Besides having a lot of physical tools & hardware at Castlemakers, we also spend a lot of time with software. For many of us making physical things is a lot of the enjoyment, but in today’s world many of the newer tools use software to control the machinery and the product design is often created in software also.
This ‘fusion’ of software and hardware is what gives many of the newer tools we have their power; whether it’s 3D printers, our laser cutter/engraver, desktop CNC’s, or even some of our electronic test equipment. Knowing how to use that software to its full advantage can make things simpler to create or even create a more innovative design possible. Skilled makers will combine that knowledge with the older hands-on skills; for example, knowing how a kerf will impact the final piece when you a laser cut wood.
Many of our classes, like our upcoming Fusion 360 class, help others to learn the software that can be used to design and create digitally and then later into actual objects. And our monthly Castlemakers CoderDojo helps youth learn about coding to create computer programs, online environments, and even coding with physical computing. Stop by to see some of the creations or attend one of our events or classes!
Pointing out the new ping pong ball lamp in the Castlemakers window on Franklin Street is a natural follow-up after writing last month about the micro:bit in the window. It’s a great fun, low cost project built by one of our member with items found at the makerspace, except for the ping pong balls.
Recently several of us started experimenting with ESP32’s, a ‘system on a chip’ device that’s less than $10. I’m working on a squirrel proof bird feeder using an ESP32 with a camera for squirrel recognition, more on that later. This project is built however with an ESP8266 module, predecessor of the ESP32, which cost even less. The ESP8266 modules, bought some time ago for $4, are still quite capable having both wifi and a control channel built in. Ian, who’s known to build things for the heck of it, turned an ESP8266, a bit of leftover led strip lights, some 3D printing, ping pong balls and some glue into a flashy user controlled lamp!
There was mathematics involved in figuring out the right way to spiral the LED strip up the side for tight ping pong ball spacing, which depends on the diameter of the 3D printed cylinder. What’s also impressive is the built in web server. If you’re at the makerspace and logged into our network, type http://pingpong1.local to change the lamp pattern. Pretty darn impressive for a $4 circuit board!
We’re thinking about creating a class to help folks build these. If you’re interested stop by to let us know, post on this blog or send us an email.
We’ve still had projects at Castlemakers this summer, even with the Covid shutdown hampering our hands-on education efforts. One that I’m excited/impressed with is a high school student built project that includes programming, electronics, 3D printing and using a laser cutter – all made with items at the Makerspace!
Ever since we gave every 6th grader in Putnam County a micro:bit last year, we’ve wanted to do more micro:bit projects to help youth and adults see the power of microprocessors and IoT devices. And to get a chance to expose and use some of the some different fabrication tools often found in a makerspace. This summer Hunter Miller made a really interesting project, an edge lit sign controlled by a micro:bit. It looks a bit like an emergency exit sign with a disco like effect and instead our logo on it.
The design and case was modified from something created at the Cambridge UK makerspace, who was looking to create something to experience the different makerspace tools. We used our 50W CO2 laser to cut and etch an insert for a 3D printed case that with led lighting on the edge makes our logo stand out. Hunter, who was looking for something else to do this summer, then cut a section of a 2m LED strip and after some soldering connected the wires directly to a micro:bit. Then he wrote a micro:bit program using MakeCode that makes the LED strip change color and intensity.
It’s on display right now in our front window on Franklin St. Stop by and take a look or come in and we’ll show you how it works – the different lighting modes may have you dancing!
The PCMI started in 2018 from internal discussions about the technology gap in rural communities and how to get more folks interested in technology and coding, especially youth. PCMI was born after seeing a demo of the BBC micro:bit at the 2018 Hackathon in Indy – it seemed like a potential solution! Thought why not put a simple-to-use single board computer, in this case a micro:bit, into the hands of Putnam County youth so they could learn and use them?
After researching the micro:bit further and writing a Techpoint Foundation for Youth grant to get 10 for first hand experience in our CoderDojo, we decided to use a variation of what was done in the United Kingdom. We would give them directly to all 6th graders in Putnam County. The device is already being used in some US school systems, including NYC’s Computer Science for All and some Project Lead the Way classes, but with Indiana’s computer science curriculum under revision we were hoping for a quicker jump start so folks could recognize the significance of physical computing and that it doesn’t have to be difficult!
Luckily for us the Putnam County Community Foundation understood the importance and was willing to fund our idea. All four school systems were also willing to help – so we’ve been rolling out micro:bit kits to the 6th graders in Putnam County during October. Our last distribution, to home school kids at Putnam County Public Library, is on 11/4 and we’ll also be having a community session for parents and anyone else interested at Ivy Tech Community College in Greencastle on Monday November 4th at 6:30 pm. Seeing the excitement of the 6th graders getting and exploring their devices has been a real treat!
July 20th we participated in the 3rd Annual Indiana Youth Hackathon in Indianapolis. This was the 3rd year our CoderDojo attended and this time, several of us were volunteers also. The 2019 event was bigger than ever, even people from the CoderDojo and Raspberry Pi Foundation flew in from California to attend. The CoderDojo movement, which started in Ireland, is now in 102 countries and is an international organization. Many people don’t realize Indiana has more CoderDojos than any other state in the US!
Attending a ‘hackathon’ might sound a little intimidating to some, but it’s really a fun event where kids can meet, work with other kids (and adults) to learn and show off their computer coding skills. While there are judges and trophies involved, most of it is a non-competitive event where you can learn and ‘show off your stuff’ to others. Giveaways (and there were a LOT), t-shirts & stickers, free food… no wonder there was a waitlist to attend this year.
There were also drop in sessions – for example a morning session for adults wanting to learn more (CoderDojo 101 for Parents) and an afternoon session called Moonhack. Moonhack was a challenge/task to program a lunar buggy to travel across a lunar surface (that day was the 50th anniversary of the lunar landing after all) in Scratch or Python with lots of volunteers there to help them complete the coding. Parents 101 was as it sounds, a session to explain CoderDojos and answer questions. We even had a few that were interested in starting one where they lived.
We often get questions about when to visit Castlemakers; the best place to start is our events webpage. You can drop in during Open Shop or also attend one of the events listed.
For people not familiar with makerspaces, they may not realize everything going on. For example, limited ‘retail’ hours (what we and other makerspaces often call Open Shop time) reflect the volunteer nature of them. There are lots of passionate people and activities going on outside those times, often working individually and with other organizations.
For example, in the last 2 months Castlemakers worked on a number of youth-oriented events not listed on the webpage or on social media. Just a few weeks ago we were out at Heritage Lake working with over 50 kids at Putnam County Kids Count helping younger kids build and test catapults, then the older ones build and fly tetrahedral kites!
Another outreach event involved 2 other organizations in early May: Castle Arts and Putnam County 4H. Thirty North Putnam School Corporation 4th graders came to downtown Greencastle to learn about computer coding. While one group learned and used a robot at the 4H office to sort and count chips, the other group was at the Makerspace.
Christian Destremps did a fabulous job teaching them algorithms/coding around the corner at the 4H office using Lego EV3 kits built into a color chip sorting robot. Castlemakers helped with assembling his robot design and 3D printing bins to catch the different colored chips.
At the Makerspace we showed them how coding is used in 3D printing, laser cutter/engraving, and CNC machines. One section saw the coding (G-code) in action with our makerspace fabrication tools. At the same time the other section programmed a micro:bit, a small micro-computer board, using a block-based coding editor.
It really demonstrates what can happen in our community when different organizations pool their resources together. You’ll be hearing a lot more about the micro:bit board in the next few months here in Putnam County.
The Putnam County Microcomputer Initiative (PCMI) was created to generate interest in physical computing in our area. The initiative was funded by the Putnam County Community Foundation on 6/7/19.
The idea is fairly simple: in the fall of 2019 we gave away a micro:bit to every 6th grader in Putnam County through the four Putnam County school systems and the Putnam County Public Library. Since then we’ve provided these kits to other organizations in our area. You may also be interested in our CoderDojo and Pi Makers meetup.
Resources/links for this initiative may be helpful for anyone interested in more about the micro:bit device. Since our initial distribution there has been a micro:bit upgrade to V2 (although still very hard to get), which added several features including a microphone & a speaker. More specific differences can be referenced here, but functionally they are the same and look very similar.
You can read about getting started with the micro:bit here. Please note you can also ‘pair’ the specific device to your computer, which lets you download directly to the device & not have to use the drag/drop feature.
micro:bit features may help you understand the sensors and has some simple projects to help you try them out. This webpage has instructions for hooking up earbuds or speakers to use the micro:bit sound output!
MakeCode is the block-based code editor from Microsoft that works with the micro:bit and some other devices.
Hardware geeks: here’s the reference material, including input/output pins and much more. This website has been updated for V2, but if you dig around you can find information on previous versions.
Like a challenge? If you look in the Castlemakers front window on Franklin Street there’s a micro:bit running with a scrolling text display. By using another micro:bit to send a text message, you can remotely activate lights and sounds inside the makerspace! Here’s a hint on how to do it at the end of a blog post…
Many of our posts are youth related, that’s certainly a big part of our mission, but we also encourage adults to get involved in learning and making things. Our meetups are a good example, one of the first we started was our 3DPO (3D Printer Owner’s) Meetup which first began as a group of adults but it wasn’t long before there were some teenagers involved.
The Pi Maker’s Meetup started last November when we got a group together to share information about Raspberry Pi’s. It also turns out we’ve got a group build of MAME system/cabinets going on at the Makerspace that will be running using a RetroPie to emulate various arcade games.
The group is still developing and like most meetups, anyone is invited to drop in on our group. We usually meet the 3rd Thursday of each month, check our events webpage for the next meeting. Please join us then or stop by during our open shop times and we’ll fill you in! You can also sign up for our events newsletter here, be sure to check the Pi Makers meetup box.
On Sunday, January 17, about a dozen kids learned the basics of coding by building some Android phone apps. We met in a computer lab in the Julian Center at DePauw, and worked through some of the tutorial apps in the App Inventor program from MIT (http://appinventor.mit.edu/explore/).
The system is programmed through a web browser, where you can build how the app screen will look (with buttons, labels, and connections to various phone sensors), then shift over to a “blocks” environment where the actions can be hooked up. The first example involved responding to the phone being shaken by sending some text to the speech synthesizer (such as, “Hey, stop shaking me!”).
While the app was being developed in the browser, an Android device (some kids brought phones, and the CS department loaned a bunch of tablets for the afternoon) was attached to the session and allowed immediate live testing of the program.
The second app we built was like a virtual billiards table. It drew some balls on the screen, and with a flick of the finger they could be launched to bounce around.
The App Inventor website allows sharing the projects that are created, and they can be turned into stand-alone apps to download to a friend’s phone. At the end of the hour, a bunch of the kids were excited about being able to continue working on their app ideas at home. Alice turned her random yes/no app into one that could generate a random story idea for a Doctor Who episode (example: “The Doctor and Rose battle the Daleks in New New York, accompanied by Captain Jack.”), and then worked with a friend to build a pair of apps that told each other knock-knock jokes (using a speech recognizer as well as the speech synthesis)!
App Inventor is related to the Scratch environment, which can be used to control Arduino boards, so it’s likely that there will be more sessions like this in the future.
In today’s meeting we looked at ozobots & dug out the cubelets to try and get the Bluetooth control working. Technical difficulties prevented the cubelets from working with the remote control app. But the ozobots were a bigger hit anyway with both the kids and adults there.
Ozobots are tiny dome like robots that have optical sensors that are used to follow lines. These lines can also program the little guys, through shapes and colors. Using a marker they will follow the line you draw but by using different color patterns they will change speed, change direction, pause, stop and even count.
It was amazing to sit back and watch the kid’s creativity. After a brief introduction to the ozobot, the kids discovered much more on their own. Following mazes and lines drawn on paper, along with guessing which branch the ozobot would take dominated the afternoon.
The kids decided to “test the robot’s artificial intelligence” by creating questions that the robot could ‘answer’ by choosing the right path. The maze they created started with simple questions like 4 divided by 4, then progressed into more difficult questions like which country created french fries. There were plenty of death traps and black holes along the path for the ozobot if a wrong decision was made. They decided to conduct tests for both ozobots , you can watch one trial in this video. Of course the robot didn’t really evaluate the questions, just took a random path, but they still had fun.
The ozobot color changing capability was a huge hit (different colored lines cause the bot’s LED to match the line color). They are somewhat sensitive to line width, but it’s not a huge factor. The large dry erase board attempt didn’t work well, the bot would eventually scrape off some of the marker then stop. Ozogroove, the dancing app, was pretty useless on a Nexus 7 – don’t bother to install it on that tablet at least.
We’re going to have to experiment some more with hand drawing the ozocodes, the programming language for the robot. It seemed to be inconsistent, sometimes working and sometimes not, even for the same color coded lines. Printed ones worked great. There’s also a coding language, ozoblocky, but that will be a future meeting.