Fun Free Research with Microcomputers-a public event-took place on July 28 in collaboration with Keigan Co., Ltd., and the Cyber Kyoto Laboratory (CKL) of The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics (KCGI). This event was held at the Kyoto Ekimae Satellite Campus as a part of the annual KCG Summer Festa in which Kyoto Computer Gakuin (KCG) of the KCG group holds various events for the public relating to IT, computers, chorus, astronomy, and more. The event was made possible due to Keigan operating at the Keihanna Open Innovation Center (KICK) where CKL is active in the management and operation of the top-level domain ".kyoto". It is at KICK where Keigan planted their roots as an ICT venture company which aims to contribute to society by providing robots that anyone can easily create for themselves.
About 20 people, including parents and children, participated in the event. Under the guidance of Keigan President Mr. Takashi Tokuda, participants undertook the challenge of creating a fun little zoetrope—an old-fashioned rotating animation device of pre-film times—that controls the rotation of a motor with a simple program and can be enjoyed by anyone. First, a control program was created using a micro:bit, a small educational computer made in the U.K., and connected to a small motor. This motor is the KM-1U, a product of the Keigan Corporation. This small, lightweight, energy-saving, and multifunctional motor module can be easily controlled with a smartphone or PC even without specialized knowledge or skills. Participants who struggled to get the motor to rotate at first were able to successfully pilot the motor after repeated trial and error, and enjoyed watching the zoetrope.
