DorkbotColumbus - the Blog

SEED: Art & Technology Exhibit-March 6

"SEED" is the showcase for over 240 Art & Technology undergraduate and graduate students working in new media, hybrid forms, video, holography, animations, robotics, digital imaging/photo, 3D modeling, rapid prototyping and web-based artworks. 

This is an opportunity to see how the creative mind mixes an art with the new technologies of expression - that we may be only beginning to recognize as tools of communication/

The exhibit opens at 5pm March 6 in Haskett Hall on the OSU campus.  More details here ...

And, as per tradition, there will be a DORKBOT Meeting - 7-7:30pm - Room 408, Haskett Hall, during the SEED Exhibit - Come discuss the GREEN focus for 2008! 

Update on Open Source Hardware - Success!

Matt Howard did a fantastic job explaining and demo-ing the concept of "open source hardware" and showing live projects at work, to the group of 20 or so attendees.  The DorbotColumbus resource page contains links to Matt's notes and project info, and a wide variety of other projects, platforms, resources and suppliers.

The plan is to add a number of additional presentations this year at a number of site around the area.  We are still in the planning stages of a presentation to be held in the timeframe of Earthweek - late April, 2008.  If you have any suggestions, ideas - or wish to volunteer to offer a presentation about a subject in which you have some expertise and interest - please comment on this blog or write to dorkbotcolumbus @ gmail.com.

Thanks to Matt for his efforts - There may be a repeat or an updated presentation in the not-too-distant future!

Date and Place Set for Robotics Seminar

Now there are new ways to add real time motion to your tech projects!

Matt Howard will present an application-oriented look at open source hardware called Arduino and some very approachable new software called Processing to help beginners get started and to help more experienced experimenters expand into new areas.

Open source hardware? Indeed – along with powerful new high-level open source software that makes programming moving machines more practical and more effective.

Most people interested in making technology perform work are familiar with some of the principles and tools of software development. But what do you do if the task to be performed doesn’t exist simply on a computer screen – what if it requires a gadget that actually move and work in real time and space?

Updates – along with a sign-up form  – will be posted at DokbotColumbus’ Web site and blog – http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotcolumbus .

This event will be held January 22, 2008 at 7pm. at TechColumbus, at 1275 Kinnear Rd. (Location provided courtesy of The Platform Lab, www.platformlab.org.)

Tutorial Event: Robotic Components, Jan 22, 2008

Matt Howard has generously offered to spend an evening with a hands-on demo and training session about new approaches to robotic components.  Check out the latest in open-source hardware and software for robotics and other functional systems.   This meeting is intended to be a help in preparing for the planned DorkbotColumbus GREEN event during Earth Week 2008.

The date is Jan 22, 2008, from 7 - 8:30pm.  Put it on your calendar.  Even you do not plan to participate in the DorkbotColumbus GREEN event, this will be interesting if you have wondered how technology is advancing in this area.

Creating technology projects that incorporate movement, action and functionality is getting easier and less expensive with the advent of a variety of new open-source tools. Matt will present an application-oriented look at an open source hardware platform called Arduino and some very approachable new software called Processing - to help beginners get started and to help more experienced experimenters expand into new areas.

This event will be held in the main meeting room at TechColumbus, courtesy of the Platform Lab, at 1275 Kinnear Rd.  For more information and a map, check out the DorkbotColumbus Events page.

Arts & Tech Events- Dorkbot meeting a success!

Good time was had by all - the spring quarter display of the work of students in the Ohio State University Arts & Technology program - along with a Dorbot Columbus meeting - has to be considered a success.

Several hundred people toured the 3 floors of displays and the video festival in the "black box" theater.  And about a dozen participated in the Dorkbot meeting itself.

We're going to focus a future event - possible early-mid August - on Toys - just because Dorkbots love to play and technology presents us so many opportunities!

Stay tuned for more news about time and place as it develops!

Hack-It-Yourself Spectacle on Parade at Maker Faire 2007

Link: Hack-It-Yourself Spectacle on Parade at Maker Faire 2007.

If you are looking to take control of your life - make the electronic world do your bidding, instead of simply being a sop for the corporate megaliths that sell electronics - then Maker Faire deserves a look-see.

This link takes you to a slideshow - a graphical appetizer for a most unusual "show" events.

And here are more pics and a video from Wired's Gadget Lab - crazy, crazy stuff!

Robot competition at OSU, Thursday May24 - Free!

Dorkbot Columbus member Nick Fontanini has sent this news along - short notice but it looks like a lot of fun!

OSU ENGINEERING HONORS STUDENTS HOLD ROBOT COMPETITION

First-year engineering students will enter robots they designed and built in a competition to simulate a space mission where robots work with humans to take care of tasks on an International Space Station, from 4-5:30 p.m. Thursday (5/24) in St. John Arena on the Ohio State University campus. Students will set their robots in motion around a specially built, 12-foot by 12-foot course and must complete the tasks within two minutes.

The competition this year concerns designing an autonomous robot which will simulate a robotic helper on a space station.  The robot must be able to launch a probe and retrieve a toolbox left behind by space station inhabitants.  The rover must also reposition a solar array for optimal energy generation.  The time limit for this exercise is two minutes.  The rovers are limited in size to a 9" by 9" footprint.  The course that simulates the space station is approximately 12' by 12' square.

The public is invited to attend the competition.  The single-elimination tournament of the public competition will start at 4:00pm.  Doors will be open for preliminary rounds which begin earlier in the day at noon.  Admission is free.