Ryan McElroy is a employee at [http://www.microvision.com Microvision], a world leader in scanned-beam display and imaging technologies. Ryan brought a Microvision [http://www.microvision.com/nomad/ Nomad] [http://www.microvision.com/nomadexpert/ Expert Technician System] to the Mindcamp that was a big hit. Many people got to try on the [http://www.hitl.washington.edu/projects/vrd/ VRD] (Virtual Retinia Display) device for the first time.

In his free time between [http://www.washington.edu/ school] and [http://www.microvision.com work], Ryan volunteers with with the [http://www.titanrobotics.net Titan Robotics Club] (TRC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to getting middle school and high school students interested in pursuing careers in science and engineering through the [http://www.usfirst.org FIRST Robotics Competition] and other activities. Along with Dan Marsh, Ryan showed off the TRC’s latest robotic creation, [http://www.titanrobotics.net/index2.cfm?page=tyr.cfm Tyr], and even let other mindcampers drive the robot around, trying their hand at the not-as-easy-as-it-looks task of placing a small PVC tetrahedron on top of a larger one.

Shameless plug time: The TRC is in the middle of its fundraising drive for its 2006 season. The club is searching for individual and corporate sponsors. There are lots of benefits to sponsoring besides just feeling good, including advertisement on robots and t-shirts, opportunities for employees to get involved is a wonderfully fulfilling project, a source of high-quality interns that engineers have already built relationships with, and generation of young people that adore your company/brand, and more. Please [http://www.titanrobotics.net/index2.cfm?page=donating.cfm contact the TRC] for more information.