HARD MODE

The Hardware x AI community — first hackathon at MIT Mar 6-8

[HARD MODE @hardmodemit]

March 6-8
200 participants
Reimagine the future of AI x Hardware
at MIT Media Lab

[Cyrus @cyrusclarke]

I want builders to dream harder, so we’re organising HARD MODE:
MIT Hardware x AI Hackathon:

No chatbots. No apps. A 48h sprint to build new devices, objects and reimagine what AI can be beyond screens.

March 6–8 2026 • 200 participants • Hosted at MIT Media Lab.

Apply here: https://t.co/KV01aEbClB

Interested in Sponsoring my DMs are open.

[Cyrus @cyrusclarke]

Physical AI is more than just humanoid bots.

At our HARD MODE community show & tell for #BosTechWeek builders brought:

🦆⌨️AI typing ducks
🧫🧭Magnetic AI lifeforms
👃🎞️A scent-memory machine
🤖👋The very viral Human Operator
🦾🧱Assembly robots
📷🎵A music camera
🎸🎻 🎹 An orchestra of intelligent musical instruments
And more…

The future of AI in the physical world is weirder, wilder, and much more wonderful than you think.

[Cyrus @cyrusclarke]

Unexpected surprise last week when @GoingBallistic5 stopped by the Media Lab.

Beyond his deep knowledge of robotics, the man has impeccable taste in socks.

Turns out we’re both socks&sandals people, and I complimented his.

Got back to my desk later that afternoon and there was a fresh pair waiting. What a legend.

Thanks Scott!

[HARD MODE @hardmodemit]

@SeanRock @KatiaAmeri drop us a message can connect you with the team!

[Katia Ameri 🗽 #NYTechWeek @KatiaAmeri]

Saw a glimpse of the future at the MIT Media Lab:

• A magnetic AI pet that lives on your desk, notices + responds to you, and feels alive
• A glove that guides your hands through physical tasks using EMS with applications from learning piano to helping the motor impaired
• AI-powered instruments that listen and improvise alongside musicians in real time
• Experiments in giving AI a body, allowing it to develop its own physical expression in response to music
• Text --> image --> scent?!

#BOSTechWeek @hardmodeMIT @medialab

[HARD MODE @hardmodemit]

One week until our Physical AI evening at MIT Media Lab for BosTechWeek

Join us:

https://t.co/jjmtEj7o7o

[HARD MODE @hardmodemit]

Join us Thursday 28th May for an evening of physical AI at MIT Media Lab
⚙️

[Cyrus @cyrusclarke]

After two years in the US I'm sorry to say i've finally fallen in love with A/C.

Also I'm running a Physical AI event next week at Media Lab next week for #BosTechWeek with demos from all the viral AI projects you've seen on your feed.

Get on the list before it gets full:
https://t.co/HWVQzhGWkK

[Cyrus @cyrusclarke]

HARD MODE projects have now racked up nearly 3M views across all platforms!

Bringing some of the best ones to SF this week for Code with Claude.

Would love to chat to people interested in Hardware x AI. Who should I meet?

[HARD MODE @hardmodemit]

@IntuitMachine This was developed at HARD MODE – our Hardware x AI hackathon. Great to see this work resonating with so many people!

[HARD MODE @hardmodemit]

Great work by the Human Operator team!

Developed at our first HARD MODE hackathon ⚙️

[Carlos E. Perez @IntuitMachine]

Meet Human Operator from MIT Media Lab: a wearable that lets AI temporarily take control of your hand using electrical muscle stimulation.

Watch it crush piano, draw perfectly, and mix cocktails like a pro — all from a simple voice command.

“I gave an AI a body.”

This isn’t sci-fi. This is tomorrow.

#HumanOperator #MITMediaLab

[Lucas @quantbagel]

This is what I woke up to

[HARD MODE @hardmodemit]

Anyone, anywhere, can now move intelligent things in the physical world.

We haven't really decided what this means, or what to do with it, but it's already happening and it goes hard.

[Lucas @quantbagel]

growth hack: let anyone control the robots in your office: https://t.co/YYDbpslVTs

[Cyrus @cyrusclarke]

We just confirmed the winners of @hardmodemit over on Devpost! You can check out some of the winning projects here:

https://t.co/uBee0EHi3M

[Valdemar Danry @valdemardanry]

What if AI didn’t just control robots but it could also give humans new physical skills?

At the MIT @medialab @hardmodemit hackathon, we explored using #AI + electrical muscle stimulation (#EMS) for AI to temporarily control your body, enabling people to do things they normally can't do, like playing instruments, fixing their car, and making new cocktails. 🍸

🏆 Won the Learn track 🏆

[Fluid Interfaces @FluidInterfaces]

We are still feeling the energy of the past week's @hardmodemit hackathon! Special shout-out to the team behind it, all the volunteers, sponsors and of course - hackers!

[Cyrus @cyrusclarke]

One week since demo day at HARD MODE; the first Hardware × AI Hackathon at MIT Media Lab.

40+ Teams and 200+ participants building physical AI. One team gave an AI a (human) body. Others went SOFT MODE and used clay as an interface. There were plushies powered by AI, an AI that questions rather than answers, new interfaces using Pepper’s ghost, intelligent objects that live their own lives and much more…

Huge thanks to our sponsors and judges from Anthropic, Qualcomm, and Akamai Technologies, whose CTO Robert Blumofe not only supported us but showed up, spoke, and sat on the jury. Grateful also to Bambu Lab, E14 Fund, Institute of Foundation Models, and all our amazing volunteers!

More projects, photos, and videos coming soon.

https://t.co/KV01aEbClB

[KevinDunnell @KevinDunnell]

Can tech help us fight back against the attention economy?

At MIT’s HARD MODE Hackathon we built Feral Focus — an ambient AI attention companion that lives on your desk.

🏆 Won the Reflect track.

Built with @MateoFerfer007 @safiware @realxdd44

Big thanks to @cyrusclarke for organizing such a hardcore event 🔥⚙️

@AHA_medialab @hardmodemit #HARDMODE

[Cyrus @cyrusclarke]

This weekend I led the organisation of HARD MODE: the first Hardware x AI hackathon at MIT Media Lab.

I’ve been convinced for a while that physical AI is the big opportunity and that the most transformative applications of intelligence won’t live on a screen. They’ll be physical, embodied, sensory and in forms we haven’t seen before.

HARD MODE is part of my vision of that future and a signal that the community around it already exists.

200+ engineers, hackers and researchers showed up to MIT Media Lab this weekend and spent 48 hours building towards this vision. 40+ amazing projects across 6 tracks.

We had incredible support from Anthropic, Qualcomm, Akamai, Bambu Labs and more. Best of all I got to work with a great team and we managed to pull this off against all odds in 6 weeks.

It was amazing to see something I had dreamt about come to life and give so much energy and inspiration to so many people.

This is just the beginning. ⚙️

[HARD MODE @hardmodemit]

⚙️

[HARD MODE @hardmodemit]

48h. 200+ participants. 40+ projects.

One mission: Re-imagine what AI can be.

This weekend we hosted HARD MODE: Hardware x AI Hackathon at MIT Media Lab.

Hackers from around the globe came to build intelligent physical systems that take AI out of the screen and into the world

[HARD MODE @hardmodemit]

cc @medialab @AHA_MediaLab

Video credit:
Footage by: @johary
Edit by: @cyrusclarke and @johary