---
title: "MIT Researcher Lied About Feeding Refugees With “Food Computers”"
description: "Those \"personal food computers\" from the MIT Media Lab that were supposed to help refugees grow crops on the move never worked, its creator's bold claims."
date: "2019-10-25"
modified: "2019-10-25"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-researcher-lied-feeding-refugees-food-computers"
categories:
  - "Computers"
  - "Computing"
  - "Food"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "food"
  - "food computer"
  - "mit media lab"
  - "the digest"
---

# MIT Researcher Lied About Feeding Refugees With “Food Computers”

![Those "personal food computers" from the MIT Media Lab that were supposed to help refugees grow crops on the move never worked, its creator's bold claims.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/mit-researcher-lied-feeding-refugees-food-computers.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: MIT Media Lab\</em\>*

## Personal Food Computer

Caleb Harper, a principal research scientist at the [MIT Media Lab](<https://futurism.com/mit-hid-jeffrey-epstein-donations>), claimed to have built a "[personal food computer](<https://futurism.com/future-food-security-hands-technology>)" that can grow any plant in a small, controlled environment. He also claimed to have used the machine to feed Syrian refugees.

But the machines didn't work. Plagued by hardware and software malfunctions, a troublesome dependence on Wi-Fi connectivity, and fundamental design flaws, the food computers never moved beyond the testing phase or yielded crops, [according to *IEEE Spectrum*](<https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/at-work/start-ups/mit-media-lab-scientist-used-syrian-refugees-to-tout-food-computers>). And yet, Harper continued to spin his farcical, aspirational tale — even though, according to new reporting, refugees never even benefited from the tech.

## Emerging Cracks

In recent months, [cracks began to appear](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-robotic-agriculture-sham>) in the OpenAg initiative as people close to the program spoke to media outlets about how the rosy picture Harper had painted didn't match reality.

Most notably, *IEEE Spectrum* reports that refugees never benefited from the flawed tech, despite Harper giving high-profile speeches about how they were using his portable farming boxes to grow crops that "they missed from home."

## Calling Bull

OpenAg also worked with high schools that let students tinker with the machines. Ironically, *IEEE Spectrum* reports that students came up with fixes that Harper's own team didn't. And his team was fed up.

"\[Harper\] takes credit for deployment of PFC’s to schools and internationally including a refugee camp in Amman," OpenAg lead researcher Babak Babakinejad wrote in a 2018 email he showed *IEEE Spectrum,* "despite the fact that they have never been validated."

**READ MORE:** [MIT Media Lab Scientist Used Syrian Refugees to Tout Food Computers That Didn't Work](<https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/at-work/start-ups/mit-media-lab-scientist-used-syrian-refugees-to-tout-food-computers>) \[*IEEE Spectrum*\]

**More on food computers:** *[Report: MIT's Much-Hyped Robotic Agriculture Project Is a Sham](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/mit-robotic-agriculture-sham>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)