Starting this past week, we will be doing tours about once a
week until August. Since most of the kids in the SUPER program work for
different institutes, there’s a tour of most labs, showcasing all the cool
stuff they all have. It’s a little like a bragging contest. But I’m cool with
it because we get to see some pretty fantastic stuff. Some are just a few hours
long, but others take the whole day. Most of the institutes are very
mechanical/robotics/typical engineering stuff. Which is still interesting, but
obviously I’d rather see body stuff or chemistry. On the whole, though, I think
that what we get to see can get anyone excited about science and the advances
that are being made here.
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| Flight simulator |
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| The wood moving thingy |
On Monday, we were taken to the Institute of System
Dynamics. The first thing we saw was a flight simulator. This flight simulator
was different than other flight simulators because it used pneumatics to power
it. When I asked someone what that meant, they told me that they use 7 tanks of
pressurized gas to move the partial cockpit around to imitate flight. They let
a few of us run a simulation with one of their guys. The screens showed an
animated version of the Frankfurt airport, and it was cool to watch the whole
contraption move. The rest of us got to sit in the cockpit as a photo op. From
there, we trekked to another part of campus. Unfortunately for us, at this
point it had decided to completely pour. Marissa and I had hoods, but Varun had
to beg for some umbrella room from other people in the group. The next attraction
was also outside. It did happen to be such a shape that allowed us to take
cover under it. The interesting part about this piece was that it was a 14 mm
thick wooden thing that was passively anchored at only one of its corners. The
other three were mechanically powered and would move in different directions.
The wood moved and changed its shape a bit to conform to the demands being put
on it. It was pretty nifty. The last and coolest part of the tour was a robotic
arm. It was also powered by pneumatics. This arm was modeled after an
elephant’s trunk and is safe to touch. This is apparently new technology,
because in the past, robots have been caged and are very dangerous to work
around. It was actually controlled by a PS3 controller and it moved in some crazy
ways. Marissa took a go at it. When Varun stepped up, it stopped working after
5 seconds. So he broke it. Damn kids. The tour was definitely over at that
point.
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| Varun breaking the robot |
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| The robot Varun broke |
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| Varun not breaking the robot |
Tuesday we had another tour. This one was for the Institute
of Machine Learning and Robotics. We got a lecture on the basics of machine
learning before we got to see anything tangible. Machine learning is exactly
what it sounds like: machines are learning about their environment by exploring
it. They’re basically big babies, touching things to see what happens, and then
being internally rewarded when they discover new information. It’s a super cool
concept. And who doesn’t like robots? The guy who talked to us did not seem
enthusiastic about his robots being used in a medical or healthcare setting,
but whatever. When he had explained what kind of equations are programmed into
the robot and how they work and all that jazz, we actually got to see one do
stuff. They had built a mock living room where one day, their machine will be
able to move and push things around to explore. For now, they are still getting
the programming right. They could, however, show us how interactive the robot
was. It had a Kinect game console as a head/camera, two arms with grabbers on
the ends and a rolly thing as feet. It could be calibrated to someone’s hand
and then it would move as the person moved. So that’s exactly what we did. When
Varun volunteered, I whispered, “Try not to break this one.” Apparently it
wasn’t very quiet, but the robot dudes didn’t seem to hear, which was the most
important part. Thankfully, Varun did not continue his streak, and the robot
worked just fine. It was actually really cool. He could grab things and move
around. The robot even knows where its other parts are because, try as he
might, Varun couldn’t get one arm to touch the other. After that successful
robot venture, the tour was over and we all went back to work.
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| The dispenser in my lab |
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| My lines! |
After a bit of waiting, I finally got to start working on
the project I came here for. The 3D printer that my lab was supposed to have
gotten in March still hasn’t arrived, but another lab associated with ours got
a dispenser, which we realized will serve approximately the same purpose as our
theoretical printer. I got to start using the dispenser, figuring out how it
works, where things go, what buttons to push, everything. I probably haven’t
made very much progress, but I’m getting there. The goal is to decide which of
two different materials is the best to print in a 3D manner. The substance I’ve
been using so far can be very viscous. We need to optimize the concentration so
that the point that it changes from liquid to gel is at room temperature. Then
we need to make sure that the substance stays cold so that we can print with
it. It’s a very engineering problem. Finding a solution to a problem that helps
solve another problem which will help determine the answer to the original
question. So far, all I’ve printed are a few lines. You can judge my 10 mm long
lines if you want, but I think they’re fantastic. I’m super excited to get to
continue playing with the machine to see what it can do and what I can make
with it.
On Friday, Marissa went to watch the German football game
with some friends who live a half hour away. With our trio down one member,
Varun and I decided to get dinner and watch a bit of the game. Actually, dinner
was the important part, and not so much the game. We ate Italian and then got
gelato. We took our gelato to the Schlossgarten (surprise!) and sat in the
grass. This proved to be quite entertaining because all the German fans who had
just watched the game had come out of the public viewing and were quite
intoxicated and loud. For some reason, there was a professional drum line
somewhere behind us, many tents around us, and drunk, screaming teenagers all
about. We went home early because the next day was going to be an early one.
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| The castle on the hill |
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| Getting closer |
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| At the base of the castle |
With no big trips planned for the weekend, we decided to
stay in Germany and explore somewhere we hadn’t been yet. We decided upon the
Neuschwanstein Castle. This is a castle built in the 1870s for Ludwig II,
modeled after the operatic style of the composer Wagner. It was never actually
finished on the inside because Ludwig died a mysterious death before it was
completed. It is also commonly known as the “Disney” or “Fairy Tale” castle. The
closest town is right on the German-Austrian border, so that we could see the
Austrian Alps. We got a regional train ticket that allowed us to have up to 5
people on it. We could go anywhere in Germany in one day for 45 euros. With
three of us going on a there-and-back trip, it was an awesome deal. The not
awesome part about it was how long it took us to get there. In the morning, our
first train left at 7:35 and we finally got to the ticket counter at 1. The
next English tour of the castle was at 5:05. For the next few hours, we
wandered around the town, bought souvenirs, ate lunch, and then took a bus up
to where the castle is. We spent two hours up there, looking at it, eating ice
cream, taking pictures of the awesome views around the area.
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| The front of the castle |
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| Courtyard and surrounding area |
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| View from the castle balcony |
At 5:05, we lined up and were let into the castle. We were
told we weren’t allowed to touch anything or take any pictures. That definitely
did not happen. (I touched the butt many times.) Once insides, it was
incredibly opulent. There were colors and designs and swans everywhere. Ludwig
was known for his love of swans, so they showed up quite a bit in the décor. We
were only shown a few rooms because many of them have been left unfinished. The
staff runs the tours efficiently. One tour is very shortly followed by the
next. Unfortunately, the business-y air took away a bit of the feeling of
actually being in a real castle. Extra unfortunately, there were two screaming
babies in our tour group. In a hall made of mosaic tiles and marble, it became
quite difficult to hear what our guide was saying. It also flustered her a bit.
The tour lasted about a half hour. After that, we passed through two gift shops
and then saw the kitchen and pantry. We were able to see more of the castle
after the real tour ended, which I appreciated. We were even allowed to go out
on a balcony and take pictures of the view from many feet up. When we exited
the castle, the only way down was to walk, as the buses stop making trips at 3
and it was now almost 6. We walked down, caught another bus, and stopped at the
train station. We waited for a while for the train to come. We were anxious,
knowing how long the trip back would be. Thankfully, we finally got smart and
bought playing cards to bring with us on all our future train rides. We played
Go Fish and Varun taught us how to play Poker, kind of. Our return trip had
only three switches. On one of the train rides, we were sitting behind a
bachelorette party of about 10. For the whole two hour ride, they were all
drunkenly singing. Sometimes they would sing in German, and other times
unexpected tunes such as the Backstreet Boys were yelled. It would have been
more entertaining if they had been better and we wouldn’t have been so tired.
On our last leg, the wagon behind us was full of “hooligans” we decided. Shot
glasses on necklaces, girls straddling guys, sunglasses inside. Oh, it was
great fun. We returned home at 12:30, at which point I promptly put on my pjs
and went to bed.
Sunday we all got up whenever we damn well pleased. Which
meant about 11 or 12, followed by more lounging. Our big event for the day was
making our American breakfast. Just think about it real fast: does anyone
actually know how to make pancakes without Bisquik? Because we certainly did
not. We attempted and got things that were more like thick crepes. They were
still good. And we didn’t find any syrup so we used honey instead. Which has a
similar consistency. After we ate this big meal, we were all ready for nap
time. The rest of the day was spent lying in bed watching tv and it was
glorious. We all greatly enjoyed the relaxing.
Even during a pretty normal week, everything is still so
different and fascinating. We can walk around the city center with bottles of
beer, or we can go sit in a garden and not see stars until 11 at night, or we
can sit in a bar on campus run by students. The pace of life here is slower and
has a greater emphasis on human intercourse, as my grandma would say. There are
great thinkers here doing incredible research, but these people take time to do
other things besides work. They’re encouraged to do so. Travel is a big part of
life, and relaxation is important. Meals last for hours, not minutes and
drinking is social, not to get hammered. People here are accepting of others’
differences and dare to be different. Fashion is important to men and women.
Everyone dresses well, but they don’t dress for others. Name brands aren’t big
here, but looking good is. People say hello and goodbye (“Hallo” And “Tschüss”)
to everyone all the time. Also note that there is a particular, sing-songy way
to say “tschüss.” Being outside is a popular pastime, usually exercising or
hanging out with people. All of these things just add to my love of this
country and the culture on this side of the pond. I can’t think of any moment
since I got here at the end of May where I wasn’t happy to be here, to be
experiencing new things, and to be making new friends. I am incredibly thankful
to be on this journey. While there are people to thank, I really should
remember to thank myself as well. Ok, sappy moment done.
Happy belated ‘Murica day, my fellow ‘Muricans.
Forever and always,
Taryn
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