New Exhibition Will Feature NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover at MOS

Special to the Journal

The Museum of Science, Boston(MOS), one of the world’s largest science centers, announced the opening of its newest exhibition, Exploring AI: Making the Invisible Visible. Created by the Museum of Science, the exhibition invites visitors to explore how artificial intelligence technologies are opening opportunities for some of humanity’s greatest achievements as well as how these technologies impact our daily lives. The exhibition will feature a full-scale model of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover and an obstacle course for Boston Dynamic’s agile mobile robot, Spot, along with over three dozen components and interactive experiences that demystify how AI is already being used. Exploring AI: Making the Invisible Visible is presented in English and Spanish and opens to the public on Tuesday, September 27. Tickets are available at mos.org.

“With Exploring AI: Making the Invisible Visible, the Museum of Science is inviting the public to gain a deeper perspective of this rapidly developing technology that increasingly impacts our daily lives,” said Tim Ritchie, president of the Museum of Science. “This exhibition, informed by partners and leaders at the edge of AI development, aims to shed light on how we benefit from AI right now and how the process of building AI systems is, at its core, a human endeavor. All of us should have a working knowledge of AI so that we can play a role in ensuring it is deployed for the benefit of everyone.”

Exploring AI: Making the Invisible Visible aims to reveal the breadth of AI in our lives through specially curated exhibit pieces and custom installations that highlight AI’s capabilities, potential and its current limitations. Features of the exhibition include:

 Spot Residency at the Museum: The globally recognizable and innovative Spot, the agile mobile robot from Boston Dynamics, will move into a new home in the exhibit. Visitors will be able to see Spot use its AI technology to traverse uneven terrains through a unique obstacle course that will showcase its autonomous mobility.

NASA’s Perseverance Rover: On loan from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, a full-scale model of the Perseverance Mars rover will be on display for visitors to learn about how AI is extending human capabilities well beyond our home here on Earth.

 Data Choreographics: This installation by the Boston-based transdisciplinary arts collective MASARY Studios is an interactive work that uses body movement to show how AI systems process data through “neural pathways” in response to visitors showing off their dance moves.

Toyota Research Institute: The exhibition will feature a cutting-edge example of automated vehicle navigation assistance from Toyota Research Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Train an AI program: In a pair of interactive experiences, visitors will learn about the importance of selecting a data set when training an AI system. By observing and comparing data sets composed of images and sounds, visitors explore how the choice of a data set can hold the potential for biased outcomes.

Exploring AI: Making the Invisible Visible opens Tuesday, September 27, and is included with Exhibit Hall admission. For more information about the Museum’s work exploring Artificial Intelligence, visit mos.org/artificial-intelligence.