TechCrunch just posted this article http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/15/mail-ru-ceo-starts-25-million-fund-to-spark-personal-robotics-start-ups/ about cool $25MM fund by Grishin Robotics where they are looking to fund personal robotics startups http://www.grishinrobotics.com/.
Who's in?
So I got this C2000 LED Experimenter's Kit from my Texas Instruments representative. I have it setup on one of the PCs running the color light demo. Everyone feel free to mess with it, the documentation is in the box next to the PC. The kit itself supplies a license for developing on the kit via the USB. The kit includes a Piccolo microcontroller which has dsp functionality. This may be a useful platform for the sign contol, and they have reference circuits for powering the LEDs.
An evening Google search showed that Mazak, the world famous CNC company has an office in CT! http://www.mazakusa.com/techcenter.asp
Road trip anyone?
I love kick starter and every other crowd funded tool that is out there. Why? Cause when I see projects like this http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/b9creations/b9creator-a-high-resolut...
I get inspired!
this is pretty http://cubify.com/cube/
Drooling at this over the weekend in terms of design but the simplicity but it seems to simple and too easy.
Ever heard of the Bonderman fellowship? It's a fellowship that gives 20,000 dollars to a recent graduate with the idea that they go out and explore the world. More details here: http://depts.washington.edu/bondermn/ I wish I had done something like this after graduation.
Startup Weekends are cool. Makeathons are cool. Startup Weekends + Makeathon = ???
They had one out at TechShop http://3d.startupweekend.org/
I've been talking to some people in the general area that have access to some technical tools and personnell about doing something like this.
If there was a Maker Startup Weekend, what would you like the focus to be and what would you like to get out of the weekend?
3d printers + scanning famous art work = awesome future remixes and creations
http://www.makerbot.com/blog/2012/06/01/a-dream-of-art-for-everyone-digi...
SUCCESS!
I reached out to Erika Lynch , who is the head of workforce development institute over at Gateway Community college and we spoke about their CNC program. They are consolidating their campus into the new location in New Haven but expect to be ready by the 1st of August. She said that she would be happy to do a site tour and for us to have a look at their CNC machine. She also is intrigued by what Makehaven has to offer and is going to come by on a tuesday night once they have moved to the new campus.
Ever since joining makehaven I've become obsesseed with additive manufacturing and 5 axis CNC. While using the RepRap and using all of the software associated with it has been a blast, the chance to get access to a 5 axis machine is really limited. So I began my quest for CNC.
Being from Stratford aka Helicopter City USA, I figured that there would be abundant training in the area. FAR FROM IT! In fact, CNC is in such demand, that there are over 100+ jobs in the immediate area posted on Indeed.com's site. So I've decided to take the following 2 paths to get my training:
With a little help from the internets I taught my self the basics of Grasshopper (Rhino plugin) this weekend for the purpose of analyzing a complex tower geometry. In the course of my research I came across this posting, illustrating a way to flex file parameters with ultrasonic sensors hooked up to arduino boards. Kind of cool. Thought you guys would be interested.
Video of the thing in action
Blog Entry
So I attended last night's get together and learned what a stepper motor is and helped Kam fix one that was jammed (good clean fun), but the highlight of the evening for my own personal self was when Ian Applegate showed up riding a bright green vintage Schwinn Sprint wearing an Evel Kneivel motorcycle helmet AND, under the helmet, Dominique Pinon wrap around shades (VR glasses) that were electronically broadcasting to his eyeballs what his handheld camera (in his hand at that very moment) was seeing.
Some members asked me to put together a quick getting started guide for 8-bit Atmel AVR microcontrollers. Here it is.
This is a picture of MakeHaven before we moved anything in. Its like a blank canvas. The possibilities are endless.
Today we had a fantastic 3D printer building event. Ben, JR, and myself got to MakeHaven around 10 AM, turned on some tunes, and opened up a rather intimidating box of 3D printed parts:
Then we saw a pile of threaded metal rods:
Make Haven member Frank Pelliccio brought in his soldering equipment to and allowed members to try it out. We practiced by removing components from circut boards and learned about his experiences printing circuit boards and programing micro-controlers. The teaching was very useful. I had tried removing soldering before but this was the first time I had someone with so much experience there to give tips.
I really enjoyed the energy of the first move in day at MakeHaven. The location is perfect and very welcoming to street traffic. I foresee the upstairs having a large open flexible area, a creative lounge and work areas for electronics, robotics, crafts, and the link. The basement is well setup for storage and some wood working equipment.
To capture the first day moving into the space my friend Kam used his time lapse camera to record the action.
