HYDE PARK — The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has brought some of its weirdest and most groundbreaking inventions to the Museum of Science and Industry.
The secretive agency in the Department of Defense brings in researchers to develop cutting edge inventions like humanoid robots, unmanned submarines and brain probes and has brought some of those inventions to the museum, 5700 S. Lake Shore Drive, for the Thursday opening of the new exhibit, “DARPA: Redefining the Possible.”
“We work on high impact projects and that means high risk,” said Steve Walker, deputy director of DARPA.
The agency has brought in some very strange and impressive things and Walker admits the stuff that’s not ready to come out of the labs is even wilder.
Among the inventions DARPA brought to the museum for the Thursday opening of the exhibit is Glass Head. The array of wires and electrodes are attached to a person who has suffered brain damage or illness and helps stimulate areas of the brain that control memory and can help recover memories that had otherwise been lost.
Spot is a four-legged robot that can be navigated over rough terrain remotely and still has the scars and dirt from its last round of tests.
“That the kind of thing we like to see at the museum,” said John Beckman, director of exhibit design and development. “That’s all part of the innovation and we don’t talk about the failures enough.”
The exhibit shows just how early DARPA was trying and failing on ideas that we now take for granted. The agency started developing the internet in the 1960s and flew its first drones in 1995, which are now a major component of how the U.S. military operates overseas.
Walker said the there are things in DARPA’s labs that just weren’t ready for the public quite yet.
“Right now, we’re trying to do a lot in space,” Walker said.
He said the agency is developing a satellite with a robotic arm on it that can repair other satellites. In more Earthly experiments, Walker said the agency is becoming more interested in how humans and robots interact and is investing more in biological technology.
It will likely be another 10 years before those inventions become part of our everyday lives, but visitors to the museum can get a hint at what’s in store now.
The exhibit runs through Sept. 5 and is included with admission to the museum.
Glass Head is a device that implants electrodes in a person's brain to help them recover memories after suffering brain injuries or illness.
Spot is a robot developed by DARPA and Boston Dynamics that can be navigated remotely over rough terrain.
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