Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
David Swerzenski couldn't even read the first time his family brought him to the State Fair,
but he was already doing his research.
Only a toddler at the time, Swerzenski asked a ton of questions.
I was fascinated with rides and how they work
The Rochester Institute of Technology student is wrapping up his fourth year in the mechanical
engineering program.
For his latest project – he’s dabbling in the amusement park business – creating
roller coasters and ferris wheels with a group of more than a dozen students.
Working hours and hours and hours, multiple nights a week from 7 o clock at night to 11
o clock at night. Testing and testing and testing.
And talk about another blast from Swerzenski’s childhood past -- the brightly colored rides
are made entirely out of K’nex – a construction toy.
The team is preparing for the annual Imagine R-I-T festival – a one-day-only mega showcase
of all the innovation and creativity that happens at R-I-T.
Last year it was about 20 rides, this year it’s going to be 34, with 5 roller coasters.
Organizers are expecting more than 35-thousand people of all ages to attend and experience
a mix of interactive presentations, hands-on demonstrations and exhibits.
Barry Culhane is the event chair.
We want people in our community and beyond to see the diversity of programs and opportunities
and how RIT can respond quickly to the needs in business and industry.
The engineering students – in particular - have spent a great deal of time creating
technology to help people – from aging seniors, to people who are deaf, blind, or individuals
with other physical challenges.
On the other side of campus, inside the Golisano Institute for Sustainability, what looks like
a giant video game is also being tweaked for its turn in the spotlight.
The simulator has three components so there’s the plasma screen at the back,
there are two processors here that generate the virtual environment that you’re driving
through and another one to do all the computational intensive tasks and then there’s this rumble
chair here to simulate the feel of a truck.
The truck simulator is meant to teach people about their eco-driving behaviors –
like the amount of emissions they generate as they operate the vehicle and how to practice
better fuel efficiency as they drive their routes.
The type of driving behavior that you exhibit should reflect what you do in the real world.
Rather than have all these trucks in the field retrofitted with the data collection tools,
we can test out some of the ideas here in the simulator before we invest further money
in trying this out in the field.
Just days away from the event – and it’s down to the wire. Or the sensor.
The Theme Park team is still putting the finishing touches on their biggest attraction – a
22 foot long roller coaster that can launch from two different points.
So this is a good example of when things don’t go as planned.
Be ready to go a bit crazy about it but it all works out in the end.
Every time something goes wrong they have to tweak the coaster just a tad and relaunch
it again.
And eventually……success. For these students -- watching their hard work pay off is the
icing on the cake.
They get a win win because they get to practice their presentation skills to all different
levels of people from children to grandparents.
But this is something they love. It’s part of who they are.
For the Innovation Trail, I’m Sasha-Ann Simons.