SIGN UP HERE http://digitalarduino.eventbrite.com

We will build and program an electronic game and in the process learn LED’s, tri-color LED’s, pushbutton switches, speakers and Arduino programming.

More info here: http://wiki.lvl1.org/Digital_for_Arduino

I am teaching.  I hope you can come.  Put your Arduinos and Freeduinos to good use!

Brian

As promised, here are some pics and a small video of my light show.

The controller for the lightshow is from solsticewerks.com.  It is a 16 channel controller, but I blew out a couple of channels so they stay lit all the time.  Here is a pic.

The light controller is in the center and it feeds all the light plugs.  The sockets are just screwed onto a 2X8 board and is set into a rubbermaid tub.  This worked pretty well in the rain.  I cut slits in the side of the tub to run the wires.  No water got into the tub whatsoever.

I also built a FM transmitter to play the song to car radios.  I made a sign.

The transmitter I used was a ramsey FM 10C http://www.ramseyelectronics.com/cgi-bin/commerce.exe?preadd=action&key=FM10C

It is a nice kit.  I would recommend it for this application.

 The software I used is Vixen.  http://www.vixenlights.com/

Now I need to get more songs to play.

Thanks to all that attended and competed in the 2nd annual Sumobot Tournament.  We had 12 bots in the melee and the winner was Exspurt, built by Rick Brooksbots.com.  Check out his bot site for ideas.  Jose got second and I got third.  That ExSpurt is an awesome bot and Lessor is a tough competitor.  Below is an epic battle between Lessor and ExSpurt.

Here is the final bracket showing the winners…

The bracket software was called Bracket Maker HD on the iPad.  The iPad projected the results on the wall.  The software worked very well for our double elimination competition.

Big thanks to Solarbotics.  They provided some awesome prizes for the competition.  Check out their website for all your robot needs.

Special thanks to Jeff Johnson for the hot wings and pizza bites.  Thanks to Rick, Jule, and Gene for making the drive to Louisville to fight your bots.  We hope you had a great time.  Thanks to Alex – it is great to have some high school hackers.  Thanks to all who dressed up for Halloween. And big thanks to Tim, who put together a fantastic sumo workshop.  These simple looking bots can be deceptively complex!

Overall it was a great event!  Can’t wait until next year!

Hack on,

Brian

ANNOUNCING – LVL1′s 2nd annual Sumobot tournament will be on October
29th, 2011, 8PM at 814e Broadway (our home). There will be a Halloween
party following the fun – costumes are encouraged! All are welcome to
join in the festivities. You may even get to see the world famous fire
breathing pony, Buttercup! You now have a month to build your bot.

UPDATE: The ring we will use is made of MDF painted FLAT BLACK with a GLOSS
WHITE border ring.  The rubber surface of the last ring was just to
hard to source, build, maintain and paint.

UPDATE 2: Solarbotics just sent some awesome prizes for the sumo
winners! If you are looking for some sumo parts, please check out what
they can offer… http://www.solarbotics.com/

Here is the (new) poster: http://wiki.lvl1.org/images/4/46/Sumo2011.pdf
Please post at your favorite coffee shop!

Sign up: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDFtRTlScWttTmswMU9xMkdJOEZBT2c6MA

I just finished programming my gearclock that I showed off last week.  I added a Chronodot real time clock so it keeps perfect time!  I also wrote up an instructable here:  http://www.instructables.com/id/Laser-cut-gear-clock-with-Chronodot/ so you can build your own.  I also have some stepper motors if you want to buy them from me (cheap!).  Put your Arduino to work!  Learn how to use the lasercutter!  Brian

Some more pics…

LVL1′s 2nd annual Sumobot tournament will be on October 29th, 2011, 8PM at 814e Broadway (our home). There will be a Halloween party following the fun. All are welcome to join in the festivities. You may even get to see the world famous fire breathing pony, Buttercup! You have a couple of months to build your bot. There will be prizes and eternal glory!  Here is the poster  Here is how to build your own Sumobot.

Admit it, you have always wanted to build a penny sized dinosaur

Well here is your chance! LVL1 is raising money to buy a laser cutter for the space. With a laser cutter you can do all sorts of neato things like this…

http://www.epiloglaser.com/sample_club.htm

Scroll thought the link and think about what you want to make. Then donate to the laser cutter fund. The sooner we make it to $2500, the sooner we can get a laser cutter for all to share. IT IS GONNA BE SO AWESOME!

Here is the Laser Cutter we are going to buy.

http://www.fullspectrumengineering.com/co2laserv2-40w.html

and a video of it in action…

As you can see, you want to give to this fund! Watch the progress bar on the right side of this blog to see how much further we have to go!

By using the donate button below you will be taken to Paypal to make a donation to the laser cutter fund. When you use this button the donation is earmarked for the laser cutter fund, not the general fund.

DO IT FOR THE DINO!

LVL1ers had an awesome time at Hive13 (Cincinatti’s Hackerspace) this weekend. Hive13 did a great job hosting a Sumobot competition. The competition was staged in an actual boxing ring at the gym next door to Hive 13! A big thanks to the owners of the boxing gym. What a great venue. Many bots competed, but the LVL1 bots rose to the top. Jose won with “Lessor”.

Here is the actual video of the rounds.

I would like to sincerely thank Hive13 for hosting this event. It is fantastic to get to know you all. It should also be noted that Hive13 made an excellent web app that organizes Sumobot competions – check it out http://sumobots.hive13.org/. LVL1 will be hosting our second Sumobot competition in the Fall of 2011, probably October. You have 6 months to build your next Bot! All competitors are welcome, especially other hackerspaces (Lexington, Dayton, Indy, Bloomington, Nashville…). Hope to see you there!

Dale Dougherty, Make Magazine publisher did this nice Ted talk on Makers. If you are ever looking for a good way to tell people what LVL1 is all about, have them watch this video. BTW, Dale is from Louisville and visited our Hackerspace last summer.