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Weekly Update 2011.09.26

Greetings Thinkers,

On Tuesday, [Matthew Hellmer] handed out Arduinos. With the help of [Matt Turner], the two made some RGB LEDs with resistors pre-soldered as gifts for those that waited and put up with a rather disorganized course on Monday.

On Thursday, [Rafael Negron] and [Gary Leutheuser] starting using the spare parts in their Boe-Bot kit with their new Arduinos. [Scott Tanner] and [Danny Sarmiento] worked on fixing the MakerBot after it ripped a wire off of a coupling on the x-axis stepper motor. Annoyingly, one of the wires for the extruder desoldered during reassembly. This is a common problem due to the constant reheating the extruder undertakes. We like seeing people get to work on projects in this lab, and these four did a great job of showcasing that drive.

[Rafael Negron] and [Gary Leutheuser] using Boe-Bot parts for Arduinos.

[Scott Tanner] and [Danny Sarmiento] working on the MakerBot

On Saturday, [Jack Ritchey] came in to the lab and continued work on his home made Boe Bot. Not content with following a kit, [Jack Ritchey] has been learning how to program AVR chips on his own (specifically thte ATMega 328 used in Arduino Unos) as well as working with improvised parts as much as possible. A very impressive project for a freshman and we look forward to seeing more from [Jack Ritchey] as both he and the ideaLab grow.

[Jack Ritchey] and his homemade Boe-Bot.

Sunday was a little slow, which allowed [Matthew Hellmer] to work on course materials for current and future courses. [Matthew Hellmer] also resoldered the extruder on the MakerBot. We are now finding that it heats up in far less time (~00:07:15 as opposed to the old 00:19:24 we were used to). However, the extruder appears to have a poor connection to the main board and this will be corrected soon. [Joseph Ocasio] came in to the lab because he heard we had soldering irons and he needed one to fix the audio jack on his electric guitar. It is great to see students using the lab to gain experience in fixing their own equipment.

[Joseph Ocasio] and his now working electric guitar.

Interesting things this week:

• We finally found out how to accept donations, and that information has been added to the FAQ.
• [Matthew Hellmer], [John Ulrich], and [John Cope] met with a representative from CORKCICLE (a local company with an innovative gadget to cool wine). They would like our help in making a Rube Goldberg Machine for a commercial. This is a great resume builder and if students would like to help, they are more than welcomed to. We can talk about suggestions and what students can do during lab hours on Tuesday.
• [Alex Stringfellow], the new manager for the Arboretum, wants the ideaLab to work on projects for the Arboretum. Check out the projects subforum for some things to work on if they interest you.
• New courses have been created, with materials being added as fast as we can test them. If there's something you'd like to see taught in the ideaLab, leave a comment either here or the forum. 

New Courses!

EDIT (2011.09.23-13.15): Updated Buy Now buttons after an error was found.

Greetings Thinkers,

We are offering two courses soon. Please bring your laptop, and take note that we are limiting the courses to 40 students each with a firm deadline of Monday at 1200. By the way, these should be held in ENG1-388.

Arduino Level 1 - Arduino Basics - 2011.10.02 at 1700

We've hosted this one before. Thanks to feedback received, we are ready to offer it again with vast improvements.

Students choosing this course will learn a lot about using the Arduino. An Arduino is a microcontroller that is very easy to work with and can be used to control electrical components for many purposes (automation, robotics, data collection, turning pretty lights on, etc.). The course covers the history of the Arduino, installing the IDE, basics of programming, custom sketches for the course, and students making their own sketches to use on their Arduinos. This course offers students the option to pick up an Arduino through us ($38), or on their own ($5). Food will be provided to sweeten the deal.

Arduino Level 1 Tickets

Need an Arduino $38.00Food Only $5.00

Arduino Level 2 - Displays/Motors/Sensors - 2011.10.03 at 1900

The students have spoken, and Arduino Level 2 won over the ZomBadge [7:5 votes].

This course involves students learning to use LCDs, servos, buttons, potentiometers, and force sensors. To aid in using these, each student will get a breadboard and jumpers to quickly prototype many projects of their own devising. These components can be combined in numerous ways to interact with surroundings and to easily gain feedback from the Arduino. Students have the option of picking up a set from us ($65), a set without a servo [save money and use one from a Boe Bot set] ($55), or source their own parts ($5). Students will have dinner provided (comment on what you want to eat, or I'll probably pick sandwiches this time). This one is a bit pricier than normal, but take a look at the BOM to see all the cool things you'll be getting. I'll try to make sure Arduino Level 3 is cheaper.

Arduino Level 2 Tickets

Full Set $65.00No Servo $55.00Food Only $5.00

Potential Halloween Soldering Clinic

Post from DrD....

So I was thinking today after I learned about the new www.zombadge.com.  I would like to see if we can teach 1000 students to solder.  I think it would be really cool to make our own zombadge....but a bit different from the games that have been posted for the zombadge (detective, etc).  What about if we make a badge that transmits and receives infections IR codes.  Start with one person infected.  It begins transmitting infection.  All "Humans" once infected for a certain amount of time turn into "Zombies."  So Green to Red LED.  Another twist would be Zombie Killing Guns that become infected but could also kill zombies.  So imagine two PCBs.

ZombieBadge and ZombieGun

I have just finished laying out the ZombieBadge and will begin the ZombieGun if everyone agrees that its a cool idea.

So what do you think....$10 (TBD) tickets.  We order the PCBs and parts, bag them, then teach people how to solder in IdeaLab the week before Halloween.  Then Monday Oct. 31st everyone meets in the attrium for some Zombie killin'

Here is the ZombieBadge so far.

Imagine the PCB in green soldermask and white silkscreen (sort of how it appears below).  The battery is on the back, LEDs on the eyes, ATtiny85 with ISP, IR TX on the nose and IR RX in the mouth. 13 parts total.

We're On Google+ and Facebook

In addition to updating students on our happenings through Twitter, we now have the ideaLab on Google+ and Facebook. This should help us reach more students with events in the lab, though the blog will be the main source of information.

[Matt Hellmer] will be using Google+'s Hangouts to host projects updates and keeping in touch with new developments in the lab. Add the UCF ideaLab to one of your circles, which should be easy since Google+ is public now.

[John Cope] will be handling the Facebook side of things.

Weekly Update 2011.09.19

Greetings Thinkers,

Tuesday had [Scott Tanner] continue work on his bike lock holder, with some nice improvements. As well as the creation of our new forum. Feel free to use the forum to create groups, discuss projects, ask questions, or just continue to foster the community of makers that we are working on and with.

Thursday had [Scott Tanner] finish his bike lock holder, and it works like a charm. Very impressive for a first time designer. [Scott Tanner] went from a need, to a design, to a product in one week in this lab. Good work. Just think what we can all do this semester.

[Scott Tanner]'s finished Bike Lock Holder

Over the weekend, [Matthew Hellmer] went to Maker Faire and had a blast. Most of his time was spent learning new ways to help the lab by speaking with people that ran their own hackerspaces, as well as attending shows and courses. The rest of his time was spent goofing off. The important thing to know is that some very important people in the maker community are really happy with what we are doing in this lab. Which means we are on the right track preparing you all to work on your own projects, or find jobs more interesting than cubicle positions.


Monday, we held our first course, Arduino Level 1. The comments so far have been pretty positive, so we'll definitely hold more. We've learned a lot about how to make these courses run smoothly, so expect us to just keep making improvements. Materials for the course are located here, and expect these 'live' files to be updated as we continue to make improvements. By the way, the room was packed and we'll work on getting a larger one next time.

Packed Room

Other news of interest:

• It looks like we'll be offering another course soon. Expect an announcement on the blog/twitter, as well as in the Introduction to Engineering class.
• The Arboretum at UCF is very interested in working with us on some very enterprising projects. Projects such as a green house, water cistern, automatic composter, de-weeding robot, a rope bridge, and many more projects. [Alex Stringfellow] from the Arboretum should be in the lab on Thursday around 1500 to further talk about projects he's interested in us working on.
• The Arduinos finally arrived. Swing by during lab hours to claim yours. Again, sorry about the delay in getting them. Pending a disaster/emergency, due to new policies on our end a delay like that is unlikely to ever occur again.

Weekend and Course Updates

Greetings Thinkers,

[John Cope] will be running the ideaLab on Saturday from 1200-1700. He is unable to run it on Sunday, so it will remain closed that day. Research some fun projects for Tuesday.

We have a room for the Arduino Level 1 course: ENG1-388. [Matthew Hellmer] will lead people unfamiliar with the school layout from the ideaLab room (ENG2-180) to the course room at 1645 on Monday.

Just to reiterate:
Arduino Level 1
ENG1-388
2011-09-19 1700-2000
Bring your laptops.