{ exhibition }

Exhibition Day: At first Todd didn't really feel like drawing, it seems, because for some reason he just didn't listen to us. But after we tightened Lego pieces, hot-glued more pieces together, and adjusted the motors and gearing (multiple times throught the hour and half), he became pretty consistent and did well. The biggest surprise factor was that although Todd would draw, he really had to be in the exactly perfect distance from the easel upon which the notebook he was drawing on to have it work. If he was too close the marker would get caught from he pressure and the motion modules would stall, and if he was too far away the marker wouldn't touch the paper. Also, the easel started to not work early in the exhibition so we couldn't show people that he could draw a smiley-face and had them feed him and clap for him instead.

Because we hot-glued everything together there wasn't that many problems with things falling apart, although the motors' rubber bands would still sometimes fall off. We got better at position Todd the further we got into the exhibition, so his drawings have gotten better with practice. The kids who came really seemed to like that he would eat the leaves they fed him, although I wish we could have covered Todd completely so no one could see the gearing--I think that would have added to the overall effect. This was not possible though, because we had to have easy access to the handyboard and to the motion modules in case they got stuck. There was even this little boy who came while holding a stuffed elephant bigger than his torso, so he seemed pretty happy. :)

Looking back, the entire week leading up to this hour and a half was like a never-ending marathon. There were so many times that we felt Todd might be impossible, whether it was the IR sensors not working, parts breaking or getting stuck, programming not working... but we slaved away with great determination and feel our efforts have paid off. We aimed high and achieved what we wanted, even though it wasn't in the way we had originally planned. We learned that even if things theoretically should work, real life gets in the way and makes so many seemingly simple things well nigh impossible. The trepidation we felt before and during the exhibition was ameliorated slightly as time went on and Todd faithfully did what he could to make some artistic drawings... and even though not everything worked perfectly, we're thankful for the experience and proud of Todd.

Thank you for reading! Todd says "HI"!

{Todd is getting ready} --------------------------

{Todd is getting fed- so his mouth is about to chomp!} -------

{Todd has been appluaded- drawing himself again}