UW Enginering day

The University of Washington department of Enginering had its open house this weekend. I had signed up quite awhile ago and was really looking forward to it. We were not dissapointed. First we went and saw the Rube Goldberg Machines. Some of them were so intricate that they had over 40 steps!!! They were each designed to meet a need and every step described what kind of energy it used to accomplish the task (gravitational, kinetic,) They were fascinating!!!

From there we went to see an exoskeleton robotic suite. A gentleman who had an accident in 86 was told in a few years he would be paralyzed. Turns out he is able-bodied but the experience struck an area of intrest in him and he is now working on building a suit that will allow paralyzed people to move and function. this is prototype 14 and it is able to walk a person forward, backward, up stairs and side stepping.

Ideally when it is complete a paralyzed person will be able to put the suit on and return to normal functioning as the suit will guide all their movement. After 3-5 years of wearing the suit, due to regenerating muscles and tissue they will be able to have normal function returned. He went into a lot greater depth and we were there listening to him for a good half hour. It is a fascinating concept and one I am going to keep a watch on.

From there we saw an underwater robotic fish, participated in a paper airplane contest, spent a good portion of time on the flight simulators, used a radar gun to see how fast we could run, and played with Oobleck.

Taken from a DR. Seuss book Oobleck is a big thing in the PS educating circles. It is a mixture of equal parts cornstarch and water and is said to be a non-newtonian substance because it does not flal under the classification of solid or liquid. They had mixed up a huge batch and let the children play in it, literally. Of course this was the highlight of their day.

It was also an interesting trip becasue we were on the college campus and it gave us an oppurtunity to discuss college and various things with seri. What a great day!!!