[sudo-discuss] 3/5 Microcontroller Project Hack Night: Wrap-up

[hol at gaskill.com]

Hi Folks,

We had a good session last night, with a mushroom environmental control system and an RGB color mixer both advancing to the next operational stage, a beer brewing robot gaining a good amount of ground on its grainy prey, and a wood gasifier control system not getting much attention at all as the maker was having such a good time helping others out and generally talking shop.  Also had a first-time solderer successfully execute a cut-and-solder list on some heavy amperage connections, learned how to google our debugging problems into submission, extolled the virtues of power transistor arrays, and determined experimentally that it probably isn't a good idea to put a glass jar of process water in a bench vise.  Throw in some chips and salsa, and a good night was had by all.

I'd like to make this a recurring thing and build momentum in the cycle of getting an idea, turning it into a project, building the project, and coming away with more and better ideas.  To facilitate this, we could take over the newly (?) vacated alternating tuesday meetup spot at sudo room.  I propose we break it up into one night a month for fresh ideas and new entrants, one night a month for refining and implementing more developed ideas.  Here is what I propose:

Microcontroller Project Hack Night
@sudo room
March 26 @ 5:30PM - 11PM
April 23 @ 5:30PM - 11PM
May 21 @ 5:30PM - 11PM
"A shared worktime for tackling microcontroller and robotics projects. Bring that complex project you've been putting off finishing and hunker down around the communal soldering iron and serial terminal for a high-productivity, high-spirited build night. Both independent work and collaboration strongly engouraged, as are snacks and other refreshments."

Basic Microcontroller Hack Night
@sudo room
April 9 @ 5:30PM - 11PM
May 7 @ 5:30PM - 11PM
"A good night for both beginning and more experienced microcontroller users. Emphasis is on first principles, trying out new sensors and actuators, testing out new ideas that haven't yet found a home in a project, and cracking open black boxes of all sorts for fresh ideas. Eventually we will have low-cost starter kits available to get beginners hacking right away."

Are there any scheduling conflicts?  Do people want to meet up more than twice a month or does this seem like enough to satisfy your need for group hacking sessions in this area?  My theory is that we can always meet more than this, but scheduling too many (ie weekly) meetups will max out peoples bandwidth and result in decreased cohesion between attendees.  I will also work on getting this added to the calendar in the near future.

Cheers,
Hol