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Robotronica, Yay!

Last Sunday (that’s Sunday the 18/8/13 for you time travellers) there was a big robot expo-thing at QUT called Robotronica, the future is now. My dad took me and my sisters to see what was going on and at 11:00am it started with a robot that walked around a hall avoiding obstacles and people whilst around the corner, with the help of some touch-screen monitors, there was a giant interactive playhouse where you could adjust gravity, make a wooden doll dance and throw building blocks around.

We then moved on to the kinect section and I discovered a glitch where if you turn 90 degrees in any direction then leant back a bit your virtual self would completely spazz out.

Then later on there were demonstrations of a new robot that can hear commands, sit, walk, get up on it’s own etc. But what made it stand out was the fact that it was commercially available for… wait for it… Only $2,300! (that’s cheap for a robot with all those functions) The assistants made them dance, walk around, have conversations with each other and the audience and 2 of them actually had a small fight. (they pushed each other over a lot)
Then one of them ran out of battery and fell flat on it’s face, causing several of the audience to laugh.

Later on there was a 3D printer skyscrapers thingy where you used 3D printed parts to make skyscrapers.

Then there was the 7-bit hero performance, which to say the least, was LOUD! it was basically an electronic rock concert but in the background there was a game that people in the crowd could join with a special I-phone app and actually interact with things whilst the music for the game was played by the guys on stage.

And Then there was the finale…

First there was a speech performed by one of the android robots (he had some funny lines like: “And to entertain the human-slaves, oops did I say that out loud?” which was pretty funny if you ask me) then there was a lazer show which I thought was pretty basic then a whole bunch of quad-copters flew up from behind some trees and made patterns,  an animated kangaroo, a cat face that sang along to the music and some epilepsy-inducing flashes before hiding back behind the trees.

So that was pretty cool.

LInk: http://www.robotronica.qut.edu.au/

Oh, and all the food/drink was at rip-off prices. Well, you can’t have everything I guess :P

Tillon’s Journey to Jaédeen – Part 2

The next morning he awoke and then showed his findings to Gernando. “I don’t know of it Tillon.” His view was. “maybe you could ask the sword shopkeeper when we get to Gemalia” “Good idea. maybe he will know something about this.” The two of them then started to pack up their belongings and prepared for travel once more. while riding on the cart he examined the runes more closely. They appeared to be ancient writing of some sort, Tillon suspected magic spells or enchantments. As the day progressed Tillon tried to get a rough estimate as to its weight but it was just slightly too heavy for him to tell its exact weight. He also studied the fat green emerald sitting in the blade. Gernando claimed it would be worth around 100 gillenti if he were to sell the gem. if he sold it with the sword it would be about 130. Tillon didn’t want to sell it though he just wanted to know about it. Gernando and Tillon continued along the path, pulled along by the deggles who needed feeding in a short while. they had started making their ‘groomphing’ noises. “The blacksmith might also be able to lend you a helping hand in it’s classification.” “Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

They were travelling through the same terrain as before, long rolling hills at the foot of the Pekemad Mountains. There was a well used and much travelled road running between An’ dunal and Jaédeen. This was the Roverstin Road, which had been in use since the 15th century. It was at first infamous for the amount of highwaymen and swindlers that lived along it but after only 5 years of this villainy the king of that time had employed a permanent guard along it’s 74km length. then the numbers of scum decreased dramatically and finally wheezed out of existence. The worst part of the road then became the winding Lekman’s Pass. Many deggles have fallen prey to the frequent landslides and flash floods, taking themselves and their riders down a stony crag to their doom. Presently Tillon came to notice that the closer they got to Lekman’s Pass the sword began to emit a soft humming sound, almost inaudible at first, but then day by day got louder and louder and then finally at a distance of 1km from the pass it seemed to hum with such fervour as to shake itself apart. “Can you possibly quieten down that sword of yours?” Gernando inquired. “It’ll spook my deggles!”  Tillon then picked it up to wrap it tightly in cloth but to his surprise it fell silent almost the instant it touched his hand. Odd… He thought. It really wants to be in my hands for the pass. Tillon then tried to put it down, once again it started humming. He decided it would be best if he was to keep it in his hands as they plodded towards Lekman’s Pass.

Almost as soon as the road behind them got hidden by the stony curve of at the base of the mountains a huge bat-winged creature came swooping down from a hidden crag high up in the cliff. “Look out!” Tillon yelled at Gernando. The huge bat-creature then swooped up one of the deggles. Almost by instinct Tillon thrust the sword at the horrid monster, just scraping the back of it’s hard head. It made a blood-curdling sound and flew off back to wherever it came form.

Progress on Tillon’s Journey to Jaédeen.

If you have read one of my earlier posts, Tillon’s Journey to Jaédeen, you will see that it is only part one of an unknown amount. I have not posted the second part yet, even though I have been working on it a fair bit. For the simple reason of school/homework. Now that it is school holidays though I should be able to work on it more frequently.

Hope you enjoy the series once it is done!

-Max :D