Robot Revolution!
Posted By pamelamyers on March 13, 2017
Yesterday, we finally took Sam to the Franklin Institute! I have been wanting to take her there for such a long time. It is one of my favorite museums. I was always a little afraid of taking Sam before she would be old enough to appreciate it but she has been seeing advertisements on TV for a temporary exhibit called Robot Revolution and she was begging us to take her. With all the robotics that Mark and Sam have been doing in, how could we say no? I was feeling a bit under the weather (my throat was killing me!) but I didn’t want to spoil her day. It turned out so wonderfully, I am glad we went, sore throat and all.
We had to buy timed tickets to the robot exhibit and we chose an afternoon time, so there was plenty of time to explore everything else the museum has to offer first. One of the first stops, and an all time favorite, is the walk through heart! It is pretty much the same as I remember but they did expand it to include the lungs, which is cool.
After wandering the heart, we looked at the rest of the exhibit about the body. Sam and Mark watched a video of open heart surgery that was displayed inside the model of a body. It was so creepy, but Sam seemed to like it! Who knows, maybe she will be a surgeon.
We found the electricity exhibit next (another one of my favorites). Sam wasn’t too sure about the feeling of being zapped by the exhibits that let a mild current run through you or the ones that let you shock each other. She did love the circuitry portion. Putting together the circuits using this method is very different than the actual use of wires and what not that Mark and Sam use, but the fact that she understood the concepts made us very happy. She is taking it all in even if at home she sometimes seems distracted.
There was a diagram that showed how you draw a circuit. Mark and Sam knew how to draw all of them!
We walked through a new exhibit that wasn’t there when I was a kid about the brain. There was this huge climbing structure that was supposed to emulate the neural network in a brain. Sam loved it! She made Mark come in, but thankfully, he didn’t have to climb too far. It was definitely sized for little people to get through the passageways.
It was off to the Robot Revolution next, but on the way, we saw something that we knew Sam would absolutely love – paper making. I don’t know why, but Sam has mentioned making paper before and has found the concept fascinating. She got to make her very own piece of paper and she was thrilled!
Finally – we were on to the robots. Sam was so happy the whole time we were there. She liked this little one who mimicked her movements.
She didn’t do so well with the blackjack playing robot even with my help, but then again, I am not that good playing against non-robots! Gambling is not our strong suit in the Myers family.
She had fun playing tic-tac-toe with Baxter though. Once he beat her, once it was a draw. It’s all good.
There was an exhibit that showed a simulated self-driving Google Car and it showed how the cars drive using sensors that detect objects and people. On the screen you can see those vaguely people shaped red designs are us!
By far, this little robot was all of our favorite. Sam could make him walk as well as any number of other things like karate chop, bow, stand like a butler, do headstands, etc. He was so adorable! The smile on Sam’s face shows the joy she had the whole time. It was such a great day out. Not that we had any doubt about taking her to see the robots, but man, I am glad we didn’t miss it.
Sam had fun experimenting with the levers. She lifted 500 pounds!
I love this picture. She looks so cute way up in the air.
There was another new thing – the Sky Bike. Sam was too small to ride it, but Mark did. He thought Sam might enjoy watching him ride a bike so high in the air. Yeah, better him than me. I’m not afraid of heights, but…
Right in the main lobby area, there was this robotic guy who climbed. Sam said he was an alien. We must have stopped to look at him a million times.
One of our last stops (before the gift shop of course) was the train. I was always fascinated by this huge locomotive that was inside the building. Apparently, the fascination was not unique to me because Sam kept asking me, “How did they get it in here?”
We did so many things, including visit the planetarium for a movie. Everything was just like I remembered. I am so glad it hasn’t changed. I wanted Sam to have the same experience of this wonderful place that I did. She was definitely worn out by the time we left (and so was Grandmom!) Later that night she asked me if we could go there again. Definitely, Sam, definitely!
Sam didn’t ask for too much at the gift shop, just this odd putty called Mad Matter and an invention set called Makey Makey, which was created by some MIT students. It’s hard to explain, but it involves some electricity, some programming, and a bunch of other things. Mark agreed, of all the stuff she could have decided she wanted, this was a pretty good thing. I was really feeling sick and feverish by dinnertime so I went to lay down and Sam and Mark got going experimenting. Their first project was banana bongoes! Sam couldn’t wait to show me. My little inventor. 🙂
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So glad Sam had such a good time at the Franklin Institute. I don’t know if this would interest her, but sometime in April a museum will open at 3rd and Chestnut dedicated to the Revolutionary War. In recent years I have become very interested in that time in American history. BTW, I think I have only been to the Franklin Institute once.