roboworld^®

Sensing, thinking, and acting

roboworld^® will feature more than 30 hands-on, interactive exhibit stations focusing on the robotic themes of sensing, thinking, and acting. The three themes within the exhibition will highlight technological achievements, as well as current and developing technology.

Sensing

roboworld^® features technologies that demonstrate the innovative ways robots collect data about the world, including machines with vision, motion detection, and ultrasonic mapping abilities. Here are some examples of exhibits that stress the sensing aspect of robotics:

• Sensor Stations Sensor Stations (Thermal, Color, Object Tracking, Lidar, Distance, 3-D Vision, Accelerometer, Force, Radial Encoder) will entertain and inform you as you experience the world like a robot.
• Pong is a sociable robot that demonstrates how machines can recognize faces.
• The Lunar Rover is a sort of cosmic Don Quixote-bot involved in deliberate self-deception in plain view of the museum visitors.

Thinking

Many exhibits explore how robots are programmed to process information and act accordingly, including the many facets of robot intelligence, from basic programming to advanced artificial intelligence systems that simulate human thought and emotions. Gain insights into robotic thinking at the following exhibits:

• Andy, the RoboThespian who greets you as you enter roboworld^®, is another example of a social robot. Andy engages us by talking and moving.
• In the Robot Obstacle Course, Cye robots sense when the objects in their area are moved, and the thoughts, or algorithms, are displayed for you to see.
• The Air Hockey-Bot uses a 32-bit computer to recalculate the puck's position at a rate of 100 times per second.

Acting

An obvious feature of most robots, the theme of "acting" demonstrates how robots walk, roll, climb, fly, grasp and use tools, collect materials, and build structures. Watch robots do their thing at the following exhibits:

• ROBOT-Rx is a medical robot that tracks and dispenses medications to hospital patients using highly-engineered mechanics and bar-code technology.
• Visitors to the Terrain Navigation exhibit have the opportunity to explore various types of wheel configurations to see how a robot, simulated by a simple wind-up car, will travel across varied terrain.
• See if you can beat Hoops, the robotic basketball-shooting arm that free-throws basketballs with 98% accuracy!