Holyoke Codes presented Maker Jam at the MGHPCC on Saturday, November 23, a five-hour event celebrating technology, science, art, craft, creativity, and curiosity!
In association with Holyoke Media and The Print Shop, and with food generously sponsored by NERD (New England Regional Developers), the event included workshops, talks, and an interactive playground.
Among the workshops were:
Drones! Where visitors could try their hand flying a drone, learning how to control it with code, as well as program their own autonomous flights to master avoiding obstacles, and record photos and video.
Gliders: A CNC Machine for Aeronautics Education where representatives from AeroForm covered the development of their CNC (computer numerical control) machine, demonstrated its capabilities and provided a brief introduction to the science of flight with the construction of a free-flight glider.
The AeroForm is a tabletop CNC machine that cuts precision airfoils and other aircraft parts from solid polystyrene foam. Designed and manufactured in the Pioneer Valley, this unique machine brings research-level manufacturing capability to STEM classrooms, research labs, and home workshops.
Visitors get hands-on in the “Inventing with Micro:bit (and Hummingbird”) workshop.
Inventing with Micro-robotics Kits Micro:bit (and Hummingbird ) where attendees got a primer in making and programming with the block-based MakeCode as well as JavaScript and PythonMake, making things come alive with lights, sensors, and motors and a variety of programming languages
3D Model and Print Jewelry where visitors learned how to create 3D models with TinkerCAD an easy-to-use free tool for creating digital designs that are ready to be 3D printed into physical objects
The interactive playground included:
Holyoke Media, Holyoke’s public access media organization, offered visitors the chance to try GoPro cameras, record their own podcasts and experiment with green screen video.
Holyoke Media green screen.
The Print Shop, a local collaborative workspace that provides community access to commercial printing tools, production and classroom spaces, brought their 3-D sublimation printer for visitors to try out.
Soccer Robots invited visitors to try their hands at programing a Micro:bit robot soccer team controlled via radio using a computer vision system.
Exploring soccer robots.
Autonomous Race Cars demonstrated self-directing race cars powered by Raspberry Pi and machine learning with a Tensorflow
neural network and a Deepracer with a reinforcement learning model.
FM Location Service allowed visitors to try and determine their geographic location by triangulating FM radio signals.
Mesh Networks and Sensors was an installation teaching how particle micro-controllers can be used to easily set up a mesh network for monitoring sensors in remote locations.
Internet-Enabled Gameboy demonstrated the fun to be had on a Gameboy with internet access.
Drive a Robot with Streaming Video illustrated how robots, controlled by an app built with a new App Inventor extension, enables people to build their own apps with streaming video.
Interactive Video App introduced a project with multitouch interactive video feedback, processing in real-time on webGL.
A visitor learns about the inputs to multitouch interactive video.
Bipedal Robots introduced an open-source, 3D printed, bipedal robot.
Visitors try our virtual reality.
Virtual Reality allowed visitors to experience and explore the world of VR.
Members of FLL and FTC robotics teams demonstrated the Tetrix and EV3 robots they have been creating for the FIRST robotics challenges.
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