Inventors Club Big Show

Discussing one student's project

Just before Thanksgiving we finished up our fall session of Inventors Club with another successful Big Show.  The 4th step of the invention process here at the Bakken is Show It, and to facilitate that we invite friends and family in on the last day of every session to see the students present their creations.

Controlling an LED display with an Arduino

Every time around we see new projects we've never seen before, and this fall was no exception. From boats and cars, to a drink lifter and a drawing robot, an LED display and a calculator, and many more, there were a lot of great projects to enjoy.

A grappling hook launcher

We had quite a bit of fun working with the students this session, and owe a great big thank you to all the volunteers who helped bring the kids' ideas to life, and the parents who give us the chance to play and learn alongside their children.

A drawing robot

We have lots of more opportunities coming up to do some great making at the Bakken.  Our winter session of Inventors Club is starting on the 15th of February, and is now open for online registration.  Also, we always have our drop-in Thursday evening Open Workshops from 4:30 to 6:30, which are available with a punch card.  The full schedule for those, and all our programs, is on our website.

Lego Robotics Wrap-up

The fall 2013 session of Lego Robotics ended with a bang at the Bakken. The amount of growth seen in all the students was truly impressive - we can't wait to see what these future engineers might build next.

In the morning session, each pairing had two challenges. The first was to program their robot to complete a maze and end on a pressure switch that each of them made. This task is a great example of how looks can be deceiving - everyone thinks it's easy when the challenge is introduced, but it actually requires each group to use all the skills that they've learned together in a very precise manner. Nonetheless, the whole group did an awesome job battling through to the end! The pride they felt when their robots made it onto their switches for the first time was well deserved, and fun to watch!

The second challenge that each group showed to their families during the Big Show was one of their own choosing. We had several golf shot challenges, a rodeo robot, and even a very fine dance performed. The creativity and ingenuity showed here was trumped only by the persistence in seeing their ideas brought to life.

The afternoon group had a completely different set of challenges. Since this group is a little older, they got to decide as a group what the theme for their robots and challenges should be. After going through many ideas, like a relay race, sumo wrestling, construction site, and a robot dance party (dancing was very popular), the group eventually decided on Robot Olympics as our theme. Each builder came up with their own design for a robotic event, then designed and programmed the robots from scratch. The results were extremely cool. We had a bipedal discus throwing robot next to a quadrupedal cat robot that lit up our Olympic torch.

 

There was a soccer kicking robot and a hockey shooting bot. We even had a fishing robot that used magnets to catch the illusive paper-clipped mouth bass. The horseback riding robot required some very challenging programming to get both horizontal and lateral movement to mimic a horse. Not only were the parents impressed, I'm pretty sure that the kids impressed themselves.

Overall, it was another great session of robot building and programming that reinforced the idea that kids can make some amazing things with the right tools and an engineer's outlook.

Meet the Makers!

This last Saturday we hosted a special event for our young inventors, a Meet the Makers session. We like to to invite local scientists, designers, engineers, and artists who make to come in and share some of their creative energy with us. This week during our break between the morning and afternoon sessions we invited students and families from both sessions to join us and learn from Jerry Belich and George Werl.



George demonstrated for us the principles of Chromatic Electricity. He also demonstrated the importance of being able to show off your project. As a practiced magician George enjoys the flourish of a good presentation.

George has been a long-time friend of The Bakken, and is one of our longest running mentors for the Inventors Club. He has a background as an electrical engineer, primarily working on telecommunication equipment.

In this video, George shows how each colored light bulb is controlled by the switch of the same color. The really interesting thing though is that each switch controls the light bulb regardless of what socket the light bulb is in, even when you take the light bulb out of one socket and plug it into another one.


Jerry shared his Choosatron, an interactive fiction machine. He talked about the iterative design process, and the value of trying different things out and finding ways to improve your design. He brought some of the older versions of the Choosatron, and showed us how the project has evolved over time.

Since the older students have been learning how to use Arduinos, Jerry was kind enough to stick around with the afternoon group and get into some of the more technical details of how the Choosatron hardware and software work.

Jerry is an interactive storyteller, theremin player, inventor, and developer for Clockwork Active Media here in Minneapolis.  He just recently completed a successful kickstarter campaign for his invention.
 

Jerry will be back at The Bakken on November 9th during the Free Second Saturday to share the awesomeness that is his Choosatron with more people.  It is pretty neat, so you should come check it out.

Inventors Club - Oct 30, 2013

Students demonstrating some solutions to a design problem.

Fall Inventors Club is underway, and we’ve been having a lot of fun getting back into our school year programs.  We have a full compliment of students this season, and already their creativity and enthusiasm is showing through.  Both the AM and PM groups have had activities these last two weeks to sharpen their making skills, and prepare them for building their own unique creation.

Can you draw the structure so that your partner can rebuild it?

We started by getting some practice with technical drawings, so we can be better equipped to communicate our plans to others.

One self-propelled physics cart.

The morning group also had some time to explore the materials and tools of the workshop.  They took simple carts with wheels, and devised their own unique ways to make them move without being pushed.  They’re now on track to being experts at hacking everyday objects to bend them to their will.

Student-built circuit with scrolling LEDs.

The afternoon students all got to learn how to use Arduino microcontrollers to control a string of LEDs, and even how to add user input to change the way they turn on and off.  This was the start of a 3-session plan to develop confidence in programming microcontrollers in order to expand the possibilities for our projects.

Now we’re ready to move on to the students making their own personal projects.  The volunteer mentors are all geared up and ready to help however they’re needed, and in four weeks we should have some impressive creations to show off.

Students work with mentors to bring their ideas to life.

Lego Robotics - Oct. 26, 2013

Marking out distances for a golf-shot.

We're three weeks into the the fall 2013 Lego Robotics workshop and things are getting animated! Both classes have successfully advanced passed the basic programming phase and are advancing onto some really exciting projects.

In the morning session, the group has started working on their own original programs that they will create and demonstrate. They have also been given the challenge of a maze that they will have figure out how to program their robots through to land on a pressure-switch that they made themselves.

The older kids in the afternoon session decided on their group theme this week (it's a surprise) and have started building designing and building original robots around that theme. They will then have to test, refine and program their robots while figuring out the best way to present them for the big show.

Speaking of the Big Show, it's in two weeks! Information will be available at the next session on Saturday.

Collaborating on their maze program.

One programs while the other tweaks the robot - very efficient.

Wouldn't it be cool if...

you could engineer a better world?

Here is a video featuring one of my favorite engineer/innovators Saul Griffith. He has comes up with many unique and interesting projects, inflatable robotics is one of my favorite. This video reminds me of how much impact inventors and engineers can have on the world. Nearly everything we interact with daily has been touched by an designer or engineer. From your water bottle you drink from, to the automobile to ride in, to the power grid delivering electricity to your home. Engineers have the skills to take things from an idea to reality.

Here at The Bakken museum we work with kids who might become engineers that change the world. We try to help them to develop their skills and abilities so they are only limited by their imagination.

See you in the workshop!

They're Here!

The order arrived. I have an Arduino, cables, and some basic parts waiting for you. Those of you on the Passport owe $35 for the the board and cables. I made up bags of basic parts. You are welcome to take them and use them over the next couple of weeks, or if you want to start your own home workshop and want to build up some basic supplies it can be yours to keep for just $10. We are meeting on Saturday from 1-3pm, otherwise let me know when you can come in to collect your board.

Microcontroller Experiment Group is happening!!!

It's Alive!!!

The wheels are turning and balls are rollings, the Microcontroller Experiment Group is going to be a reality. I have confirmed with three students, who are planning on attending Saturday, so we are going for it.

I have ordered some Arduino boards and cables from Sparkfun. Hopefully they will arrive by Saturday, but if not we will play with Basic Stamp boards and the 2 Arduino boards I already have.

The Plan for Saturday 1/8

• Introduction to programming.
• Work through some tutorials (I like this one at Adafruit.)
• Challenge: Timer

Using a 7 segment display to make a countdown timer that starts displaying 9 and when a button is pressed, counts down to zero.

What you need to do before 1pm Saturday January 8th:

• Get your Passport - purchase a single just for Saturday, or get a 3 or 6 pack for the next couple of weeks. (You can do this Saturday when you arrive.)
• Check in with the front desk on Saturday @ 1:00pm
• If you plan on coming every week, sign up for the Inventor's Club.

(If you sign up for Inventor's Club we will include the price of the board, no additional cost to you, if you get the Passport the materials cost will be ~$40. I will know exactly when we get the invoice.)

Any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

email: spencer@thebakken.org or phone: 612-926-3878

This is going to be awesome!

-Justin

Open Workshop Tonight

Tonight is the last chance to come in and work on your projects before the our last day, this Saturday.

If you want some extra time swing by anytime between 4 pm and 7 pm this evening. It's free for any and all students currently enrolled in the program and only $10 if you are not. I hope to see you there.

Earl Bakken Science Program - Day 4 - Make It

Our inventors are hard at working on there projects. Check out some of their project in the works.