YourDuinoSouthTrip2015
YourDuino.com's Southbound Tour 2015
YourDuino.com has had a fantastic road trip to the Southeastern USA! We have crossed paths with Makers, MakerSpaces and Schools along the way. We have been traveling in our camper from Vermont, where we are based, South through Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, and then North through Georgia, the Carolinas, and the D.C. area. We will be back home to Vermont for Thanksgiving.
Some Highlights:
We finally made it to the Mississippi River!
On Monday November 2nd, we visited 2 schools with very enthusiastic young people in Pelham, Alabama, kindly organized by David Wilkins. Then we were invited by Shirley Hicks to visit the friendly and talented Red Mountain Makers in Birmingham. Thank you for welcoming us to your communities!
River Chase Middle School, Pelham, Alabama
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| River Chase Middle School with the robot they created through the Best Robotics Program |
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| Terry and David Wilkins at Pelham High School |
Pelham High School in Alabama
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| Students at Pelham HS interact with Arduino |
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| Pelham High School |
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| Pelham High students observe our robot |
Red Mountain Makers in Birmingham, Alabama
YourDuino.com spent an afternoon and evening with the Red Mountain Makers. This MakerSpace is developing very well, with many different subject rooms and individual spaces in an old doctor's office built in 1904. They're renovating the space together, and creating a wonderful working environment. They have a varied group of innovative artist makers who we were happy to meet and learn about their ideas and projects. Thank you to Shirley Hicks for inviting us to your MakerSpace!
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| Mary Alice with Shirley Hicks, MakerSpace Organizer |
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| The Red Mountain Makers make flames with music |
Makers Local 256 in Huntsville, Alabama
On Tuesday Nov. 3rd, we visited Makers Local 256 in Huntsville, Alabama and were amazed by the innovation happening there and especially by the cooperative friendly Utopia they have created. All resources at the Space are shared and members pay only what they can afford. This Makerspace has a big open area with lots of room for projects, a huge laser cutter and tons of equipment to share. They cover the tables in the shared collaborative workspace with low-cost white Melamine panels which can be written on like whiteboards and easily replaced. Thank you for inviting us to Local 256 Tyler!
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| Terry and our display at Local 256 |
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| Tyler showing us a cool temperature sensing device they have hacked to control and analyze data about the temperatures at the MakerSpace |
Huntsville, Alabama
Next, we visited the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville.
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| Mary Alice and Terry beneath the huge Saturn V rocket at the Space and Rocket Museum in Huntsville |
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| Mary Alice walks by a Space Shuttle main engine below the Space Shuttle |
Making Awesome in Tallahassee, Florida
Making Awesome MakerSpace is located in a cool, arty neighborhood called Railroad Square, filled with innovative, artistic shops and small businesses. We enjoyed visiting Making Awesome on November 9th and seeing their active, welcoming space and presenting about Arduino to members and interested people, young and old.
While in Tallahassee, we camped at the Miccosukee Land Coop, a beautiful Greenspace in the suburbs and attended a delightful potluck supper with members of the coop. Members started the coop back in the 70s, building their own homes and working together to create a really special, intentional community. It was very cool and inspiring to see the beautiful space they have created there! Read more HERE
Thank you for inviting us, David Brightbill!
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| Making Awesome in Tallahassee |
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| Community Hall at the Miccosukee Land Coop |
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| Cedar Key RV Park! |
Traveling on the West Coast of Florida - Cedar Key
The Space Coast FabLab in Melbourne, Florida
We had so much fun at the Space Coast FabLab on November 12th! They have a great space with so many hi-tech tools available for anyone to use, including the first 3D metal printer I have seen, that prints using powdered aluminum or titanium.
Membership is totally free at this Makerspace! They are actively helping people acquire skills necessary in the techie workplace, even offering certification in 3D printing and laser cutting technology, among others.
Read more HERE
This is a very active community of Makers with young people involved from ages 4 -senior citizen and many Florida Institute of Technology students make use of the tools and expertise available to them here. We loved the Project InMoov they are involved with; creating a human-like robot that is gentle enough to hold a baby (?) and totally created from 3D printed parts. Read more HERE
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| A young friend 3D printed a cool cowboy hat for our robot at the FabLab! |
Hilsman Middle School, Athens Georgia
The students at Hilsman Middle School were awesome! We had a lot of fun showing them the things you can do with Arduino. The school is beginning a Lego Robotics Group and Teacher Renee Smith will be using Arduino to control a greenhouse and aquaponics lab available in the school.
University of Georgia
We also met with the Horticulture Department at the University of Georgia. There, we had a lively philosophical as well as practical discussion about the uses and needs for Arduino-controlled systems in a university setting.
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| Terry at the University of Georgia, Athens |
The Double Helix School in Athens, Georgia
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| At the Double Helix School in Athens |
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| Double Helix students wrote to Boxie Robot creator Alex Reben |
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| Students with the Robot called "Dreamer" |
Dan Long asked us to speak at the Double Helix STEAM School north of Athens and we also toured his computer-controlled greenhouses at Brushwood Nurseries. Dan is interested in incorporating Arduino controls into his watering and cooling systems.
At the Double Helix School, students in grades 4-8 were very interested in getting involved with Arduino projects. They had some great ideas and questions.
Thank you for inviting YourDuino.com to Athens, Michael Martin, Renee Smith and Dan Long!
Brushwood Nurseries, Athens, Georgia
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| Beautiful Passion Flower at Brushwood Nurseries |
Splatspace in Durham, North Carolina
We had a great time at SplatSpace in Durham, North Carolina! This Makerspace has been around for about 4 years and operates out of an industrial building that it shares with a few other companies. YourDuino.com presented to a varied group of all ages from engineering professionals to school-age children and their parents. There were many cool projects going on here with specific areas for woodworking, electronics, metal working, etc. Pete Soper kindly invited us to visit and then we all went out for an authentic BBQ lunch. We don't have this type of cuisine in Vermont and so we enjoyed it tremendously.
Potomac Falls High School, Virginia
YourDuino.com brings you the best quality Arduino-related parts and kits, at the lowest prices. We are happy to work with you to create customized kits to meet your group’s needs; we shipped over 1500 kits to schools and universities recently. Our kits are made in Vermont, USA in our barn workshop. We offer quantity and educational discounts.
Our brochure outlining who we are and what we do is available HERE:
- [/file/detail/YourDuinoBrochure10-2015.pdf Details]
- [/file/view/YourDuinoBrochure10-2015.pdf/563565609/YourDuinoBrochure10-2015.pdf Download]
- 5 MB
Best Regards,
Terry King and Mary Alice Osborne
terry@yourduino.com
maryalice@yourduino.com
802-917-3736 (cell)
Online Shop: http://YourDuino.com
Educational Wiki: http://Arduinoinfo.inf