  Public perceptions of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (RAI) are
important in the acceptance, uptake, government regulation and research funding
of this technology. Recent research has shown that the public's understanding
of RAI can be negative or inaccurate. We believe effective public engagement
can help ensure that public opinion is better informed. In this paper, we
describe our first iteration of a high throughput in-person public engagement
activity. We describe the use of a light touch quiz-format survey instrument to
integrate in-the-wild research participation into the engagement, allowing us
to probe both the effectiveness of our engagement strategy, and public
perceptions of the future roles of robots and humans working in dangerous
settings, such as in the off-shore energy sector. We critique our methods and
share interesting results into generational differences within the public's
view of the future of Robotics and AI in hazardous environments. These findings
include that older peoples' views about the future of robots in hazardous
environments were not swayed by exposure to our exhibit, while the views of
younger people were affected by our exhibit, leading us to consider carefully
in future how to more effectively engage with and inform older people.
