Project:Classroom HackSpaceChallenge: Difference between revisions

We are one of the larger hackspaces (240+ members) and our members possess have a wide range of skills from artists, robotics, engineers and scientists. These are members that we can call upon to help with our build.

We are committed to the teaching and spreading our knowledge to the next generation of hackers. We have recently started Young Hackspace. One of the activities had them drawing pictures for the hackspace zoo, which we then scanned and laser cut for them to take home.  As well as the Young Hackspace we have connections to colleges for testing and feed back purposes.  

As a space we tended to solve practical problems within our space using the knowledge and skills of the members. Things such as a notification board controlled via IRC, a power monitor, and an RFID access system based on the London Oyster cards (some of it documented here http://blog.london.hackspace.org.uk/). So we have experience making projects that just work and don't need too much maintenance.  

Current on-going projects include an Arduino powered vending machine, for the selling of Arduinos. We're also trying to reverse engineer how our laser cutter is controlled so we can write new software, and stop relying on the virus-riddled software that was included.

Lots of our members are also making the trip up to Newcastle for the Maker Faire to help run the London Hackspace stand there. This means we haven't decided on a project yet, possibilities include an open source spectrograph and an open source mind storms brain.