Phoenix DIY

Mark your calendars!The long-awaited paper making workshop, hosted by talented paper maker Lisa Jacobs, will take place on Saturday, January 24th. Lisa will be instructing us on how to make paper. Bring colored napkins if you have them (they contain lots of dye), and anything flat that you want to incorporate into paper. Some suggestions are pressed flowers, wires, RFID tags and bacon.

There is room to accommodate everyone, but RSVP’s are appreciated. This meeting will be held outside so to dress appropriately!

The fine details:
What: Phoenix DIY meeting #10
When: Saturday, January 24th at 1 PM
Where: Conspire, 901 N 5th St., Phoenix (NE corner of Garfield and 5th St.) map
$$$: Free!

Mark your calendars!  The next meeting will be on Tuesday, October 28th.  Tho X. Bui will give an introduction to magnetics and magnetic material, and Bobby Metz will present his homebrew photography ball head.  See you there!

Details:
Phoenix DIY Meeting 9
Tuesday, October 28th @7PM
North Tempe Community Center
http://www.tempe.gov/northtempe/

Join us at the North Tempe Community Center (Sisso Room)

1555 N. Bridalwreath St. Tempe

7pm

for two lovely presentations by:

Suneth Attygalle - Bat Goggles

Wish you were bat? Want to Experience Echolocation? Want to try to “see” with your ears? These goggles allow you to experience what it is like to use auditory cues like a bat and is intended for children in a science center setting to learn about echolocation. The goal was to keep costs as low as possible, avoid making the form of the interaction to be generic or unrelated to its educational purpose and to ensure that the physical form of device embodies the subject matter. For a more thorough discussion of its design, please see the project webpage.

Bill Mar - Gumstix

Gumstix is an “open source” hardware company with a line of embedded boards the size of a stick of chewing gum (http://gumstix.com). The Gumstix engineers have Open Embedded on their hardware and I’ve been working with other hobbyists since late last year porting Windows CE and Micro Framework to the Gumstix board. I also setup a deal with Microsoft to offer hobbyist kits with full versions of Microsoft Visual Studio and Windows CE Platform Builder. I’ll be bringing several examples of Gumstix hardware in action, including the eInk prototype kit.

What: Phoenix DIY 7

When: Thursday, April 17th 7.00 pm

Where: DAR (Digital Art Ranch), ASU, on the SE corner of Myrtle &
University Drive, Tempe, 85281 [map]

Enter through the south-facing door; there is a little silver bell you
can ring – somebody will come and let you in.

There is parking south and west of the building + in the public
parking basement at the north end of Myrtle.

Bring snacks to share! This event is free and open to the public.

This month’s presenters:

The A.L.E.R.T. team: Natalie Freed, Camilla Jensen, Byron Lahey & Alex Kim, plus Winslow Burleson and Patrick Lu.

The Active Learning Environment with Robotics Tangibles (ALERT) system provides an entertaining and easy to use method of interacting with and programming a robot. A user simply places a sign in the path of the robot. The robot sees the sign and obeys the directions given by the sign.

Our robot recognizes “command tiles” placed in view of its mounted camera and acts accordingly (”turn left,” “stop,” “go in the direction of the arrow”, “repeat last command,” etc.) The commands mapped to each symbol can vary with the type, position, and orientation of the symbol. The idea is to teach basic programming and spatial reasoning concepts in a tangible way. We’ve created challenge scenarios in which participants have to plan where to place the tiles in order to complete a particular task.

The A.L.E.R.T. system makes use of the Create robot from iRobot (the company behind the Roomba vacuuming robot), the open source computer vision symbol recognition system Reactivision, and Hacking Roomba’s Java programming platform.

In less than a month the A.L.E.R.T. team will demo this project at Maker Faire. For that event we need some activities that will mesmerize both kids and adults.

We will divide all the participants into groups. Each group will have a robot to work with. We will make our pre-programmed fiducials (the icons that can be observed by the Reactivision) and the software available to you on your laptops.

We’ve got the toolbox – you’ve got the brains – come and let your creativity loose!

Using our existing command tiles – or you can come up with new commands – the teams will develop cool game/learning scenarios. By the end of the evening each team will demo their concept. That can be done via a fully functioning demo, “wizard-of-Oz” demo, (demo using people as robots, etc.)

For anyone who wants to get a head start with the tools check the links below to find the essential software and more reference to our project. We will try to have a full package of the necessary software, visual icons and sample code available for you by the time we see you.

Note: No prior experience with robotics or programming is necessary. If you like logic puzzles or toys, you’re good to go!

More info on the project:

http://byronlahey.com/ActiveRobot/

http://www.eclipse.org/downloads/

http://reactable.iua.upf.edu/?software

http://hackingroomba.com/code/

What: Phoenix DIY 6
When: Wednesday, March 26 7:30pm
Where: Conspire Phoenix
901 N 5th St (on the NE corner of 5th St and Garfield)
Phoenix, AZ 85006 [map]

This month’s meeting will be outside at Conspire. Please bring a chair or two to share! Also bring a jacket in case it gets chilly.

This month’s presenters:

[image source]

Mark Rehorst: SPICE circuit simulation software tutorial
Mark will lead us through the basics and an example of using Linear Technology’s free SPICE simulator: SwitcherCAD. You can predict how your circuit will function before you build it! Bring a laptop preloaded with the software if you want to play along:
Windows & Linux
Mac OS X

Alex Schlegel: Build your own Greenhouse
Alex built a backyard greenhouse equipped with solar powered circulation fans, and he’ll share with us how he did it.

Our friends at Instructables donated some awesome door prizes including t-shirts, patches and stickers! See you there!

Thursday night is the February meeting for Phoenix DIY!! We’ll be meeting at 7:00 at Conspire, in Phoenix. Please bring
anything you’d like to share (food, drinks, ideas, etc). and a folding chair or two. ;)

Presenters:

Josh Campbell, earthen stoves (DIY old-tech)

Bill Mar, Google Sketchup (free 3-D modeling software) tutorial. Anyone interested in following along should bring a laptop and have the free software pre-installed so we can get rolling.

Conspire Gallery
901 N 5th St (on the NE corner of 5th St and Garfield)
Phoenix, AZ 85006 [map]

See you there!!

What: Phoenix DIY meeting

When: Thursday, January 24th, 2008, 7:30pm

Where: 901 N 5th St., Phoenix (NE corner of Garfield and 5th St.) (map)

$$$: $5 for kit of parts

Thanks to Conspire Phoenix for hosting us at their gallery!

The meeting will be a workshop, and space is limited to 15 participants. Please email becky[at]sternlab.org to get on the list. Please bring snacks to share.

The workshop: Learn to solder while building a small circuit with a 555 timer to blink two lights. Don’t worry if you don’t know what a 555 timer is, or if you’ve never soldered before, that’s what the workshop is for! A kit of all needed parts will be provided at a cost of $5. If you have a soldering iron and/or any electronics tools (small pliers, wire strippers, and the like), please bring them to share.

Thanks for a great December meeting!! We had a great turnout of over 30 people. A special thanks to Kathy Cano-Murillo for her inspirational talk (she blogged us here), Matt Mets for his super cool laser harp, and Matt Mechtley for the duct-tape magic wallet workshop, door prizes, and for hosting us at Flashbang Studios. We’d also like to thank everyone who brought door prizes and snacks! Matt has a nice photoset on Flickr of the event. Post it up in the comments if you have pictures, too!

Mark your calendars, the third meeting of Phoenix DIY will be held on Thursday, December 13th at 7pm, on Baseline Road in Tempe. Check back soon for details.

What: Phoenix DIY meeting
When: Tuesday, November 13th 2007, 7pm
Where: 60 East Rio Salado Parkway (at Mill, in the Hayden Ferry complex) in Tempe [map]
$$$: Free!

Thanks to Brandon Wright for hosting us at his awesome office lounge/kitchen space!

The meeting is free and open to the public. Please bring snacks to share. There will be door prizes!

Featuring presentations from the lovely and talented:

Chris Coleman: Self-Balancing One-Wheeled Skateboard
http://chriscoleman.com/stuff/?page_id=5
Inspired by similar Segway-esque contraptions, Chris will tell us how he made his electric one-wheeler, from the electronics and motors to the custom frame construction.

Mark Rehorst: Carbon Fiber Recumbent Bicycle
http://mark.rehorst.com/CF_Bike/index.htm
Mark used his wits, enthusiasm, and CAD skills to design and build his own carbon fiber recumbent bicycle. He’ll share with us the story of its creation with photos of the design and build process, and, of course, the bike will be in attendance.

Kelly Bedson: Origami Workshop
http://www.kbedson.com/
Kelly will lead us in the fearless pursuit of folded paper. She’ll share her work with us and then teach us a few basic models.

Free Parking: Please park in the Visitor Parking garage. Take a ticket and pull in. Since this is a new complex, they haven’t bothered staffing the booth past 6pm, so your parking will be free. Ample bike parking is available right outside the 60 building (also the west-most building).
Entry: Since this is a private office building, Brandon will have to escort attendees inside, which he will do frequently before the start of the meeting. Please arrive on time so that can happen efficiently. If you arrive late or get lost, please call Brandon (602-920-8899) or Becky (347-204-4334) so we can come get you!

See you there!