A record-setting blizzard doesn’t stop The Green Machine! To cap off National Robotics Week, 1816 was featured by our new sponsor Microsoft at its Mall of America store. We attracted visitors of all ages who wanted to catch boulders from our 2016 robot, Zenith, and watch our 2018 practice robot, Zzbot, stack power cubes. Visitors from as far as South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Illinois learned about FIRST Robotics, and were inspired by how we students build robots.
Team members were also able to learn about Microsoft’s technology. The Emotions Challenge identified team members’ facial expressions and emotions. We also had a chance to interact with Pepper, a humanoid robot that recognizes and adapts to human emotions, and interacts with us via dancing and music.
The Microsoft showcase also gave us an opportunity to showcase another sponsor, PTC, and Vuforia, their augmented reality software, which we used show renderings of our 2018 robot. Visitors were able to analyze and learn about assemblies of the robot by using an augmented reality computer-aided design (CAD) model.
1816 thanks Microsoft for their support and looks forward to visiting again this summer with additional robotics demos and LEGO building events. We also thank PTC for their sponsorship and mentorship, allowing us to integrate cutting-edge technology into FIRST Robotics.