6/16/15: TouchTomorrow Technology Festival at Worcester Polytechnic Institute

I love encouraging children to explore math and science.  I always loved math and science and graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) with an Aerospace Degree.  When I heard they were having an event for kids called TouchTomorrow I was excited to take the kids.  We went this past weekend and it was amazing and free!

This event drew more than 10,000 people!  We had so much fun, plus we got to see Gompei the Goat who is our school's mascot!

There was so much going on for families to experience.  We started on the Quad.  When I was at WPI I did my Major Qualifying Project (Senior Project) in Aerospace engineering at NASA.  It was so cool to get to pose in as a NASA astronaut.

Both of the kids posed for me.

There was so much fun and excitement every where.

 iRobot was there with one of their military robots.

 There were also robots there from the Centennial Challenges which is a NASA-WPI Sample Return Robot Challenge.

The NASA Sample Return Robot Challenge program has three objectives: 1 - Discover innovative new technologies to advance robot navigation and sample collection without human control. 

2 - Demonstrate robotic transportation over varied terrain without the aid of GPS or other Earth-based systems. 

3 - Empower educators and people of all ages, by introducing robotics and how they work, where they work, and real-world applications of how robots will be used the future. 

Lauren also got “rolled over” by the Roll-Over-Rover.

We also went to a presentation by Astronaut Cady Coleman who has logged more than 4,330 hours in Space and is from MA!

 She filled the room.

We even went to my old stomping ground in Higgins Laboratories and saw a presentation on Aerospace Engineering at WPI.

 They did a short demo of the Wind Tunnel.

I remember doing wind tunnel tests back when I was at WPI.

 NASA had some really cool exhibits.

The kids found my brick.  When I graduated my parents bought a brick that has my name and graduation year on it.  It is on the Quad.

 I love this new statue of Gompei.

There were so many interactive activities for families that we could not possibly see it all.  My recommendation is to look at the schedule online and decide what you really want to go to.  There were many food options, ample parking and by using the campus map you were able to figure out where you wanted to go.  The other nice thing was that outside each building there was a sign telling you what was inside.

For more information on TouchTomorrow visit them online:
www.touchtomorrow.wpi.edu
@touchtomorrowpi #touchtomorrow
https://www.facebook.com/TouchTomorrowWPI
https://instagram.com/wpi_touchtomorrow/

We can't wait for it to come back next year!

Disclosure:  I was provided compensation for this post.  As always all opinions are my own.