Lightning Talks are Upon Us
April 5th, 2012
On April 10th, 2012 we’ll be holding another Lightning Talks at Splat Space. This will be the fourth scheduled Lightning Talk event we’ve hosted at the space, and we’re really looking forward to it! You can RSVP on our Meetup page for the event.
Lightning Talks are short talks on any (family friendly) topic, and typically we have 10 or more speakers at these events. The more the merrier! In the past, we’ve learned from speakers about Android development, job hunting tips, and Burning Man, among many other topics.
All are welcome to attend, and all are also welcome to speak. If you have an idea for a 5 minute talk and would like to speak on April 10th, please e-mail your talk title and any slides or materials you’d like project to alan@splatspace.org by April 9th.
We’re looking forward to seeing you there!
Comments Off Science Night at Creekside Elementary School
March 19th, 2012
On Tuesday March 14 a few Splatters helped out at Creekside Elementary School’s Science Night. This was just one event in the Splat’s ongoing program of volunteer work with schools and other institutions to foster STEM education.
There were many presenters from all over the Triangle, most of whom we never got to see because we were face-down in a PCB mill and Squishy Circuits all night.
We had a lot of fun in spite of a malfunctioning extruder on our Makerbot.
Pics from the table:
Playing with Squishy Circuits (conductive and non-conductive dough):
And here’s our Mantis printed circuit board mill, milling out a “commemorative plaque”:
(More information on Squishy Circuits can be found at:
http://courseweb.stthomas.edu/apthomas/SquishyCircuits/
and the Mantis mill is described at:
http://makeyourbot.org/mantis9-1
Comments Off CMKT4 Contact Mic workshop
February 24th, 2012
This Tuesday, Feb 21, the members of the circuit-bending rock band CMKT4 dropped by for a workshop on building peizoelectric contact microphones. We had a huge turnout and it was absolutely a blast!
A peizoelectric mic is a very simple device, but CMKT4 has worked out all the kinks to ruggedize the design and lower the cost (bottlecaps!)
They started out by telling us how to optimize our chances of soldering to the peizoelectric element:
After that, everyone got to work and built their mics.
Under all those bent heads, work was going on:
Finally all the mics got plastic-dipped and went into our fume hood to dry:
During the drying time CMKT4 performed a set with both traditional rock instruments and circuit-bent toys.
Many thanks to CMKT4 and everyone who came out for this event!
Comments Off Robot Camp!
February 11th, 2012
Last weekend several Splatspace members, friends-of-members, and one child-0f-member volunteered as mentors at Efland-Cheeks Elementary School’s Robot Camp. Efland-Cheeks Elementary School, a Title I school in rural Orange County, was awarded a 2010 Toyota Tapestry grant to integrate robotics into the 5th grade science and literacy curricula.
Robot Camp is one component of the robotics program at Efland-Cheeks. During one of the free, day-long Robot Camp events, 5th-grade students design, build, program, and de-bug Lego Mindstorms robots and then pit them against each other in competition. It is a chance for them to use and apply the “force and motion” portion of their science curriculum, as well as get excited about science and technology.
As Robot Camp is free, it is entirely dependent on volunteer support. Volunteers act as mentors to guide the teams from start to finish. It’s a hugely rewarding experience for students and mentors alike, and we’ve heard that it’s the biggest topic of conversation at the school for days afterward. Students eagerly sign up for the camps, willingly spending their Saturdays at school. Here are just a few pics.
There was planning-
There was building-
There was programming-
There was testing and debugging-
And finally there were ROBOT FIGHTS!
Mass robot carnage aside, it was a great time for everyone. Splatspace is going to be a regular presence at these events, and we hope to see some of these kids take this inspiration and run with it as they grow up.
CMKT 4 Contact Mic Workshop
February 10th, 2012
CMKT 4, makers of Creme DeMentia Bottlecap Contact Microphones will be visiting Splat Space on February 21st to conduct a contact microphone workshop!
CMKT 4's Creme DeMentia Bottlecap Microphones
Since their first trip to the Maker Faire in 2010, CMKT 4 has taught workshops at over 30 hackerspaces across the country. Their goal is to provide a DIY electronics workshop that appeals to people of all skill levels and interests. Workshop attendees will learn how to solder/improve existing soldering skills, work with recycled materials, and develop a basic understanding of piezoelectricity.
The process the workshop organizers use involves a 45 minute dry-time, during which CMKT 4 will entertain the workshop attendees with a live performance. Additional kits and microphones will be available for purchase. There will be a $15 cost per attendee, which covers the cost of the kit and fully illustrated comic instructions.
To RSVP, check out our Meetup page for the event.
Comments Off SparkFun tour visiting SplatSpace next Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012
January 4th, 2012
The guys and gals from SparkFun Electronics are on tour, visiting hackerspaces and other maker hangouts, promoting their Free Day event, filming for a documentary and giving out free stuff. And, as chance has it, they will be at Durham’s own hackerspace – SplatSpace – next Tuesday!
SparkFun have been big supporters of the maker / hacker community and do a lot of business with folks like us, selling electronics parts, robotics stuff, Arduino kit, etc. This should be a great chance to come out, interact with some of their employees, possibly get yourself captured on film (who knows, maybe they’ll put you in the documentary), and generally hang out with cool people at the coolest hackerspace around. Word has it the SparkFun crew will come bearing gift cards, t-shirts, stickers, logo patches, etc. They’ve been invited to join us for our open meeting which starts at 7:00pm, but they may be around earlier. Follow this space, the mailing list, twitter, etc. for more detailed news if/when it becomes available.Is That A Working Mantis Mill? Why Yes, Yes It Is.
November 28th, 2011
Jeff C. sends in this update, on his Mantis Mill project. In summary… it’s alive and working! And from what I saw of the board he started milling at last week’s Splatspace Open Meeting, the resolution on this thing is better than expected. It’s certainly good enough to mill boards that are suitable for mounting SMD components, which makes this very handy indeed.
Taking the Mantis for a jog
November 14th, 2011
Jeff has posted another update on his Mantis 9.1 Mill project. There’s a nice video of his jogging all 3 axes as the mill starts to take shape.
Comments Off Pictures of the space, and a video of some simulated phone preaking.
November 13th, 2011
So, Phil was dorking around at Splat*Space, indulging a nostalgia kick for the “old skool” phone phreaking days. To that end, he created a simple simulated phone circuit (hint: just wire two phones together with about 12 volts on the line… you can’t ring the phones this way, but if you take both off-hook, you can talk back and forth) and then had an Arduino board generate a 2600hz tone, which was then piped into an op-amp and then injected onto the phone circuit. As you can see (and hear) in the video, bridging from the Arduino world to the POTS world works quite nicely.
Also in this album are a bunch of pictures of the space. If you’ve ever wondered what SplatSpace looks like, take a gander.
Hit up our G+ page for the pics and video:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/109267952190604954572/109267952190604954572/posts/RViysK6z8Ap
SplatSpace and the Google AI Challenge
November 7th, 2011
For several years now, the CS Club at the University of Waterloo have been staging an AI programming contest. Google have lately stepped in as a sponsor, and the contest has been open the public for the last couple of years. This year’s AI Challenge involves a simulated ant colony competing in a sort of multi-turn strategy game.
A couple of SplatSpace members have started hacking on some bots for the challenge, with an eye towards forming a SplatSpace team and entering the challenge. If you’re at all interested in AI programming, and want to join the team, just let us know. Everyone is welcome to participate. Extensive AI programming knowledge is NOT necessary to compete (although it might be useful to *win*) and the provided “starter kits” make it very simple to get your first bot up and running and “in the game.” Submissions can be coded in any of a number of languages including C, Erlang, Java, Groovy, Scala, Clojure, Haskell, Common Lisp, OCaml, etc.
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