Sharjah: Young visitors to the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival are able to get a glimpse of what their future may look like through a futuristic exhibition running until April 28 at Expo Centre Sharjah.
Children and adults alike were able to unlock different years, from 1961 to 2016, as they first entered the exhibition, by clicking on a digital screen. They were able to learn about the past and present-day robots, when they were invented and what action they performed at the time of their creation.
The exhibition’s last area displayed the future vision of cities on a large screen, with high towers and flying cars. It also allowed children to explore a virtual reality machine, a robot training cell, future surgery, a cafebot, future engineering and the future on Mars.
Its second room displayed a gallery of robots used in real-life and in films, such as the Nu Man robot creation by Shaw Robotics, also known as the original Dalek builder, and the NS5 Robot head, which was acquired in Japan.
Another exhibit on display was surrogate robot body parts, which were created for the production of the 2009 sci-fi thriller Surrogates.
The body parts can be seen as Bruce Willis and his partner investigate a surrogate lab. They are crafted out of intricately carved biscuit foam, circuitry and other electronic parts.
As visitors moved along, they entered inside an enlarged robot to learn all about its functions. The exhibition’s fourth room showcased which areas future machines will be used in, from 2019 onwards. They explored their operation in medicine, such as robotic nurses and assistants, which are currently being developed to help patients and the elderly to move from one place to another.
The festival’s events span several programmes, under the main themes of Kids Activities, Cultural Programmes, Cultural Café, Kids’ Creative Café, Social Media Café and Cookery Corner. SCRF 2018 also features a series of international theatrical performances like ‘Tuta and Monkey Cheetah’, and the ‘Island of Kids’ Area.
