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Make: Lego and Arduino Projects

Make: Lego and Arduino Projects

Leave it to me to forget things! I forgot to mention that my Arc-O-Matic was mentioned in the book Make: Lego and Arduino Projects. Get to chapter 3 and you’ll see one of my photos.

I should mention that I have not actually read the whole book, I ended up loaning it to someone who is way more into LEGO and Arduino stuff than I am, but if you want more info on it, WIRED has a nice write-up, and you can buy it from Amazon or directly from O’Reilly.

John Baichtal (one of the authors) has another book in the works which I’ll have a hand in, but we’ll save that story for another time.

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Flying Cars and Robots

Flying Car MKE

Remember Milwaukee Innovation Week? Sure you do, or maybe you don’t, it doesn’t matter because it’s been replaced/re-branded as Flying Car Milwaukee!

June is a super-hectic month around the RasterWeb! World Headquarters, and even more so in 2013, but that didn’t stop me from submitting a proposal to their Great Robot Showdown contest, and yeah, I got accepted, and I’ve got less than a month to finish building the robot I’ve proposed. There’s nothing like a deadline to get things done!

So besides getting a presentation ready for WordCamp Milwaukee that weekend, I’ll be attending the Flying Car Gala on Friday, June 7th at the Potawatomi Expo Center to show off my creation and hope it doesn’t burst into flames before the prizes are handed out.

If you’re not into robots but enjoy fashion, design, or film, there’ll be plenty of those things as well. (But seriously, if you’re not into robots, why are you even reading this!?)

There’s a ton of other stuff going on during the week, just check the events page. If you’re interested in making the world a better place, join out friends at Bucketworks for the BuildHealth Workshop. And if you happen to get in on the Innovation Factory Tours you may see me building the aforementioned robot at Milwaukee Makerspace.

(June’s my month… you may not be able to avoid me! Mwuhahaha!)

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Your 3D Printed Future

Robohand

While some people focus on 3D printing guns, other are making the world a better place, improving the lives of those around them, and just generally being completely freaking awesome.

Robohand is focused on developing open-source designs for mechanical finger prosthetics. Thanks to Makerbot generously providing two Replicator 2’s to the project, we are now exploring the ways in which 3D printing can be applied to our efforts!

Check it out on Thingiverse, or the MakerBot blog. And you, 3D printer operator, don’t be afraid of making the world a better place, or at least trying. Using technology to improve lives is a good thing. We need more of that in the world.

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WordCamp Milwaukee 2013

WordCamp Milwaukee 2013

Hey kids, it’s almost time for WordCamp Milwaukee again, and I’ve been invited back to speak on the topic of my choosing. Mwuhahaha! But seriously, I’ll be covering the importance of blogging to the Maker & DIY communities, and why you should… wait, I don’t want to give it all away. Come to my session… I’ll probably have lots of photos and some bulleted lists, and maybe a robot or a laser or something.

I’m amazed at the lineup of speakers this year. There’s over 35 people covering a wide variety of topics, not just WordPress, but design, web development, business, blogging, and, way more than I feel like typing right now.

You Twitter nerds can get your hashtag fix with #wcmke, and @WordCampMKE will also be droppin’ the WP knowledge.

And just for you, dear RasterWeb! readers, is a special discount code that features my difficult to spell last name.

WordCamp Milwaukee 2013
Coupon Code: Prodoehl
Date: June 8th-9th, 2013
Location: Bucketworks
Tickets: $25 for the weekend pass

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No San Mateo

Road to Maker Faire

The Road to Maker Faire Challenge is over, and I’m here to report that I will not be headed to San Mateo for the Bay Area Maker Faire.

Congrats to Greathouse Labs for winning the challenge! I was a little disappointed to see that Greathouse Labs has already been to a number of Maker Faires before and this was my one chance to make it to the Bay Area Maker Faire (the prize money would have made it possible) but hey, I was runner up! I get a sweet Maker’s Notebook and a one-year subscription to Make Magazine, so that’s pretty cool!

Maker's Notebook

I do want to thank everyone for the votes, because it meant a lot and it really did help!

Since I won’t be going to Maker Faire on May 18th, 2013 I was planning on going to Chicago Northside Mini Maker Faire, but that may not happen due to some deadlines. (But you should still attend!) I am still planning on Maker Faire Detroit in July. I mean, we’ve got some racing to do.

(And as for those deadlines, they’re some pretty cool deadlines, but more on those later!)