Sawppy at Hackaday LA

I brought Sawppy the Rover to the June 2018 meet for Hackaday Los Angeles. As is typical of these events, there were two scheduled speakers who gave half-hour talks then the floor opens for anyone present to do a quick 2-minute "Lightning Talk". I presented Sawppy the Rover to the Hackaday LA audience.

I remember the first time I signed up to do a Lightning Talk months ago and was horribly nervous. I still get nervous when it came time to hold the microphone and speak to the crowd, but it gets a little bit easier every time I do it. I really appreciate the opportunity to practice public speaking in little 2-minute chunks.

The audience seemed to really like Sawppy. When I started driving my rover down the center isle between the chairs, a lot of cell phone cameras came out to take quick snaps. Several people came up to ask for more details afterwards during the socializing session, including Jacob who just bought a book that's all about Curiosity and is at least as big of a fan of the Mars rovers as I am. Jacob says he wants to build a Sawppy of his own, and I said I'm happy to help his efforts. There was also a little boy who seemed to be around 7 years old, asking questions about Sawppy that were far more sophisticated than I had expected of that age. I was definitely impressed.

At least one of those cell phone pictures has already made it online. It's not exactly being internet famous but I'll happily take it!

https://twitter.com/Regorlas/status/1012581212961902592