LVL1 – Louisville's Hackerspace
Create / Destroy / Hack / Learn / Teach
Interested in projects that are based around sustainability and/or are eco-friendly? Whether you want to build, have built, or are interested in learning about eco-friendly projects, then please join us at the 1st LVL1 ECO group meeting. We hope to see you there!
Over the summer, member Divinity Rose coached a team of Junior Achievers as they worked to develop their technology based product and startup "Sensor Buddies." Â The team was being paid as part of the Mayor's Summer Works program that employed 4200 youth over the summer. The team of three 17-year-old students from Central High School learned to solder and use many of our resources, including the wood shop, vinyl cutter, and laser cutter.
Their experiences at Lvl 1Â facilitated growth, confidence building, and creative problem solving; it was so inspiring to see each of their individual strengths blossom. You can see their summary of the summer in the video below.
We look forward to seeing what they accomplish this year as senior in the business magnet program at Central High School with their teacher Dana Kelly. Thank you Mayor Fischer for facilitating such a great program.
The LVL1 community will be joining in on the world-wide celebration of Arduino Day on April 2nd and we'd love for you to join us.  We will be celebrating one of the ubiquitous tools of the Maker Movement that has helped so many people by running a workshop on the Arduino hosted by Nathan Armentrout, displaying Arduino-based projects, and other activities as we get this organized.
Nathan's workshop will be from 12 to 4pm and you can sign up on the EventBrite.
Here are some of the many Arduino-based projects folks have built; many of which you can see at our space:
Many of our Sumobots are powered by Arduino.
This project converted braille to RGB light as part of a hackathon designed to make useless things.
This space monitoring station gathers various information from different sensors via an Arduino compatible chip and displays the information.
Another useless project entry; this is a 2D printer designed to self destruct when it completes a line.
One of my personal favorites; the Bad Idea Robot uses an Arduino to animate the LEDs when you press the button and it gives you a bad idea.
You can also check our Wiki for projects that use Arduino and other technologies; for example there's the Magic 8-Ball Valentines Heart and the old-school LEGO Robotics Kit given new life via Arduino.
Of course we can't forget a long-time favorite and fixture of the space; Butterscotch the Fire-breathing Robotic Pony of Doom:
Eventbrite for Part 1 (November 7th):Â https://www.eventbrite.com/event/8986487827
Eventbrite for Part 2 (November 14th):Â https://www.eventbrite.com/event/8986740583
On November 7th and November 14th, Jael Harrington will be returning to LVL1 to teach a sewing workshop double header! Â Jael taught a sewing workshop back in June, and has returned to teach even more people the joys of fabric hacking! Since the age of 7, Jael has been ripping stitches and forging her own fashions, so she knows her way around a sewing machine!
Are  you interested in sewing? Sewable electronics? Making your own clothes? Then these workshops are the workshops to attend! No experience needed! All are welcome to attend!
You need to bring 2-3 yards of fabric and a spool of thread, and we'll take care of the rest! If you've got a project in mind, it would help if you brought your own pattern, and if you've got a sewing machine, bring it as well. Â If you need any help sourcing fabric, thread, or patterns, let us know beforehand, and we'll help you out!
The workshops are pay-what-you-want, and if you bite off more than one workshop worth of project, come back for the second one!
Seating is extremely limited, so sign up early and sign up often for these great pay-what-you-want workshops!