On Saturday November 16, the Discovery Lab took some of our projects to the MakerFaire Miami and gave a demonstration of their abilities. The event was a great opportunity to see the reaction of the people when seeing our Projects. We got a lot of awe from the crowd when seeing the big Telebot and the accuracy of its movements and much inspiration from the possibilities of the technology we have been implementing on it. The Telebot had never been tested outside of the lab before, and this test showed us some of the flaws that we hadn’t noticed before, allowing us to work on fixing them. At times when the Telebot (or me, the driver) needed a break, we presented the Smart Mannequin to the crowd. The Smart Mannequin also got the attention of many, but the most attention was paid by the kids, who loved to control it and did so for hours on end. The Smart Mannequin also grabbed the attention of many people on the design industry since it allows for the testing and demonstration of clothing while in movement. Throughout the event, we also demonstrated the abilities of the Emergency Response Bot, and the visitors were able to see it driving around and shooting at people (no actual projectiles, just a simulation). At one point we had technical difficulties with the ER Bot, but even while static, it still attracted much attention from the crowd for the possibilities of its use and its looks. The visit to the MakerFaire was a great success for the Discovery Lab and allowed us to understand what people like and don’t of the projects we presented, as well as its possible technical problems which we can now fix. We hope to be able to do attend the next MakerFaire.
Links:
Miami Herald :http://www.miamiherald.com/
