1/20/2013 - Front Door/Entrance way.

Main Ops sign on building: Josh measured and had a new filler piece created. Needs a piece of acrylic lasercut (makerworks or i3?) and vinyl or paint applied to make the sing Needs: Lasercutting, vinyl/paint, mount.

Member Projects

Backyard Brains Projects

LED Neural Encoder

We are trying to build a DIY device to convert an analog spike or muscle activity signal into an LED bar graph so students can easily see the amount of activity and quantify it. We have some prototype boards. But we still need some help. Let me know if you are interested in helping! Contact: Greg Gage

LED Neural Encoder

Bluetooth RoboRoach

If you are not familiar with the RoboRoach, it is the world's first commercially available cyborg (half machine - half cockroach). And it was made right here in Ann Arbor. We used to hack a HexBug to make this work, but recently updated this to use a Bluetooth Chip. It worked, but its too fancy. It's Bluetooth 4.0, which only works on the iPhone 4s. We want to make a Bluetooth 2.1 version using the Arduino, or some other PIC. Want to help? Contact: Greg Gage

DIY SMT Soldering Oven

We want to use a toaster oven, an Arduino, and a temperature sensor to allow us to do Reflow Soldering. Reflow soldering is a process in which a solder paste (a sticky mixture of powdered solder and flux) is used to tack down tiny chips. Once heated up, the solder paste melts and creates an electrical connection between the chip and the pads. This invention would be really useful for hackerscpaces around the world.
Contact: Greg Gage

Big 3D Printer

This will be a longer-term project involving the construction of a Rostock delta-like 3D printer; should give us a lot more speed and precision, along with a much larger printing area, and it should be easier to maintain if something breaks. We've got most of the parts on order. Get in contact with one of the folks below if you would like to help!