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Inspire March 2002 - National
Science Week
We had been invited to take part
in an event as part of National Science Week at Inspire a hands on
science center in Norwich. As a big fan of the "Launch Pad"
exhibition which runs at the Science Museum in London, I was keen to take Storm
along remembering just how much fun I used to have at these sorts of
places. We weren't too sure what to expect though, apparently the center
was in a converted church ?
| From a roboteer point of view
it was quite a small event, Storm, Tornado and Thermidor were there, with
Storm and Thermidor having been advertised on the local radio and posters
- I had wondered why so many people had been coming up to us saying they
had seen the website. I always knew the site was popular, but
couldn't understand why it was so popular in Norwich until someone
explained it to me !
Anyway, Tornado were there (they needed a
whole extra table just to fit their trophies on), Bryan didn't come as he
was worried that he might have to mingle with a group of loud excitable
hyperactive people (presume we won't be seeing him at the Series 6 filming
either then!), otherwise known as children. Perhaps he did make the
right choice, the place was swarming with kids - we had them 3 to 4 deep
around our stand ! |
We have no idea what they were looking so
pleased about
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We brought Storm along (of
course), but also brought out prototype featherweight machine - Force X and had
great fun crushing anything we could lay our hands on. Its amazing what
this machine is capable of. With just the blunt (and I mean blunt!) MDF
claw running at 25% of full power we didn't find anyone in the place (bar one!)
who could stop the claw closing with their hands, and had great fun squashing
cans which children were frantically drinking for us !
Force X helps itself to some light refreshment |
Yes that is just an MDF claw we're using ! |
The place was really quite
amazing, and could possibly be one of Norwich's best kept secrets - and
contained some colourful characters (literally) who made the place one of the
best kept secrets ! There was a Tornado machine, the usual Plasma balls,
bridge building, optical illusions as well as plenty of changes to spin things,
jump on things, make lots of noise with things, make things go up, make things
go down - you name it, the kids were going to have a go at doing it !
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A small technogames climber was there for all to see |
We were there with our mini
arena running the radio controlled house robots to great effect - though
we almost had a riot on our hands when the batteries ran down, causing
some of the kits waiting to play and chat to us to burst into tears.
We soon got things going again as we frantically pulled out the antweights
and dug a Battlebots Backlash toy out of the box..... suffice to say that
Backlash made light work of our ant which is now due some new wheels I
think.
It also provided some good endurance
testing for the ant, and has lead me to the conclusion that as it drives
for about 15 min before showing any sign of starting to slow down I may
have over-sized the batteries on it !
We were beginning to flag by lunchtime -
but the center laid on a buffet lunch for everyone working at the event,
which was needed by all by the time we got up there - we couldn't eat for
long though, there was a kids birthday party coming in ! |
Thermidor had dug themselves into
a little corner of the church - I think they had the right idea, we ended up on
a main route around the building - and despite trying to mark out a "no
go" area for the kids with chairs, I'm sure they were all slowly pushing
them back.
The Thermador boys find themselves a new friend |
Despite the lack of alcohol, I was seeing double. |
After an hour of re-charging
batteries we were ready to let the kids loose on the mini-arena again, the
hardest job we had was remembering who was supposed to be going next - and if
you got it wrong....... oh boy did the kids let you know about it. Next
time I think we'll have to take along some tickets like the ones you get in
supermarkets !
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I'm sure that's not what the blocks are designed for |
Andy tries to deal with the masses of visitors |
We all had a great day and met some fantastic
people, we're hoping we can go back there again more often.... watch this space.
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View from the balcony of the hot air [gun] balloon |
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