MIT students automate dorm room, add "party mode"

Even though they may have somewhat of a geeky reputation, MIT students party just as hard as the white hatters at your local state school, and probably graduate in larger percentages to boot. It should be no surprise, then, that a couple of dorm-dwelling party animals at the university decided to use their copious electronics skillz to convert their room into the ultimate cramped disco -- and because this is MIT we're talking about, everything goes live at the push of a single button. Using an X-10 control system, Zack Anderson and his roommate RJ Ryan hooked up strobe lights, black lights, a fog machine, laser light show, scrolling LED sign, disco ball, and an LCD projector to their computers so that all the effects would sync with whatever music was playing, and even retrofitted their window blind with a motor so it can drop down and act as a projection screen for some trippy visualization action. Calling their setup MIDAS (Multifunction In-Dorm Automation System), the pair also included a security alarm and camera for remotely monitoring their now-famous room, and situated small VFDs throughout the interior to deliver system status updates or other types of infoswag. Hey guys, if you don't land some hotshot jobs after college with your MIT degrees, we always have room for clever DIYers right here at Engadget.

[Via MAKE: Blog]

[Matt @ May 11th 2006 8:07PM]

!!! can you guys PLEASE do that to my room???? add a beer tap theat is IR activated, like those auto-flushing toilets. But, add a onn off switc controled by the main "button," and RFID to make sure that the drinker is over 21 :)

[Justin @ May 11th 2006 8:09PM]

What good is a "party mode" in a dorm room?

[rajington @ May 11th 2006 8:37PM]

http://hacks.mit.edu/sorry guys, i'm gonna have to go with "not that sweet". compared to other diy projects, this just seems to be simple plug various products into an x10 power manager on your computer. a lot of the features are really easy to do with x10 in case you guys aren't familiar with it. it seems that it just requires some free time, a lot of money, and the ability to flagrantly misuse it. so... congratulations i guess... on having rich parents? they should have spent that money on a really good mit hack:
http://hacks.mit.edu/

[Ron @ May 11th 2006 8:48PM]

More importantly, what good is a party mode in a school that has a 4-to-1 Male-Female ratio?

[Tom @ Dec 1st 2008 6:06PM]

Actually, the current MIT undergraduate M/F ratio is 1.1 : 1

It hasn't been anywhere near 4:1 for several decades.

[staticfritz @ May 11th 2006 10:34PM]

What good is anything BUT a "party mode" in a dorm room?

[Judd @ May 11th 2006 11:32PM]

...and guess who still isnt getting laid

[Torien @ May 11th 2006 11:47PM]

Party Mode

MIT

DIY Nerds


Perhaps you remember this song: "One of these things is not like the others..."

[noname989 @ May 12th 2006 1:08AM]

"MIT students party just as hard as the white hatters at your local state school, and probably graduate in larger percentages to boot."

Are you saying MIT students are unethical hackers or did I just miss something?

[Torien @ May 12th 2006 1:35AM]

You missed something

Black Hat = Unethical

White Hat = Ethical

thats the terminology at least

[Claudiu Spulber @ May 12th 2006 2:24AM]

I'm just wondering, are parties allowed in the MIT's dorm rooms? I live in a different country and parties were not allowed in the campus (you know music disturbing those that want to learn...).

Because if this is the case for MIT too, due to their room's notoriety they might get things confiscated.

[Ripped a New One @ May 12th 2006 3:43AM]

Yeah, MIT kids are real hardcore animals but in the most weird sense. I knew a bunch of them when I was interning at [a large software firm in Seattle], and they were the most socially awkward kids.

During the internship, alot of them made an MIT exlusive cliche which made no sense since they would invite everyone else to their parties. Imagine a room full of guys, and maybe a 2-3 girls where all the guys think it's macho to binge drink and act like idiots to impress the chicks all the while playing Soul Caliber on Dreamcast or DDR on PS2. Oh yeah, did I forget other exciting party games, Scrabble and RISK.

Yup, it was the most insane party group I've ever seen.

[danny neumann @ May 12th 2006 4:41AM]

Leave it to MIT to geek out a party. See, this is why I go to Stanford. When we have parties, we have a room and alcohol. That's really all you need. Well, maybe you don't need a room.

[Kevin @ May 12th 2006 5:12AM]

Well, in the videos he sounds pretty dorky for a partier if you ask me :-D

[Stormaes @ May 12th 2006 5:54AM]

I like the idea but detest the location. The sound of a groovy, funky dorm room sounds pretty awesome. Although I wouldn't dig bringing home a hottie and having to explain why your leather chair in front of your computer vibrates to the music and your bed doesn't ;-)

[Arsenio @ May 12th 2006 7:43AM]

Why does it seem like all of Engadget's stories nowadays is coming off of Digg's front page. I mean more than half the stories on here now I have already read off of Digg.

[John Stracke @ May 12th 2006 8:20AM]

"MIT students party just as hard as the white hatters at your local state school, and probably graduate in larger percentages to boot."

Probably not, actually; MIT is notorious for weeding people out. Supposedly, at freshmen orientation, they say, "Look at the person on your left. Look at the person on your right. One of the three of you will not graduate from MIT."

[John Stracke @ May 12th 2006 8:25AM]

#8 wrote: "I'm just wondering, are parties allowed in the MIT's dorm rooms?"

Almost certainly. In the US, parties in the dorms are quite common. There are rules (most schools say no alcohol; most dorms have quiet hours), and occasionally the rules are even enforced; but, yes, it's allowed. There are plenty of other places to study.

[jared @ May 12th 2006 9:17AM]

I think they were using "white hatter" in the "fratboy wearing rugby shirt and white hat on backward" sense, rather than the "security researcher devoted to disclosing security holes to software companies a minimum of n days before posting proof of concept code" sense.

Also, there's a core of MIT kids who party way, way harder than people at other schools. The DIY spirit isn't limited to the Media Lab and some kids with lights in their rooms. It's the chemistry nerds who live in off-campus industrially-zoned lofts you have to watch out for.

[Jeff @ May 12th 2006 10:41AM]

X10 sucks, I used this relay controller almost 10 years ago, now I am migrating to DMX. Plus voice recognition rocks! DMX controllers a pretty cheap now and they have full dimming ability.

http://www.cttrc.com/lighting.html

[Brendan @ May 12th 2006 10:47AM]

I thought my friends and I were the only ones who used the term "whitehat" to describe crap eating fratboys. This pleases me to no end. We called them "Leatherfooted white hats."

[Andrey @ May 12th 2006 12:34PM]

So they bought an off the shelf x10 kit with a couple of wall modules, an x10 motion sensor, and an x10 pc interface module? Clearly, that's an indication of hard-core hacking skills. I mean, only 1337 h4X0rz can buy stuff off the internet and plug devices into wall sockets.

[Elaine @ May 12th 2006 2:59PM]

haha to leatherfooted white hats. It sounds like a type of bird to me.

I'm surprised they had time to put together a set-up like this. My friend from MIT says all she does is study and eat (sometimes). I guess they're the ones that aren't planning on graduating.

[Christian @ May 12th 2006 3:47PM]

This is so awesome. I want to do this in college. It probably won't be too hard...

(MIT 2010! Woot!)

[Jason @ May 12th 2006 3:59PM]

I'm afraid it's a lot easier for MIT students to automate their dorm room than to find girls to party with in their dorm room.

[Jason @ May 12th 2006 6:13PM]

And can we start on pool on how many women (who aren't their mothers) actually enter said room?

[Cal @ May 12th 2006 7:19PM]

Go Caltech! Come up with a better system!!! Uh...Come to think of it, I guess not. Beverly Hills and LA etc would provide So Cal people with better party places with far more number of gals than the ones who would roam MIT campus. :)

[Brian Kiefer @ May 13th 2006 5:09PM]

Clearly this room will not be used for a party, only to show off their desperation to be cool. Grab a tweleve pack of Natty Light, find the women's dorm, and see who will join you in shotgunning beers.

[Soum @ May 13th 2006 8:11PM]

Dude I'm going to MIT!!!!!!!!! That is so sweet, and I'm already nerdy enough to have done something similar to my entire basement!!!!!!!! SO COOOOL!!!!!

[miss.p @ May 18th 2006 5:21PM]

A couple of smarty-pants DIY guys! Leave it to MIT - I'd do it too if I had the time. Hey Matt - if you're looking, You can get all the stuff for that tap at www.X10.com - but you chould check out www.X10minitimer.com, too. It's full of easy ideas.

[ethana2 @ Sep 18th 2007 11:32AM]

That's the way to do it: hook everything up to a PC. Behold, the ad-hoc smarthouse.

So what software are they using? BASH and DCOP Amarok?