A SCIENCE exhibition at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) in Penang is drawing in the crowds to try out its various exhibits.
The visitors had a thrilling time riding a manually operated gyroscope.
SJK (C) Pei Hwa pupil Jeff Ooi, 10, said it was really exciting.
“Although it is slightly scary to be strapped to a chair, the trill of the whole experience is priceless,” he said after a spin on the machine which was operated by a staff member from Petrosains.
His elder sister, Angeline, 12, from the same school in Kuala Kedah near Alor Setar, also went on a ride on the gyroscope and was seen shrieking as the machine spun around.
Their mother, Erica Goh, 41, said she brought her children to the exhibition after finding about it from the school.
“The exhibition enables children to gain more knowledge and to deepen their interest in science,” said Goh, who is a teacher.
Another popular exhibit at the three-day USM Penang Space Festival 2013 — The Art of Robotech event is an interactive robot called NAO which is displayed by Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM).
UiTM researcher and postgraduate student Mohd Azfar Miskam said NAO was a user friendly robot which was able help children in communication and education.
“Parents can pre-record the command on how to respond to a question.
“NAO also has face recognition and sensors to recognise objects and avoid obstacles. It can also play soccer,” Azfar said of the robot which weighs 5kg and is about 0.6m tall.
Deputy Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Dr Abu Bakar Mohamad Diah, who opened the exhibition yesterday, said the ministry had invested RM498.26mil in 1,256 projects from January to August this year of which 29 were successfully commercialised and generated RM18.58mil in revenue.
He said the projects had created 2,817 jobs.
The exhibition at USM’s main student hall ends today. It is open from 9am to 6pm. Admission is RM5 per person.
