Robot Knife Fight is ready for some player testers. Ted and I will be at the shop this Friday (2013-06-28) starting at 8pm to help people get up to speed in how to compete and run a game. Bring your laptop with the Arduino IDE already installed. If you want to help improve the arena’s python code, clone the git repo. If scheduling permits we will be doing this every Friday until Detroit Maker Faire 2013.
It’s 3-14 and that means it’s time to make bad pi/pie jokes! Won’t you join us?
This evening at i3 Detroit:
What makes these tiny Linux computers great for hacker projects? The BeagleBoard.org project launched in 2008 and started a revolution in low-cost ARM computers (see Linaro.org). Beyond introducing the world to affordable low-power computers, the BeagleBoard has been the platform-of-choice for demonstrating open innovation on ARM—meaning—you can find real examples of people having tried to build something like what you have in mind, be it a remote drone quadcopter (100% compatible processor), open source handheld gaming system, object recognizing robot, mobile phone, video wall, connected home automation building blocks or remote underwater exploration vehicles.
These computers are supported by most major Linux distributions (Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo, Fedora, ArchLinux, etc.) and are capable of running Android, QNX, Windows Embedded and a number of other operating systems. The latest computer, the BeagleBone, provides a bit of an Arduino-like platform in that it enables access to an extensive amount of low-level I/O, including 7 analog inputs and over 60 general-purpose I/O pins multiplexed with an LCD interface, 2 I2C serial ports, 5 UART serial ports, an SPI port, a CAN bus, an secondary MMC/SD port, 6 pulse-width modulators and much more. At 720MHz and 256MB of RAM, with on-board Ethernet, microSD (for operating system storage), JTAG hardware debug, USB-to-serial and more, the BeagleBone is capable of running Python, Perl, Ruby, Java, JavaScript, GCC C++ compiler, autotools and a full GNOME desktop with word processors, spreadsheets, 3D games and web browsers.
I’m a co-founder of the project and I’ll be giving a hands-on workshop tonight at i3-Detroit, starting with the BeagleBone 101 presentation and diving into whatever topics attendees are looking to cover for their projects. I’ll leave a couple of boards in the space for people that want to hack on them and will be putting together some larger workshops at the space if there is enough interest. If you have a project you’d like to execute in the hackerspace using the BeagleBone, it’d be really great to work with you on it and help make i3-Detroit the home for advancement of low-power, high-performance embedded processing.
Open shop Friday this week will be filled with pumpkins, sharp objects and last minute costume creations.
Come check out the space before the party this weekend and join in on the fun of decorating the space, carving/painting a pumpkin or coming up with that last piece for your costume!
I will have a few supplied pumpkins to carve but not many, so bring one along, also we’ll save the seeds and have someone bake them up for the party! So the more we do the more seeds we’ll have to nom on Ssaturday!!
Our friends over at AIGA Detroit are hosting a pinewood derby. We are helping out by giving participants a space with tools to plan and build their derby cars. The actual race day will occur sometime in January, but there will be a series of workshops leading up to the event. Here is a little blurb from their website on the next workshop day:
Monday, October 24, 2011October 24, 20118:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Join us for our second workshop designed to help participants prepare their cars for AIGA Detroit’s Greased Up Pinewood Derby to be held this January. This workshop will focus on continued tips and how-tos so you can transform your block of wood into a speed racer or a magnificent show car. Experts will be on hand to lend advice or bounce ideas off of. Come meet fellow racers and start working on your wheels at I3 Detroit. Hand tools and supplies will be available (pens,pencils, draft paper, sand paper) but feel free to bring anything else you might need to help in the drafting of your vehicle.
I3 Detroit 1481 Wordsworth
Ferndale, MI 48220
$15 for Non-AIGA member
$10 for AIGA members
Please RSVP here if you plan to attend the workshop to ensure we have enough kits available.
*the workshop price includes a full Derby kit which contains a block of wood, axels and wheels and use of the I3 space and tools!
If you are interested in constructing a lightning-fast derby car, go ahead and hit up that eventbrite link in the post, and meet us at i3 Detroit on Oct 24th! We hope to see you there!