During more than 20 years of building and maintaining simulators I’ve learned that simulators are attention magnets. Take a simulator to almost any trade show and you have a line. The Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC) is an exception, but then that tradeshow is loaded with simulators. Include a simulator in a tour, say a family day or Engineering Week, and you have a line. They often can make a point far better than any other form of presentation. They have the ability to inspire people, especially school aged kids. They answer the question” “Why learn math, science, etc.?” with “So you can make things like this.” Oh, by the way, someone has to play, er, check it out which can take hours. As we often said in the simulation lab, show and tell sells.

The mission is to build a transportable, relatively high fidelity simulator. The main idea is to take the simulator to schools and other events, such as maker fairs, to demonstrate what is possible with a STEM background.