Day 21: Robots & Maestros

Martin van Mast

This morning we got an extra hour to sleep in or enjoy breakfast a bit longer. There was also some sad news however, since yesterday’s bus driver had an accident on his way back. Luckily, for us, a replacement bus was available. It was still a luxury bus with wide seats, but nevertheless a downgrade.

The trend of material science related visits was continued at KAIST. Namely, two students from this faculty gave a presentation with some information about the faculty and the currently running research projects. Examples of such projects are deposition of material from a syringe in a strong electric field to create thin tubular structures and a material that could generate a current using only a drop of water. After the presentation we got a quick tour of two of their labs.

The second visit of the day was to Twinny, which specialises in autonomous delivery robots. As per usual, the visit started with presentation. The contents were mainly focused on the different types of robots currently being produced/designed and a bit about the company itself. Then we got a demo that showed particularly well what separates twinny from other companies, namely that their robots are able to operate in small spaces and correct their path on the go. They did this by letting a robot drive through our group multiple times.

The evening activity was a candlelight concert, at which film music composed by Joe Hisaishi was played by a group of 4 violinists. Even though most people didn’t know most (if not all) of the songs, it was still a truly worthwhile experience.