Visitors meet and interact with Code, Da Vinci Jr.’s robot dog, at the NextGen STEMFest at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation. Photo by Julie M. Cohen.
Ron Pulicari, right, marketing director at Boston Dynamics, directs the company’s famous robot dog, Spot, to interact with the crowd at the NextGen STEMFest at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation.
Spot and Code may not appreciate treats, belly rubs or rolling in the grass, but the robot dogs excelled at entertaining the crowd during the second annual NextGen STEMFest (STEM being short for science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in Waltham.
The petlike droids made by Boston Dynamics and Da Vinci Jr., respectively, were just two of the impressive, multitasking machines on view May 30 at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation event. More than 50 exhibitors were set up throughout the museum.
“We want to get the kids interested in robotics,” said Waltham resident Ron Pulicari, marketing director at Boston Dynamics. Using a tablet controller, he directed the yellow, four-legged machine to move, point, pick up objects and interact with the many families in attendance.
R2D2 from “Star Wars” interacts with the crowd at the NextGen STEMFest at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation. Photo by Julie M. Cohen.
“We always have [Spot perform] new dances,” said Pulicari. In its day job, the sophisticated robot performs such tasks as inspections.
Nearby, a familiar droid “talked” to visitors in instantly recognizable beeps and chirps. Families were delighted to greet R2D2 from “Star Wars,” whose wire “guts” were visible.
While several tech companies showed off their inventions, Waltham High School students on the school’s robotics team demonstrated their latest creations, including robots that simulated the behaviors of an angler fish and a crocodile.
“I love it,” said 8-year-old Noelle after “feeding” her hand into the crocodile robot’s mouth. She and her family came all the way from Falmouth just for the event.
Visitors could also check out other cutting-edge machines including 3D printers that produced intricate fidget toys, routers that carved chess pieces and farm robots that precisely watered plants.
“This kind of stuff is always very cool,” said Bruce Wang, 12, who was mesmerized watching an xTool engraver use a laser to etch his name onto a keychain.
Bella Flannery, 12, smiled as she watched a volunteer describe how another machine created detailed wooden puzzles. Asked why she and her family drove all the way from Upton to the Waltham event Flannery said, “I’m into the sciences.”
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Visitors crowd into the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation to see the latest technology at the NextGen STEMFest.
A CNC router was used to create a chess set which was on display at the NextGen STEMFest on May 30, at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation in Waltham.
A CNC router was used to create a chess set which was on display at the NextGen STEMFest on May 30, at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation in Waltham. Photo by Julie M. Cohen.
Waltham resident Chris Stone holds his son Jacob, 2, while he plays with a 3D-printed, star-shaped fidget.
Bruce Wang, 12, holds a keychain with his name on it that was created with an xTool engraver.
From left, volunteer Riley Wehr shows Bella Flannery, 12, and her mother, Sondra, a puzzle and other items.
From left, Noelle, 8, watches as her sister Haley, 6, sticks her hand in the “mouth” of a crocodile machine made by Waltham High School students.
Declan McMahon, 16, a member of the Waltham High School robotics team, demonstrates a machine that mimics an angler fish.
Evie, 5, uses a remote control to “drive” an mBot Ranger vehicle with modified bumpers at the NextGen STEMFest at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation.
Liam Potter, 6, from Somerville, steers a remote-control robot at the NextGen STEMFest at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation.
A 3D-printed octopus created by members of the Charles River Collaboratory is on display at the NextGen STEMFest at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation.
Sister and brother Carina Stokes, 3, and Luca Stokes, 6, look through an oversized kaleidoscope at the NextGen STEMFest at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation.
Oliver Keegan, 8, uses a Gravity Sketch to draw in 3D at the NextGen STEMFest at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation.
Murphy Florman, right, an educator from the EcoTarium, hands a model of a velociraptor skull to Khalil, 7, at the NextGen STEMFest at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation.
Volunteer Christin Eigenman with Whale & Dolphin Conservation discusses the organization’s technology at the NextGen STEMFest at the Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation.
Photos by Julie M. Cohen
For more information about the event and the exhibitors, visit NextGen STEMFest.
Julie M. Cohen has been a professional journalist for more than 25 years in both Israel and the United States, earning multiple New England Newspaper & Press Association (NENPA) awards. She graduated from Smith College with a double BA in English and studio art and earned a master’s degree in children’s literature from Simmons College. She has worked at several local papers covering towns and cities throughout eastern Massachusetts. Cohen has reported on a variety of topics, from hard news, politics, schools and police to art, human rights, the environment and business, among others.
