Are you interested in at-home automated manufacturing? Do you like the idea of owning your own 3D printer, laser cutter, automated mill, router table, or other astounding automatons? Then this is the night for you!

Automation Night is an ever-growing group of enthusiastic amateurs and professionals in the field of do it yourself automated manufacturing (ie 3D printers, CNC mills, laser cutters, cake frosters, etc) hardware and software.

Please come if you’re interested in learning more, already have an automated tool at home, want to show off your latest build, or just want to meet locals who are into this exciting technology!

• Who: Open to the public
• Where: Pumping Station: One, 3354 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL
• When: Wednesday, April 11th, 7pm
• Cost: Free ($5 suggested donation for non-members to help us pay the rent)

Planned Schedule:

• 7-7:10: people show up
• 7:10-7:25: introductions round-robin
• 7:25-’till everyone leaves: schmoozing, machine assembly and show off, discussion of tools and techniques

Image: 120 Cell by Thingiverse user George Hart

Instructor: Ed Bennett

The purpose of the Flourish Conference is to promote the use and adoption of Free Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) by demonstrating the practical applications of FLOSS in the business and academic world.

The workshop had around 40 attendees. It introduced the Arduino platform starting from the basics of software, hardware, and microcontrollers. Since there were a lot of programmers at the conference, we went a little further into the “behind the scenes” aspect of the Arduino environment than is usual with basic introductions.

Working with circuits and breadboards isn’t hard, but you have to train your eye to see the physical sense of the thing. Starting afresh, it’s very easy to make mistakes. If it weren’t for the volunteers from PS:One who patrolled the room watching for people needing help, the workshop would not have been possible.  Patrick, Anna, Avner, Steve, and Eric stayed very busy for the whole two hours.

More images and the workshop outline are at KineticsAndElectronics.com.

Images by Anna Yu.

In session 2, we read analog sensor input into the Arduino, and had the Arduino print the data to a character display.  In session 3, we will read sensors with an Arduino, and then interpret the data to control the position of a servomotor. If you want to build an Arduino-controlled entity that has physical motion, this is a very good place to start.

The only new hardware component introduced this week will be the servo. I’ll have a small quantity of servos available for sale on Sunday for $12 ea. For class you will need only one servo, however there is the option to use more than that for your own experiments.

Who: everyone (members and non-members are welcome), seating is limited to 10 people. Reservations are preferred but not required.
Cost: $12 for a servo, unless you bring your own
When: 3/18/2012 12:30-2:30pm  (Please note the time change.)
Reservations: email ed at kineticsandelectronics dot com
Where: Pumping Station: One 3354 N Elston Ave Chicago, IL 60647

In the second class we’ll

• learn to use a breadboard for doing quick “sketches” with electronic parts.
• use a pushbutton, a photoresistor, and a potentiometer to learn about providing inputs into an Arduino program.
• use a serial data connection to communicate with a small LCD character display that can show two lines of text.
• have a first look at ways of powering our circuit when it’s disconnected from the computer.

If you weren’t at the first meeting and therefore don’t have a copy of the board we made, you can still participate by bringing your own Arduino or Arduino-compatible.

The session-2 kit has a breadboard, LCD character display, heavy duty 5-volt adapter, and a couple of other things. If you attend, you should purchase the kit. Price for the session-2 kit is $29.00

I’ll take reservations by email and payment for the kit on site.

Who: everyone (members and non-members are welcome), seating is limited to 10 people.

Cost: $29 for the kit. and to arrange payment.

When: 3/4/2012 3-5pm

Reservations: email ed at kineticsandelectronics dot com

Where: Pumping Station: One 3354 N Elston Ave Chicago, IL 60647

This will be a 4-part series or so. There are 10 seats available, but observers are welcome after the 10 seats are filled.

I’ll have a kit for sale on site to get people started. Price is $29.00. It has a board, chip, USB adapter, LED’s, and a couple of other things to get you started. Because I’ll be packaging the kits for the occasion, I ask that if you attend, you purchase the kit.

I’ll take reservations by email and payment for the kit on site or by Paypal.

The first session (2/19) basic description is:

• How to Solder: Solder up an Arduino workalike.
• How to run the Arduino development application on your laptop.
• Basic Arduino program structure. Run an LED. (Hello World blinky).
• Show where the built-in examples live in the IDE. Run an input example and an output example.
• For inspiration, demo a couple of circuits with an Arduino and some connected hardware.

That’s probably all that will  fit in two hours.
Future sessions may discuss Arduino-compatible accessories, motors, simple sensors, and so on. There are many possibilities.

Who: everyone (members and non-members are welcome), seating is limited to 10 people

Cost: $29 for the kit. Email ed at kineticsandelectronics dot com to reserve and to arrange payment.

When: 2/19/2012 3-5pm

Where: Pumping Station: One 3354 N Elston Ave Chicago, IL 60647

We had the recent reprap build event, and now the hacked vinyl cutter, makerbot, PS:One′s own RepRap Mendel, and the brand new CNC tool (it’s extremely cool, but I’m not allowed to announce it on this blog yet) have taken over half of the electronics work area.

To complete the CNC takeover, PS:One will hold a monthly Automation Station: One event where people are encouraged to bring their in-progress projects for building in a communal atmosphere and completed projects to show off.

All CNC tools are welcome: additive, subtractive, mills, lasers, printers, frosters, plotters, RepRaps, and even egg-bots.  There will be an emphasis on open source hardware/software tools, but not exclusively so.

This first event will be on July 20th at 7pm at Pumping Station: One. Non-member CNC enthusiasts (and any projects they wish to share) are welcome to attend.

Image: “Colbertopus” by Thingiverse user Renosis.

Transmissometer from Pumping Station: One on Vimeo.

Here are more details on the device, including photos, schematics, and source code.

Thanks to everyone who helped out with the build and filming!

This week, our hacker brethren in Los Angeles bring their ear for music to the game. Their motion-sensing synthesiser gets plenty of attention from passers-by in their storefront space. Props to them on tuning flowerpots and empty bottles of Carlsberg!

With great pride and humility I present my Cylon! This is my very first dabble into electronics so I am pretty sure that the whole thing will burst into flames at any moment. The eye(s) are soldered onto a generic board I bought and are hooked up to a freeduino that I made during a transistor thursdays class awhile back. In a future model I hope to hook up a range sensor that will only turn on the Cylon when someone steps in front of it. For now, however, enjoy the simple pleasure of sentient robots!