Zeus Dazzles Tech Fest 2010 Visitors
By David F., March 6, 2010
Outreach
Outreach
Visitors at Tech Fest
Visitors at Tech Fest
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With our 2010 robot, Zazu, on its way to the Wisconsin Regional, The Green Machine turned its attention back to its 2009 robot, Zeus, getting it ready for a day of spinning and dropping balls at this year’s Tech Fest. This special event, which attracted more than 2,000 visitors throughout the day February 27, is sponsored by The Works, a hands-on engineering museum Edina, in celebration of National Engineers Week. This year, the event was produced in conjunction with the University of Minnesota Institute of Technology.
This year’s visitors were fascinated by how the robot “ate” all the balls – then suddenly would dump them back out again!
To get ready, Team 1816 builders re-inserted the control system, the cRIO, and charged up the batteries, and Zeus was ready to accept the attention of friends and admirers. Tech Fest aims to attract children under the age of 12 and their adults. This year’s visitors were fascinated by how the robot “ate” all the balls – then suddenly would dump them back out again!
Tossing Balls to Zeus
Tossing Balls to Zeus
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Other than Zeus, Tech Fest offered visitors a chance to build a bridge out of candy, stick their hands into some incredibly goopy, gooey slime, watch a chemistry show, launch a rocket and construct a car out of ordinary household supplies, among other activities.
This was a wonderful opportunity for team members and mentors to answer question about FIRST, how to get involved in FRC robotics, and to see how well our rookie members could actually drive a robot! We would like to thank the Works and the U of M for being such great hosts, and we hope to see you there next year!
