2015 Imagine RIT set for May 2

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A. Sue Weisler

Some 30,000 people are expected on the RIT campus May 2 for Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival.

Rochester’s festival season kicks off in the best way imaginable.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 2, and the 2015 Imagine RIT: Innovation and Creativity Festival.

The nationally acclaimed festival, now in its eighth year, returns with more than 400 examples of innovation and creativity, all showcased through interactive exhibitions, demonstrations and live performances.

This year’s highlights include:

• Dr. Destler’s annual challenge takes to the air inside the Gene Polisseni Center. Subtitled “RIT Meets the Jetsons: Flying Cars,” it’s a competition in which teams pilot quadcopters, both remotely and autonomously, with the goal of taking photographs of static objects and performing tasks. The competition begins at 8:30 a.m., (90 minutes before festival exhibits open). Winners could receive $1,000 or a banjo from the prized collection of RIT President Bill Destler.
• The latest in assistive devices, including a smart cane for the blind and hard-of-hearing, a stand-up wheel chair and a robotic seeing-eye dog.
• A host of new video games, with titles such as Block ‘Em Out, The Labyrinth and Dichotomy.
• Entrepreneurial enterprises such as Rochester Roots Lip Balm and C-Socks, custom-designed stockings.

More than 30,000 people are expected to visit the RIT campus for the event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. A variety of food, entertainment and children’s activities combine to make the event a fun, family-friendly environment.

Time Warner Cable is again the Premier Sponsor of Imagine RIT. Gold Sponsors are Democrat and Chronicle Media Group and Diversity in STEAM magazine; Rochester Regional Health System and Xerox are the Silver Sponsors.

Festival admission is free, and parking is available on the RIT campus. There is also free shuttle service offered from Monroe Community College. Visitors can go to the RIT website’s Plan Your Day to view exhibits.