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Things to do and places to visit in Boston? — Parallax Forums

Things to do and places to visit in Boston?

vanmunchvanmunch Posts: 568
edited 2013-07-15 15:49 in General Discussion
In about two weeks from now I'm going to be tagging along with my wife while she's in Boston for a business trip. We're planning on doing the freedom trail on a weekend, but I was wondering if anyone knew if any if the robotic companies/ university labs out there gave tours during the week or if there were any robotics groups? It seems like Boston is the place to be for robotics?

Any suggestions? Thanks! :)

Dave

Comments

  • Paul K.Paul K. Posts: 150
    edited 2013-07-13 22:15
    If they offer tours Boston Dynamics would be #1.
  • vanmunchvanmunch Posts: 568
    edited 2013-07-13 22:25
    Paul K. wrote: »
    If they offer tours Boston Dynamics would be #1.

    For sure! I'm planning on at least driving by it and iRobot.
  • davejamesdavejames Posts: 4,047
    edited 2013-07-13 22:31
    Dave - don't pass up the science museum, or the computer museum.

    Safe trip,

    DJ
  • Paul K.Paul K. Posts: 150
    edited 2013-07-13 22:33
    I think iRobot has a museum of sorts. Where you can check out older bots that have been retired/no longer in production. I think it also includes concept ideas/builds that never went forward.
  • Martin_HMartin_H Posts: 4,051
    edited 2013-07-14 03:00
    If you find out about any Robotics groups let me know because I haven't heard of any. Microsoft's One Kendall Square building had a few monthly technology events. I used to be on the mailing list, but I didn't go enough and was dropped.

    Across the river in Cambridge there are a number of technology related attractions:

    The MIT media lab is supposed to be interesting http://www.media.mit.edu/ . Also at MIT is a collection of holograms http://web.mit.edu/museum/collections/holography.html which takes about an hour to see.

    Harvard has a museum of natural history which is unexceptional, except for a collection of glass flowers http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/on_exhibit/the_glass_flowers.html which are world famous for their fidelity to the real thing. Also at Harvard are meetings of the Amateur telescope makers http://www.atmob.org/index.php . Their meetings are usually a lecture on astronomy topics as well as planning observing events at their clubhouse.

    In Davis Square is the Museum of Bad Art http://www.museumofbadart.org/ which I've been meaning to go to. Redbone's BBQ is nearby and is good for ribs and beer.
  • wasswass Posts: 151
    edited 2013-07-14 12:29
    While decidedly low tech, I think that the Mapparium is one of the coolest things to see in Boston.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapparium
  • vanmunchvanmunch Posts: 568
    edited 2013-07-14 22:37
    I'm surprised that there aren't any robotics groups. I thought there would be a few... Has anyone been to any of the Hacker Spaces? I remember reading that the 3D doodler was created in one in Boston?
  • Paul K.Paul K. Posts: 150
    edited 2013-07-14 23:06
    Hexy was also manufactured in a Hacker Space in Boston by Arcbotics.com. They succesfully completed another Kickstarter (Sparki) but, it seems that was moved to China for production.
  • vanmunchvanmunch Posts: 568
    edited 2013-07-15 15:37
    Paul K. wrote: »
    Hexy was also manufactured in a Hacker Space in Boston by Arcbotics.com. They succesfully completed another Kickstarter (Sparki) but, it seems that was moved to China for production.
    Thanks Paul, it definitely seams like there should be some groups or something. :)

    @Dave
    Do you remember what the names of the museums were that you were talking about?

    @Wass, Martin,
    Do you have any more suggestions? Those look really interesting. I could live in a museum or library....
  • davejamesdavejames Posts: 4,047
    edited 2013-07-15 15:49
    vanmunch wrote: »
    @Dave
    Do you remember what the names of the museums were that you were talking about?

    Well, the computer museum is by-by :frown::
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Computer_Museum,_Boston

    The other, still alive, is the Museum of Science, Boston:
    http://www.mos.org/

    Safe trip!

    DJ
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