Trains and Robots

This month I took our Littles on their first train ride into Austin. 

Nathan invited us to join him for the afternoon at a technology convention, which meant we'd be able to do two cool things-

1- Ride the train 

2- Play with real robots

What's not to like?

We boarded the train at the very end of the rail and rode it the entire length to the last stop smack dab in downtown Austin. 

Sarah thought is was so romantic riding a train. The rhythmic sway of the cars was so soothing and hypnotic.

I always love watching the scenery whizz by in a blur of color. 

Sarah and Matthew felt proud to be in charge of plotting our destination on the map. They loved following our progress at each stop. They were like little adventurers exploring an exciting new land.

We pulled into the final station and found my handsome Mr. Kingsley waving hello to us from the platform. Luckily the station is literally right next to the Austin Convention Center, so we didn't have to navigate Austin's streets with a passel of children and a stroller.

The convention center was filled with fascinating booths to explore. The myriad of robots were of course the highlight of our trip. The children talked to engineers and learned a little bit about how each robot operated.

This robot was voted the family favorite. This cute little hand-shaped robot generously handed out sticks of gum to anyone who put out a hand to receive it. Daniel tried to trick the machine and get two pieces of gum, but the robot looked at his outstretched hand (already gifted with gum) and the robot shook it's head 'no'. The children laughed and laughed over this, exclaimed what a clever little robot this was. 

My favorite exhibit was a large robot that puts on a concert by precisely bouncing balls onto the instruments. 

I found a little video of it so you can get an idea what it was like. 

Daniel's other favorite stop was a giant slingshot activity. The engineers connected a game of Angry Birds to this slingshot. To play the game, players would fire this sensor-laden slingshot to launch the birds on the screen.

Very clever.