At the Exhibition:

Before the Exhibition:

What didn't go wrong? A mangy dog didn't run into the science center and maul our Shrek doll. That's about it. But seriously... It was odd, because we didn't have anything to do that day except to adjust the light sensor settings to be appropriate for Sage. Everything was going right, and we were congratulating ourselves on a job well-done, ready to begin the web page. Then the trouble started. We tested out our project to make sure things worked after adjusting the light sensors. The sensors worked. Until the last dragon sensor that was supposed to make the tape recorder and Fiona go off. It'd worked before we changed the sensor values, so we changed them back. It still didn't work. What to do? Ask for help! We asked Lyn, and he brought up a computer as well as handyboard equiptment. After numerous tests, it turned out that our motor port d did not work. We got a new handyboard, and that worked. The other issue was a scare... The tape recorded died, so we replaced the batteries, since the "batteries are dying" light had been on. Then, nothing happened. The bad battery light didn't even turn on. After a few moments of intense hyperventilation, we checked the battery situation, and they'd been put in wrong. After that, peace, finally.

 

And the Show Begins:

Everything went well, in general. One issue was that it was difficult for children to control Shrek, since they could barely reach over the board to point the cricket at Shrek, and they also didn't understand that the cricket had to be pointing directly at Shrek for it to send the IR signal. It was also difficult for children (and people, in general) to steer Shrek over the bridge, since it was so narrow. If we'd had more time we could have made the steering better, if that's possible. We would just push Shrek along on the bridge. The sensors were fine at first, though eventually, as batteries wore and light conditions became bright with flash photography and the reporters, they began to fail. People seemed to enjoy our project, and really liked Dragon and Fiona. They also commented often about the artistry of the board. Kids liked Donkey, too. It seems Shrek, the star, was the least-favorite. We also found that Donkey made controlling Shrek near-impossible, because his big head got in the way of our IR beams. We tried to just leave him in his corner. We also stopped using the tape recorder because it was barely audible what with the laughing children and adults. Like most of the other projects, or so we heard, ours eventually fell apart because of lack of battery power. This seems unavoidable, which is perhaps why the exhibition lasted only one and a half hours. Regardless, we enjoyed ourselves, and we are certain that our audience enjoyed Shrek's Magical Adventure.

 

Photographs: