Author Archives: Kevin

Robotic Arms Invade the Makery!

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Following last night’s meeting, a number of Panasonic Industrial robotic arms were dropped off at the Makery. These arms were used in some sort of assembly operation, and seem to have been manufactured (at least the motors) in the early 80s. A number of people hung around pretty late messing around with them, and had them moving under their own power on pretty short order.

There are some videos from last night, which are now available here.
Any ideas for what they could become? Brandon recommends that they NOT be used as an arm-wrestling simulator :)

April 5th – Tricopters and SCADA

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The next regular meeting will be at the space on Tuesday, April 5th at 7pm. We’ve got two presentations:

Brandon will be showing his progress on the remote controlled Tricopter he’s been working on (as seen on this site); If you’re unfamiliar with exactly what a Tricopter is, it’s like a quadcopter with just 3 rotors.

Nick will be pre-presenting his paper on SCADA, an acronym used to describe the systems used to control the supply of electricity, water, gas, and so much more. Because of their high profile status, SCADA systems have been garnering a lot more attention from unsavory elements. This talk represents an introduction to SCADA systems and attempts to look at the challenges in securing them.

The space will be open starting around 5:30 on Tuesday through whenever people leave after the meeting. (Though the meeting typically runs from 7 to 8 or so). See you all then!

Space is Shaping Up

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The Space (aka The Makery) is really starting to come together. A build day has been scheduled for this Saturday (March 26th, 9:37am) to see about some shelves and tables.  Full details on that are the mailing list.

In other news, our local network is operational;  We have Wireless-G, network printing and a functional DHCP/DNS server.  Internet access, long a subject of (heart|head)ache at the space, is scheduled for install tomorrow evening.

Now, a few photos of setting up networking and the general state of things.

Happenings from Friday and Saturday

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Just a few quick photos from last night and today’s setting up at the space.  Lots of people stopped by to help, and a good time was had by all.

At this point, the space has the following furniture:

  • Two folding tables (one larger, one smaller)
  • A round table (would seat 4)
  • 1 Sun server / Entertainment Center :P
  • 3 plastic Plano shelving units
  • 2 server  cabinets (which may or may not be good for holding servers)
  • 1 particleboard desk
  • 6 chairs (3 folding) and one stool

Next General Meeting: Tuesday March 22nd – 7pm

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Our next regular meeting will be at the space  on Tuesday, March 22nd at 7pm. No official topics are planned yet.  If you have a presentation that you’d like to give, please email the list and we’ll get you on the docket.  We  do have screen facilities, though not quite as nice as what we had at PKI (yet :) ).

Also, as of right now, we are mostly ready for anything that you’re planning on bringing. At the moment, we’re most in need of furniture (shelves and chairs especially), though just about anything can be stacked on the floor for the time being.

Click here for directions to the space.

Meeting Tuesday, March 8th – At the Space!

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Our first regular meeting at the new space will be on Tuesday, March 8th at 7pm. Meeting topics will be sort of free form, but will include a bit of orientation, some discussion on setup (which should be easier now that we’re standing there) and planning for regular operations.

By Tuesday, we should be mostly ready for anything that you’re planning on bringing. At the moment, we’re most in need of furniture (shelves, tables and especially chairs), though just about anything can be stacked on the floor for the time being.

Click here for directions to the space.

Next Meeting: February 8th – Same Location (PKI)

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Our next meeting (7pm on February 8th) will be at our usual place, the Peter Kewiet Institute.

The agenda will be somewhat free form, mostly related to planning and discussion regarding the new space. Also, there should be tales of this weekend’s field trip to the electronics recyclers.

Treasurer’s Note:
This is the first meeting of the month of February, so Dues will be collected, unless you paid in advance last meeting.