We have FOUR spring 2013 Makership Co-ops from the Speed School at University of Louisville. In no particular order
the Co-ops & Projects Are:

Nolan Park: Power Wheels regenerative braking system

Eric Cutler: Sensors embedded in buildings and infrastructure

Michael Dorsey: Gaming console with a modified display/controller

Matthew Barnes: A new Java-based game

We are offering not one, not two, but THREE new Makerships for fall / winter 2012-2013! Through private donations from the LVL1 community, we have raised funds to award $100 of project financing and 3 months of LVL1 membership to THREE worthy makers!

The Makership recipient gets $100 for project materials like arduinos, sensors, electronic components, laser cutter materials, conductive fabric, EL wire, software, books, 3D printer filament, tools, bits, odds, ends or whatever else you might need.

The LVL1 membership gives you access to our 40W laser cutter, Makerbot Replicator 3D printers, woodworking tools, electronics tools, metal mill, computers, electronic surplus and much more.

DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS IS NOVEMBER 6, 2012 8pm

A Makership is a $100 project stipend and 3 months worth of LVL1 membership dues awarded to an individual in the Louisville area. We recognize that potential makers with limited financial resources often are unable to afford any membership rates- no matter what the discount might be. Similarly, the cost of materials to develop a cool project can be just out of reach to those strapped for cash. Our makership program seeks to eliminate these financial hurdles and get makers making!

We award our makerships to applicants who can put together the best pitch for (1) what they want to make and (2) how they plan to do it. Your project could be anything from an electronic gadget, to an open source software project, to a citizen science project, to a fire-breathing robotic pony, or (hopefully) a project we haven’t imagined. We want LVL1 to be the place where these things are made! LVL1 makerships are open to anyone whom could benefit from our community and resources to make something great.

For more information on applying for a LVL1 Makership click here.

Do you want to see this Makership program succeed? You can help LVL1 provide more Makerships with a small donation of $5/mo. We will announce a new Makership as soon as the donation funds make a new one available! Click the Paypal donate button below to contribute to a Makership:

The 3rd annual Sumobot signup sheet is out. You can fill it out online:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?fromEmail=true&formkey=dEg1a01ER2ZFVE9memYtX3h1U2xLVlE6MA

You can read about the Sumobot competition here http://wiki.lvl1.org/Sumobots

There are loads of links and information about sumobots on that page. IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO MAKE A BOT!

Also there is a costume party that night so be sure to dress up!

ANNOUNCING – LVL1′s 3rd annual Sumobot tournament will be on Saturday October 27th, 2012, 8PM at 814e Broadway (our home). There will be a Halloween party following the fun. All are welcome to join in the festivities. You have 6 weeks to build your bot. There will be prizes and eternal glory!

The rules and loads of information about how to make your own bot are on our wiki page http://wiki.lvl1.org/Sumobots

Sumobots are a good project if you are looking to prove your engineering powers.  There are also several kits on the Internet that are fun to build!

Print a poster and post it at your favorite coffee shop: Sumo 2012 Poster

LVL1 is currently seeking instructors and study group leaders for curriculum that would interest the Louisville community.  During the last 3 months of this year, we hope to have a mixture of Classes, Workshops, and Study Groups.  Here are the differences between the 3:

• Study Group – A free online class from some outstanding universities that are self paced with a video/online instruction.  These are free to the public and will be absolutely free at the space.
• Workshop – A one night (sometimes two) information session on a topic or an activity.  These normally cost between $10 to $50 depending on the workshop. Price should include any supplies required.
• Classes – 6 to 8 sessions of 2-3 hours each over a 6 to 8 week period covering a topic in depth which includes course goals and hands on experience.  Target cost is $100 per student, most of which goes to the instructor as compensation.

  For more information, keep reading.
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Come on down to the space Saturday, September 8th at 8pm and we’ll be talking about gaming, PC style mostly. Bring your rig if you got one, as we will be doing a LAN party with the game Team Fortress 2, which is now free for download. Please install it before you show up as it will take forever to download at the space. GO to Steampowered.com to download it.   Never played it before?  No problem, come on down, we will try to have a few extra consoles available.  Click more to see what all we’ll be doing.
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Hackerspaces are starting to change engineering education. Let’s put two University of Louisville Co-op interns in the LVL1 hackerspace! We are exploring how to get students working on hands-on projects sooner in the engineering curriculum.

Check out what our summer Co-ops have been up to!

As a Co-op at LVL1, you can contribute to an ongoing project or even launch your own project. You must be a Speed School student seeking a Fall 2012 Co-op to apply for this program. The deadline is September 4, 2012.

If you’re seeking a Co-op position in Spring 2013 or  Summer 2013, stay tuned! There will be another application session for each of those semesters.

Cross-posted from my personal blog: http://www.meatandnetworking.com/code/introducing-arduino-simple-task-scheduler/

Get the code here: https://github.com/Zuph/AVRQueue

Introducing the Arduino Simple Task Scheduler.  This is part of the balloon flight computer code I wrote for White Star, with some more polish. This library allows you to create a schedule queue of functions to be executed at specified times, on specified intervals.  For example, say you’re trying to log some sensor data and update a display in the same program. With the task scheduler, you can simply write a function to gather sensor data, write a function to update the display, add them to your queue, and let the library handle the rest.

This isn’t really useful for blinking LEDs, but it’s great for complex systems. For example, the balloon computer was gathering sensor data, sending short reports, sending long reports, monitoring vertical speed, monitoring GPS Status, monitoring flight state, managing ballast, and managing a backup high-frequency radio at the same time.  Halfway through development, it was obvious that we would need to integrate a watchdog timer to keep other systems from freezing the flight computer.  If all of these tasks had been occurring simultaneously, spread throughout spaghetti code, it would have been very difficult to add watchdog resets in all the right places.  With the task queue, I simply defined another function that reset the watchdog, and put it in the queue.  Two minutes, tops!

You can find extensive documentation and examples in the Github project.  To install, just copy the “Arduino” directory contents to the “Libraries” folder of your Arduino IDE install.  Restart your IDE, and it should pop right up.  Here’s a really simple example program:

Our sewage lines have been reconnected and our bathroom facilities are now fully operational.

Contractor crews are still at work pouring cement in our basement to repair the floor. MSD will be continuing work in the alleyway this week, pouring concrete plugs and asphalt where they dug up the alleyway.

Everything is operational, just watch for wet cement.

The Louisville Digital Association, LVL1, GlowTouch Technologies and Insider Louisville are teaming up to help you rub elbows with the top tech influencers in the Derby City on June 22.

From the mayor’s office to maker garages, from venture capital firms to one-man bootstrap bands, from engineers to end-users to everyone in between — you’re all invited to the 1st Annual Louisville Digital Insiders Outing at Hogan’s Fountain in Cherokee Park from 6-8pm on Friday, June 22. Our organizations are putting on a full court press to get all 39 of the Insider‘s who’s who of Louisville tech present to cross-pollinate ideas and opinions; and we’re throwing in a free meal, too.

If you’re interested in any aspect of the Louisville tech scene — investment, employment, or intellectual curiosity — this is the one social occasion you don’t want to miss. There will be no pitches, no lectures and no strings attached. Just come meet your digital peers for a good, old-fashioned cookout in the heart of Louisville. The food will be excellent, and the conversation extraordinary — or your money back!

Admission is free, but seating is limited and RSVPs are required. Food and beverages will be provided by the Louisville Grind Gourmet Burger Truck. (Yes, there will be vegetarian options; just don’t be fooled by the awesome duckfat fries.) Reservations close at noon on June 20, so act now while supplies last.

It’s time to break down the walls between the various factions of the Louisville tech community. Nothing does that better than fresh air, fresh faces and freshly grilled burgers. See you at the Fountain.

Tickets are going fast – register here:

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3692881508?ref=ebtnebregn