Mess around with million dollar interactive gadgets for FREE!

Not exactly your typical Operating Room. photo by Time Out

I went to Sony Wonder Technology Lab (SWTL) at Madison Avenue and 56th street the other day with Adam, an 8th grader I was mentoring.  Scary right?  Don’t tell his mom I sleep on an air mattress in Harlem!  Enough about that, I should talk about the open heart surgery I botched, a recorded news cast I botched, and a motion capture dance animation thing that I'.OWNED!

SWTL feels kind of like Q’s secret development lab.  The corridors spiral down through rooms with robots, fancy display screens, enclosed recording studios, and blinking things behind glass.  Kids love it, and will probably love Sony when they are of product purchasing age.

You can practice open heart surgery without the blood and financially crippling malpractice suit using haptic technology. I don’t know if it was the wiring of the joystick or my nervous system, but I accidentally cut through my patient’s entire sternum with the bone saw and went Jackson Pollack with the scalpel.  The on-duty attendant silently judged.  Meanwhile, Adam was suturing like a pro.

We produced a newscast with a father and son duo.  Little Jessie, playing lead anchor, blew his line from the teleprompter said “Say your name” out loud instead of identifying himself as Jessie.  I wanted to go Christian Bale on him, but his father looked powerful under his puffy dad sweater.

I won’t gloat about the dance show I put on using motion capture technology and a cartoon princess avatar, use your imagination.  There are many other things to do and SWTL also has seminars, movie screenings, hosts workshops, and a matter transporter so you can teleport.  Sorry, the matter transporter was just to see if you were still reading.  But, more truths include: it’s FREE, warm (if you are reading this in winter), cool (if you are reading this in summer), educational, sweet, and a good date spot if your bf/gf is actually cool and you are on speaking terms.