the idea: create a ring with 3-D printers that will scan instead of CharlieCards 

the ideators: Edward and Olivia, undergrads from MIT

With this new iteration of the Idea Blog I’ve decided to only post on weekdays, or at least say I do, but this is too cool and too new to pass up.  Two MIT undergrads, Edward and Olivia, have designed a wearable solution for the CharlieCard.  They call it, the Sesame Ring (a pun on Open Sesame).  While wearing the ring, all you have to do is walk up to the entrance, fist bump the card reader, and the gates magically slide open!

They have 21 days left on their Kickstarter and have already passed their goal of $5,000, enough to get a printer for the rings as well as a sort of mass production. (I’ll leave it at that in order to show my limited technological knowledge).  The two students already have a deal with the MBTA and in their Kickstarter video you can see the rings already working in local transport.  And this, is only the beginning.

 

Last but not least, here’s how you can tell that the ring is being invented by a bunch of passionate, fun, geeky students: