Robots that can solve Rubik’s cubes, pour water and draw filled the Inverell Shire Public Library on Thursday, January 18.
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The Mobile Makerspace was a collaboration between the library and the Inverell TAFE campus, and ranged from simple pianos made of fruit to 3D printing. Around 70 participants, from kindergarten-aged to young adults, took turns trying out the technology on display.
“It was really amazing actually. We had so much fun,” library manager Sonya Lange said.
One popular water-pouring robot was transformed into an artist when a burgeoning young engineer had the bright idea to hook it up with a pen.
“The kids were actually drawing on sheets of cardboard and trying to write their names with the robot, which was pretty cool,” Mrs Lange said.
The Rubik’s cube-solving robot was a crowd pleaser – scanning and solving the tricky toy in just one minute.
“You kind of looked and went ‘I can’t believe I’m watching this happen,’” Mrs Lange said.
Young techno whizzes tried out coding on Raspberry Pi single-board computers and designed their own Edison robots using lego before testing them on a race track.
The day was a just a taste of what’s to come, with the library and TAFE planning a collaboration over the next 12 months. Still in the planning stage, TAFE staff will continue to bring their hi-tech toys to the library for a series of coding and robotics classes.
“We can provide the environment and the infrastructure already to have kids coming along to things, and TAFE are able to bring that expertise, the equipment,” Mrs Lange said.
The library have already begun taking expressions of interest for the classes.