Innovation Gallery

Become a Silicon Valley-style innovator. Use the inventions that made the area world-famous to design your own rollercoaster, and build a microchip.

Silicon Workshop

Engineers combine creativity and logic on microchips.
Whether it's in a car, cell phone, video game, or thermostat, every microchip has a unique design based on its function. Even a simple task, such as turning on the furnace when the house gets cold, requires complex writing on the chip. Powerful design software helps engineers innovate new ways to fit more and more tasks on each microchip. See how many features you can combine as you design chips to control toys in the Silicon Workshop. More Info...

Virtual Design

Sophisticated hardware and software help us model virtual, 3-D objects and real-time phenomena. We can now create and manipulate virtual objects and realms as if they were real, and test them under different conditions by mimicking the laws of physics and forces of nature.

Try firsthand some of the systems now available to design different products, from bicycles to roller coasters. Use technology to create compelling realistic models of objects that, until now, existed only in the imagination. More Info...

Alphabot

This robot shows off its memory. Alphabot, also known to staff as Vanna has a knack for names. Tell it your name, and the robot will spell it with blocks.

This robot has no eyes, so how does it find the right blocks? With the help of a computer, Vanna remembers the exact location of every letter. It knows where to find each block and always returns it to the same spot. If you scrambled the blocks, Vanna couldn't spell your name.
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Robot Artist

Sit for your portrait by a robot artist. Many robots are just mechanical arms that follow instructions. What robot arms do depends on their software and the type of "hands," or end effectors, they have.

This robot has an artistic streak. After the TV camera takes your picture, a computer figures out what the robot should draw. When your portrait is complete, the robot will give it to you.

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Robot Design Basics

Designers choose the right parts to fit a robot's job. A robot usually does just one job, and does it very well. That single task defines how the robot moves, its shape, and what parts it needs.

Robots work for us in many ways. They assemble cars and VCRs, or explore volcanoes and the surface of Mars. They serve as security guards and assistant surgeons. Robots even do precise and dangerous jobs, like disposing of bombs and mines or inspecting nuclear reactors. Each type of robot has the parts it needs to do its own job.

Use this program to select a job, then build a robot that has the right parts to do it.
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Cleanroom

Closed for renovation, will open in September. See Exhibits about Microchips More Info...