This past Monday was our long-awaited growBot Symposium, a day-long workshop which brought together a diverse group of farmers, producers, and other growing-minded individuals to learn the basics of robotics and build imaginative robotic prototypes. The event turned out wonderfully (despite being rained out of our original space), and everyone got to stretch their imaginations, eat some fabulous food (prepared by our own Lady Rogue), and all in all have a pleasant day in the stunning pavilion at the Goat Farm.

After some brief introductions, Carl begins the day with an overview of different types of robots – large, small, utilitarian, and expressive.

Post intro, everyone participated in learning activities like the one below, which demonstrates how sensors detect moisture, light, and proximity. Other activities included a machine vision exercise and sensor-to-Tweeting mechanisms.

After the learning exercises, we took a break from robotics to learn about the unique spaces our participants inhabit via a farm-drawing exercise. Then we all dug into a banquet of organic greens, Benton’s bacon, goat cheese from Decimal Place, freshly baked bread, bean salad, kale frittata, and more.

After lunch, everyone got into groups and built their prototypes. This one attracts destructive pests, brushing the tops of leaves to disturb even the sneakiest of insects.

It’s hard to believe the day is done after so much preparation! After a short between-semester break, we’ll be right back to work, prepping our summer workshop series, where some of these ideas may come to life. We’ll also be getting ready for the zero1 Biennal in San Jose this coming September. Exciting times.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 7th, 2010 at 1:59 am and is filed under Day in the Life, Research Log, Robots are the Future Let's have Socially Responsible Ones Shall We, Student Projects, research. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.