you’re in Kendall Square any time soon, do not stand here.