About the Lab
The Augmentation Lab is a student-led lab at Harvard University dedicated to exploring & engineering the human condition.
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Vision
Technology is about humans. From fire and stone tools to the modern day internet, new technologies and inventions have always augmented the human experience. Yet the development of technology has often been disconnected from its human impact, resulting in both ethical dilemmas and technical challenges at the human-technology interface. At the Harvard Augmentation Lab, we regard human-technology systems as an integrated whole. The word augment, with the Latin root augere — "to increase, make big, enlarge, enrich” — inherently requires an object to operate on- the human. Thus, our work at the Augmentation Lab is human-in-the-system, with a focus on designing and engineering technology for enhancement of the human experience.
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Areas of Focus
Our work tends to cluster around three major themes:
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Artificial & Cyborg Minds explores cognitive augmentation and the complex communication, collaboration, and convergence dynamics of human-computer systems in the age of increasingly sophisticated artificial intelligences.
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Transhuman Forms explores physical augmentation and the mechanisms of extending, enhancing, or otherwise altering physical properties of the human experience, through bionics, wearable technologies, and other body-machine interfaces.
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Worlds of Imagination explores environmental augmentation and human experience of the spectrum between reality and unreality in the era of immersive virtual, augmented, and mixed worlds.
Philosophy
Moonshots only. Be obsessive. Prioritize rigor. First principles. Make it work.
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Forms & Methodologies
Our work consists of research, engineering, and creative projects. Project lifecycles generally resemble the following:
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Project idea and team are formed.
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Relevant literature review is conducted.
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Project end goals (e.g. publication) & roadmap are established.
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Project is proposed at a lab-wide meeting and undergoes cross-examination. If other lab members approve the project, the project becomes official.
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Faculty mentors are onboarded.
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Funding applications and (if applicable) necessary approval processes (e.g. IRB) are submitted.
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Prototyping leads to development of a proof-of-concept (PoC).
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Evaluation (e.g. at lab-wide meeting, through pilot testing, etc.) leads to iteration in prototyping for a minimum-viable-product (MVP) and (if applicable) experimental design begins.
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User testing is conducted (varies in formality depending on end goal).
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Final output is created (paper, open-sourced SDK, open-sourced guide, etc.)
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History
The Harvard Augmentation Lab started as a group of friends who enjoyed building projects together. We started off tinkering with small, hacky projects — punch-activated flamethrowers, hand-controlled skateboards — and then started pursuing more ambitious projects focused on making fundamental innovations. To support these ambitious projects, we started finding faculty mentors, expanding our teams, and building rigorous practices and infrastructure for our work. From here, the Harvard Augmentation Lab was born as the common vision and infrastructure for the work our teams do.
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Getting Involved
If any of the above resonates with you, we would love to meet you. Email us at augmentationlab.harvard@gmail.com.
Team
Dedication. Expertise. Passion.
Team
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Creative technologist
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Designing major in Human Augmentation @ Harvard
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Technical background: software (XR, generative ML, full stack), microfabrication
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Storyteller at heart, grew up writing sci-fi novels
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Creative technologist
-
Designing major in Human Augmentation @ Harvard
-
Technical background: software (XR, generative ML, full stack), microfabrication
-
Storyteller at heart, grew up writing sci-fi novels
-
Creative technologist
-
Designing major in Human Augmentation @ Harvard
-
Technical background: software (XR, generative ML, full stack), microfabrication
-
Storyteller at heart, grew up writing sci-fi novels
-
Creative technologist
-
Designing major in Human Augmentation @ Harvard
-
Technical background: software (XR, generative ML, full stack), microfabrication
-
Storyteller at heart, grew up writing sci-fi novels
-
Creative technologist
-
Designing major in Human Augmentation @ Harvard
-
Technical background: software (XR, generative ML, full stack), microfabrication
-
Storyteller at heart, grew up writing sci-fi novels
-
Creative technologist
-
Designing major in Human Augmentation @ Harvard
-
Technical background: software (XR, generative ML, full stack), microfabrication
-
Storyteller at heart, grew up writing sci-fi novels