Students and staff from the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus will be at the Royal Cornwall Show to showcase research taking place in Cornwall with interactive displays and hands-on activities.

Staff from the Renewable Energy department will be at the University’s stand with a ‘Renewable Energy House’ which demonstrates how energy can be created and also stored in an interactive way. 

It shows how every home has the potential to generate its own sustainable power.

It has a wind turbine, solar cells, a hydro turbine and also a hydrogen fuel cell attached to show how a mix of these energy sources is an exciting possibility.

Visitors are invited to conduct tests on each source to generate power to light up the house. They’ll learn how effective each source of energy is, how this can then be stored and find out more about the technologies which will meet the increased demand on power across the world.

Visitors will be encouraged to try their hand at gold panning, a traditional mining technique that has been used to separate minerals since Roman times.

Experts from the Camborne School of Mines will be on hand to share their knowledge of the mining and extractive industry.

For budding scientists, microbiologists will give the chance to investigate laboratory organisms that are being used right at the cutting edge of current science.

One of the most popular interactive displays is the ‘Augmented Reality Sandbox’ which combines a real sandbox with virtual projections. Visitors are invited to come and create their own landscape in the sand while a simulated map, including water flow and contour lines, responds to the changing model in real-time.

The University of Exeter stand will be open for all three days of the Royal Cornwall Show, which takes place in Wadebridge on June 7, 8, and 9.