As it slowly grew dark outside, many colorful lights came on inside, inviting visitors to marvel at the sights: On September 26, the doors opened to the 4th Night of Technology in the Bonn/Rhein-Sieg region. At the University of Bonn, too, there were two stations where visitors could experience technology research live. At the Computer Science Center on the Poppelsdorf campus, visitors encountered innovative robots and a laser and light show, and gained a wide range of insights into astronomy, geodesy, and agricultural engineering.
Among the robots present at the Computer Science Center was “NimbRo@Home” from the “Autonomous Intelligent Systems” working group. As a household helper, it chatted with its guests, served them iced tea, among other things, and showed them how well it can already navigate independently in a simulated room – and where its limits lie. Some participants were able to take a seat in the award-winning avatar system and control the corresponding robot remotely themselves. Their colleague, the “Sketch-O-Bot” from the Humanoid Robots Lab, took an artistic approach and drew portraits of visitors. In the “Wanted & Found” activity, the household robot “Stretch” from the “Robot Perception & Learning” working group searched for various objects for visitors, opening cupboards and drawers to do so.
Another visitor magnet was the “Laser and Light Lab” of the “Communication Systems” working group, which thrilled visitors with its colorful laser shows and presented student work from the bachelor's and master's programs in computer science. During the presentation of “RIFTCast” by the Visual Computing Incubator, interested visitors were able to immerse themselves in a 3D telepresence environment using VR glasses and interact live with people captured on camera by over 30 cameras. Hands-on activities from other departments also delighted visitors: For example, a demonstration of agricultural technology
illustrated the technical possibilities for monitoring heat development in feed silage and provided insights into modern technologies in cowsheds. In a digital puzzle game from geodesy and geoinformation, interested visitors could try their hand at solving cartography problems in a playful way and learn how digital maps are created. The physics show musical “Future Energies — Future Music?” highlighted how renewable energies can help secure our future on this planet with selected scenes and the first puzzles from the escape room “2051: Energy in Space.” The AI service center “West AI” and the Transfer Center enaCom focused on innovations and artificial intelligence at their booths.
While much of the focus in computer science was on the future, the staff at Arithmeum, the university museum dedicated to the history of mechanical computing, looked back at history: with the help of original calculating machines from the 1960s, visitors learned how people used to solve mathematical problems. Lectures also provided insights into the world of cryptography.
“We are delighted that there was such a large turnout at our two locations and that many families and young adults in particular enthusiastically participated in our hands-on activities and learned about our research,” summarizes Dr. Florentin J. Schmidt from the Transfer Center enaCom, which coordinated the University of Bonn's participation. “This is a wonderful confirmation for the many departments at the University of Bonn, some of which participated in the Night of Technology for the second time and successfully presented themselves in a vivid manner. The disciplinary diversity of this year's program was particularly impressive and made the visitors want to learn more,” adds his colleague Christina Qaim, who was also involved in the organization.
