Erica is being upgraded for the Big Bang Fair

One of Erica’s first excursions after her return to ECS, will be to the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham from the 13th to 16th of March.  Before then, there are some significant upgrades planned to make Erica a more robust and even more interactive cyber rhino.  These include:

  • Panels of connectors on Erica’s plinth so she can more easily be disconnected and reconnected when she is taken on excursions.  These connectors will also help diagnose problems if Erica gets ill and will provide the means to interact with her in new ways.
  • Android touchscreens so replace the display panels in Erica’s body so people can interact with Erica and the information about here rather than just viewing static pages.
  • A revamp to the Erica’s LED system, so it is more resilient to heat and electromagnetic interference.  When Erica originally arrived in the Marlands shopping centre, none of us could have known how hot it was going to be last Summer.
  • An separate touchscreen display that allows people to see what Erica sees and control her eyes, ears, sounds and LEDs.

Over the next few weeks, leading up to the Big Bang Fair, other team members will post updates on the progress they have made with these upgrades but for now here is a sneak peak on the work to revamp Erica’s LED system.

DSC_0047

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.