I received the invitation several weeks ago and wrote back, explaining that my actual job and career is not working on R2-D2s. I work as a Computer Tech at the medical center, I take care of the PCs, laptops, printers and other equipment there. However, they wanted someone to explain robotics and since R2-D2 is pretty well known in the community, the kids had a lot of questions about it.
Now I don't have kids so I made sure to arrive at the Elementary School good an early. Once I had checked in and had R2 unloaded, I was lead to 'my' class room for the morning.
The event had me speaking for 30 minutes to 5 groups of kids. The other speakers were a marine biologist, Life Flight, Maine State Police, the Maine Warden Service (and helicopter) among others.
With the age range being from First Grade to Fifth Grade, I tried to speak at a level the kids could understand. I also kept it brief since their attention span is extremely short with R2-D2 in the room!
After talking about what it took to build R2 and how various sections work, such as the motors and lights, I turned it over to Questions and Answers.
I had a great time chatting with the kids and the school staff. They all asked a lot of good questions and suggested a lot of additions for R2. The light saber launcher was a big request from the kids...as well as making an Optimus Prime next! No promises!
