Submitted by Rachel Gardner on Mon, 31/03/2025 - 18:14
Taking a virtual tour of the Dawn supercomputer. Chatting to a robot or making music with code. Discovering how AI can help with insomnia, or turn you into a guitar genius. Solving the logic puzzles that unlock a pirate's treasure chest, or trying out some Computer Science 'Taskmaster'-style tasks.
These were just some of the activities available to visitors at our Cambridge Festival Open Day on Saturday 22 March 2025.
Here in the Department, we want to engage the public, enthuse prospective students, and encourage wider participation in, Computer Science and Technology. As part of this, every year we open our doors during the Cambridge Festival and invite the public in.
This year, visitors were able to see how a swarm of robots learns to work together, and try out 'Pirate'- and 'Hacker'-themed Escape Rooms. They met researchers using AI to improve health care and support the environment, and discovered binary – the language of computers – through making a binary bracelet. They were also able to join a workshop on making music with Sonic Pi software, and hear a talk on "Bits With Soul: the joy, beauty, and creativity of computer science" by Simon Peyton Jones, Engineering Fellow at Epic Games (the makers of Fortnite) and a Distinguished Honorary Fellow here.
On the day, hundreds of visitors - including several school groups - came through our doors and thoroughly enjoyed their visit. We look forward to doing it all again in March 2026! See images of the day below.
