Electric Garage Open House-Oct. 17 6pm-8:30pm

This week we will be hosting a group of engineers from the Ford Hybrid Electric Vehicle Calibration group. So, to show off the Ford EVs--and just to get together with like-minded folks--we have decided to have an informal open house at the Electric Garage (4621 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213) on Wednesday October 17 from 6-8:30pm. Come out and see:

* Ford plug-in hybrid vehicles
* ChargeCar converted Honda Civic EVs
* ChargeCar conversion parts kit
* Our public EV charging stations
* Other EVs--if you have one, please bring it!
Bring some chairs. We'll be showing "Revenge of the Electric Car" on our "big screen" outside, with fresh popcorn

Finch and Arts & Bots at the Pittsburgh Mini Maker Faire

Come program Finch robots and Hummingbird kit creations at this weeks
mini maker faire at the Children's Museum in Pittsburgh. We will have
four laptops set up to allow kids and adults of all ages to try out
these robots with some no-experience-necessary programming
environments.

More at: http://pghmakerfaire.com/2012/09/13/meet-the-makers-robots-monsters/

Hope to see you there!
Tom

Children's Innovation Project at Mini Maker Faire

This Saturday 22 September from 10:00-2:00, children from Pittsburgh Allegheny who have been working with the Children's Innovation Project, will be sharing ideas at the Mini Maker Faire.

Children will be showcasing one of the Core Concepts of the project: Learning as Material.

Children will show how to create electrical circuits using Circuit Blocks, talk about their learning and show how they understand electronic toys.

http://pghmakerfaire.com/2012/09/18/meet-the-makers-electronics/

http://triblive.com/aande/moreaande/2488608-74/says-pittsburgh-faire-maker-event-jordan-makers-phillip-ages-mini#axzz26pKJBXKL

Arts & Bots Workshop September 10

Dear Educators, 

CREATE Lab is offering an Arts & Bots workshop on September 10th, 2012. If you are interested in participating, please see more information bellow and RSVP by Thursday September 6th. ACT 48 credit offered. We will also have some good food to munch on while building our work of art. If you want to get inspired for this workshop, listen to this press release at Pittsburgh's NPR or read more at the Post Gazette article.

Looking forward to seeing you in class!

Sincerely,
Arts & Bots team. 

What do craft materials have to do with robotics? They are both part of the Arts & Bots system that is being used in classrooms and learning centers across the Pittsburgh region. Arts & Bots allows students, ages 5 to 18, to combine crafts, robotics, creativity and graphical computer programming to build and animate custom robotic creations.

Interested in learning more about Arts & Bots? Join members of Carnegie Mellon University’s CREATE Lab to for an introductory workshop. At the workshop, you will build your own robot while learning about the latest Arts & Bots hardware and visual programming software.  Visit bit.ly/Arts-Bots for more details about Arts & Bots.

Who should attend the workshop? Educators from all subject areas are welcome. We will discuss ideas for using Arts & Bots with students of different ages and in classes ranging from Anatomy to History to Art. No robotics experience is necessary. This workshop is free of charge for all interested educators. ACT 48 credit available.

 

 

Where:

Carnegie Mellon University

Gates and Hillman Centers 8102

4800 Forbes Ave.

Pittsburgh, PA 15213

bit.ly/gates-directions 

 

When: 

September 10, 2012

5:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Contact: 

Clara Phillips

clara@cmu.edu 

Register here: bit.ly/SeptemberRSVP

Open House tomorrow evening at the Electric Garage

> What: Informal open house
> When: Thursday, July 19, 6-7 PM
> Where: The Electric Garage, 4621 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15243
> Who: Open to the public
> Why: To see the new Ford plug-in hybrid vehicles

This week we are privileged to be hosting Chris Lear, Senior Development Engineer in Ford's Plug-in Hybrid Vehicle group, along with a team of engineers and five plug-in hybrid vehicles (four Ford C-Max Energi PHEVs and one Fusion Energi PHEV, see photo). The team has driven from Michigan for evaluation testing, taking advantage of Pittsburgh's hilly terrain, and the availability of level 2 charging at the Electric Garage. If you'd like to talk to the Ford engineers and see the latest plug-in hybrid vehicles from Ford, please attend an informal gathering Thursday evening 6-7PM at the Electric Garage.

Hope to see you then!

Ben

H. Ben Brown
Project Scientist
Robotics Institute
Carnegie Mellon University

Join CREATE Lab on May 23, 2012 for a Finch Robot demo

Dear Educators, 

Please join CREATE lab team on Wednesday, May 23, 2012 from 5pm-7pm.
The team will demo the newest visual programmer software for Finch.
If you already have a Finch, you can start playing by downloading the free software HERE.
If you want to learn more and get a chance to win 1 Finch robot, come to CMU on May 23. 
Tom Lauwers, developer of Finch and founder of birdbrain technologies, will be at the event with lots of finches for you to test.
The CREATE lab visual programmer for Finch takes the inspiration from the hummingbird. 
So if you are familiar with Arts & Bots kits, you will be easily attracted to the Finch. (see attached image) 
But If you are very new to the Arts & Bots, this is also a great opportunity for you to meet our pioneer teachers and get inspired on how to use Arts & Bots in the classroom. 
Where: 
Carnegie Mellon University
Gates Building - room 8102
Directions HERE
When: 
May 23, 2012 5pm-7pm
Door Prize: 1 Finch Robot donated by birdbrain technologies.
Refreshment will be serve.
Please RSVP HERE by May 20th, 2012 
Looking forward to seeing you, 
Clara Phillips
CREATE Lab Community Outreach Coordinator
 
Carnegie Mellon University
Robotics Institute - NSH 4627
5000 Forbes Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213 

Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy WaterBot Expedition!

Taiji and Sage installing the first WaterBot.

Hello CMU Create Lab! I was involved in the installation of WaterBots in Frick Park, and was asked by Jessica Pachuta to write an entry for the blog. I hope this is okay!

On Saturday March 24th, after being delayed by torrential downpour and flood warnings, we were finally able to install the final 5 WaterBots in the 9-mile run watershed. Jessica from CMU’s CREATE lab, Taiji from PPC, and myself (Sage, a high school student externing at PPC) spent the entire afternoon setting up the bots. The adventure took 5 hours of tromping through the creek in (leaky) waders, countless zip-ties, and a pit stop at McDonalds, but the weather was great and we all enjoyed being outside!

I’m a senior at the Ellis School, and this year I had the opportunity to have an externship with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. This spring, in addition to being a crew leader at several of the PPC’s volunteer work days, I am going to collect data and monitor the WaterBots. So far, there have been some technological issues which hopefully have already been solved! A far more concerning issue is the missing WaterBot. WaterBot 0009 has mysteriously disappeared, though fortunately all the others are exactly how we left them. Hopefully a reason other than theft will present itself, but considering how well it was anchored down, other explanations seem unlikely. But despite this dilemma, I'm very excited to get to work with the CREATE Lab's WaterBots this spring!

 

-Sage Lincoln