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Freshman MIT Students Automate Dorm Room

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the kraftwerk-would-be-proud dept.

Inessa writes "Two freshman MIT students have automated their dorm room, complete with a big red party button which generates an instant party. Their custom-engineered system is called MIDAS, the Multi-Function In Dorm Automation System. According to the MIT News office, "Gone are the light switches and glaring fluorescent lights of a typical dorm room. Zack Anderson and RJ Ryan's room has several lighting schemes, remote web access, voice activation, a security system, electric blinds and more ... With the touch of one red button, their dorm room becomes a rave. The lights go out, the blinds close, the displays read, "feel the energy" as a voice repeats the same phrase over a deep bass beat.""

23 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. What a couple of nerds... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    And I mean that in the good way, not in the bad at sports way.

    1. Re:What a couple of nerds... by wetfeetl33t · · Score: 5, Funny

      Real nerds don't need all that stuff for a party. All they need are a couple of computers, a network switch and a couple of cases of Mountain Dew

      --
      Register the editry.
    2. Re:What a couple of nerds... by BakaHoushi · · Score: 5, Funny

      I've always thought that if necessity is mother of all inventions, laziness must be the father. Think about it:

      Two cave men, Oog and Ug need to move rocks to the top of a hill. Now, Ug is a hard worker, and doesn't mind carrying all those rocks uphill all day. Hey, you do what you have to. But Oog is sick of it, and wants to go home and look at his private "cave drawing" collection, so he invents the wheelbarrow sohe gets done in 1/4 the time as Ug.

      The next day, Ug collapses of heat exhastion and is crushed by a rock he was carrying, ensuring Oog's reproduction, setting up humanity to be perfectly fine with inventing new things so they can be lazier.

    3. Re:What a couple of nerds... by Aelcyx · · Score: 4, Funny

      Of course, they have been moving the rocks up the hill for the boss who is too lazy to invent the wheelbarrow and too weak to move rocks. Naturally, he reproduces with no problem.

  2. great, but by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    they couldn't solve the "where do we get chicks from?" problem. or maybe, these oxygen gas bottles are of some use after all..

    1. Re:great, but by cgenman · · Score: 4, Funny

      "where do we get chicks from?"

      B.U.

      --
      The ______ Agenda
  3. Re:Bit small for a party by good+soldier+svejk · · Score: 4, Funny

    in other words, how does it scale?"

    --
    It is cowardly, and a betrayal of whatever it means to be a Jew, to act as a white man

    -James Baldwin
  4. MIT students definition of a party... by MosesJones · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why is it I get the feeling that there is a reason these guys have that much time on their hands?

    Nice work and all that, but most decent parties at college include three staple ingredients

    1) Alcohol
    2) Women
    3) Alcohol

    Though alcohol appears twice this is on purpose, once to get you drunk enough to ask, then a woman to ask, the second to get her drunk enough to agree. Now an automated party system that achieved that... the guys would be millionaires by next Wednesday.

    --
    An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
  5. But... by sakusha · · Score: 5, Funny

    I bet their dorm room still smells like dirty laundry.

  6. Rave??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hey, 1989 called, they want their party terms back...

  7. Re:One thing is for sure by timeOday · · Score: 4, Funny

    What, MIT is co-ed now? Mortifying.

  8. Next project... by reset_button · · Score: 5, Funny

    the "off" button.

  9. Re:Wow! by DingerX · · Score: 5, Funny

    Be sarcastic if you must, but their next upgrade is to integrate a chick magnet into the system. Activating 'party mode' by default spawns a Babe-Level Management Routine (BALMER), which controls the Magnet. Preset desired peak and sustained chick levels are set in the Application Data Layer, and MIDAS carefully manages the Chick Magnet to maintain the ambient babeness at the level desired for the activity. When the security cameras, IR sensors, or seismographs determine that levels are exceeded, the Magnet is taken off line or dropped to a lower power level (From "Ferrari" to "Porsche" all the way down to "Ford Fairlane").

    It all looks very impressive on paper, but they're having trouble getting enough juice to those magnets, and as yet have been unable to give the BALMER anything but a dry run.

  10. Feel the energy? WTF? by GOD_ALMIGHTY · · Score: 5, Funny

    The lights go out, the blinds close, the displays read, "feel the energy" as a voice repeats the same phrase over a deep bass beat."

    Appearantly, these "freshmen" haven't been out of their dorm room since the early 90's

    --
    Arrogance is Confidence which lacks integrity. -- me
  11. Next Story by enrgeeman · · Score: 5, Funny

    Someone gets in through remote web access and continually makes it party mode.

    --
    sent from my slashdot browser.
  12. Instant women... by Dareth · · Score: 5, Funny

    I am pretty sure the same button inflates their "girlfriends" as well!

    --

    I only look human.
    My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
  13. You had it easy. by raehl · · Score: 4, Funny

    we had to keep a little piece of Velveeta frozen on the dorm room window sill

    When I went to school, Velveeta hadn't been invented yet. We had to walk in all manner of weather conditions to the vetrinary science buildings, uphill both ways, and steal milk from the cows, which we then had to curdle in the bathroom sink. Only then could a Friday night celebration be had.

    --
    paintball
  14. Also has fleeing female mode.... by Beebos · · Score: 4, Funny

    At a single voice command the door swings shut and locks, bars secure the window, the lights dim, room oxygen is reduced by 20% creating a lightheadedness, and the audio system repeats the phrase "Give in, you know you want me".

  15. Re:Thanks, Mom and Dad by Lord+Kano · · Score: 5, Funny

    In MY day, we had to actually get chicks drunk at parties. Now, these kids just have to press a button.

    LK

    --
    "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
  16. Re:Bit small for a party by mmkkbb · · Score: 5, Funny

    Advice from a mother to her college age, Boston-bound daughter:

    "Never go out with an MIT student; they are horrible dates. More than
    any other college men, they are only after one thing:

    Sleep."

    --
    -mkb
  17. Stupid kids... by fwwr5007 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...I'll build my own party button. With blackjack. And hookers.

  18. Re:If they're hoping for female company... by ofcourseyouare · · Score: 4, Funny

    I can see it now...

    MIT guy: And check out my wired dorm! Playing "feel the energy"!
    Girls: Collapse in helpless laughter
    MIT guy: Wait! you can't laugh at me! Think of my huge earning potential!
    -- 2 seconds utter silence --
    Girls: Collapse in even more hysterical laughter...

    ...but no, you're right of course, they'd come round... but I'm not sure the room will really help... and anyway, who's to say the Korean robot chick isn't a better long-term bet?

  19. On Second Thought by certsoft · · Score: 4, Funny

    Forget the party button and the blackjack.