19-11-2007 18:54

Pat Fairbank

Re: pic: 1346 at Science World

Nice. I used to love going to Science World as a kid whenever I was in the area (visiting my grandparents in Burnaby).

What's the story behind this demo?

19-11-2007 21:27

GVDrummer

Re: pic: 1346 at Science World

i like the neon lights... did you just use the ones from teh FIRST games?

20-11-2007 10:42

Chief Pride

Re: pic: 1346 at Science World

where is science world?

20-11-2007 12:13

Madison

Re: pic: 1346 at Science World

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

20-11-2007 13:20

dtengineering

Re: pic: 1346 at Science World

Oops... my apologies... I had assumed the description I wrote in the media section was going to show up here.

For the past few years we've been taking our robots out to Science World, the local (Vancouver) science/technology hands-on interactive science museum/centre thingy as part of their "robotics invasion" weekend, and this year I thought I'd post a picture from it.

We build the "corral" from 10' long 2x8"s so that we can let the young guests take a hand at driving the robots. Even some of the "no so young" guests want to try going for a drive... particularly with the mecanum drive machine from last year. (The green glow is from left over cold cathode lights from the vision targets the past couple of years... a far better use than leaving them on the shelf.)

It was particularly fun for the youngsters to get to bounce nerf balls off the wall, and a great opportunity for our students to get out and talk about the team and FIRST in general. Although BC has a thriving FLL community, and a growing number of FTC teams, we've only got three FRC teams at the moment, so it is important that more people hear about FRC if we want to get more teams involved.

I don't know what other teams do when they put their machines on public display, but I can assure you that giving people a chance to drive the big robot is a definite draw.

Jason

20-11-2007 16:30

Bomberofdoom

Re: pic: 1346 at Science World

Wonderful way to get attention if you want to show off your team to the public! Good Job!

20-11-2007 16:46

Vince lau

Re: pic: 1346 at Science World

will 1346 be attending GTR this year?

20-11-2007 21:10

JaneYoung

Re: pic: 1346 at Science World

The corral is an excellent idea, Jason. We are invited to participate in a lot of demos with space set-ups similar to this. The corral would be very helpful in defining the area for the robot and the team and in also allowing the guests to participate. Cool.

Wonder what a purple tie-dyed corral would look like.

20-11-2007 21:47

dtengineering

Re: pic: 1346 at Science World

Hi Vince... it was a heartbreaking decision, because we've had some of our best FIRST experiences at GTR, and have met a great group of amazing people out there, but having a new regional in Seattle was just too close to home to pass up.

For the first time ever our team will get to compete close enough to home that friends and parents will be able to drive down Saturday morning and be back at home Saturday night.... so long as the border line ups and I-5 aren't too crazy, that is! We are pretty excited about that opportunity, but won't be winging it across the country this year.

Jason