This summer, the MIT Media Lab and member company Honeywell deepened their collaborative efforts to inspire and equip the next generation of engineers through a series of presentations, workshops, and research exchanges.
The collaboration brought together MIT Media Lab researchers, Honeywell engineering interns, and industry leaders to explore how academic innovation aligns with Honeywell’s strategic focus areas: Future of Aviation, Energy Transition, Automation, and AR/VR Technologies.
Research Presentations: Bridging Academia and Industry
Three MIT Media Lab research groups (Responsive Environments, Space Enabled, and Signal Kinetics) presented their work to Honeywell’s engineering interns, showcasing how foundational research can drive industrial transformation. Professor Joseph Paradiso, director of the Responsive Environments group, discussed intelligent sensing systems and ambient technologies with Honeywell, exploring how sensor-rich environments can enhance automation and human-machine interaction:
“I’ve always admired Honeywell’s strong reputation in areas such as sensing and control technologies, hence I was delighted to give this talk for them, and pleased to see all of the intern students in the virtual audience. I look forward to future interactions and collaboration with Honeywell—it’s an especially interesting time in our areas now with AI revolutionizing what you can do with sensing and interaction”
Professor Danielle Wood, director of the Space Enabled group, shared her interdisciplinary work on space technology and sustainability, highlighting applications that support environmental monitoring and energy transition. Graduate student Laura Dodds from the Signal Kinetics group presented innovations in RF sensing and augmented reality, including RFusion and robotic X-ray vision, which enable robots to locate and grasp objects using RF and visual data—technologies with strong implications for logistics, manufacturing, and automation.