TAF Academy FabLab group showcases project at historical Fe2 exhibition

TAF Academy students put in work hours after the school days ended, preparing to be featured at the 9e2 art exhibition held at the King Street Station in downtown Seattle. The exhibition which began in New York City, dates back fifty years and marries art, science and technology to create interesting installations, performances and pieces by engineers, artists, and scientists.

This year, TAF Academy’s FabLab comprised of 10th graders, joined seasoned artists and engineers to showcase their work.

Student Jose Andrada stood out as an all-star during the entire process. It is his first year in engineering instructor Gabriel Diaz’s class, yet already Diaz sees much promise in Andrada’s future. When visiting the classroom as students busied themselves finalizing the prototype maze, painting the background, and creating digitizing mock ups of avatars to then be realized using the 3-D printer, Andrada sat before the computer. Using a few clicks of the mouse, he quickly re-created the clay avatars in digital form. The avatars, once made into plastic figures, will be placed in robotic vehicles that will then navigate a maze installation entitled A Guide to Survive focused on time traveling.

When scanning the classroom, students tackled various pieces of the project in anticipation of 9e2 opening day. Students sprawled out in the corner of the classroom painting collaboratively to create the city backdrop, others gathered around a projector talking through the logistics of how, in fact, the models should move about the maze. It appeared that everyone knew their roles and were committed to getting the job done.

On Tuesday, October 25th, all of the student’s hard work paid off as they ventured to the King Street Station accompanied by Diaz and TAF’s Education Technology Program Manager Troy Hilton.

Take a look at the pictures chronicling the creation and final installation display at 9e2!