ShopBot Hits The Road
Where We're Heading...
SXSW Create, Austin, March 11-13
The hardware hacking and maker arm of SXSW is at it again with more space, more fun, and even more hands-on excitement. ShopBot and the Austin TechShop will be there to talk CNC and show off the new Handibot® Smart Power Tool Adventure Edition, the DIY inventor/maker's dream machine!
Doing creative and revolutionary things with new technologies embodies the spirit of the SXSW Interactive Festival, and nowhere is this more evident than the diverse mix of activities at SX Create. From 3D printing to drones to biohacking and much more, this community event showcases the disruptive solutions that are shaping our future.
Where We've Been...
Sallye Coyle, ShopBot's Outreach Director has been traveling the globe. From Florida to Egypt!
Polk County, Florida STEM program installations
Sallye reports, "Charter schools in Polk County have added two new Fab Labs at the middle school level. In a flurry of activity, a team from TIES arrived to build the ShopBot gantry tool, unpack boxes, set up the Epilog laser cutter, Ultimaker 3D printer, and Roland vinyl cutter and mill, and sort the electronics station."
A critical part of the program is training the teachers to be comfortable with the digital fabrication tools, and this is being accomplished with the help of TIES and Sallye's efforts.
STEM Schools in Egypt
"In a joint project with Egyptian Ministry of Education, USAID, World Learning, and TIES, there are currently 5 STEM secondary schools in Egypt," notes Sallye, "with 4 more in process. Based on the Fab Academy model, each student has access to the school’s Fab Lab to works towards a Capstone project, which incorporates design thinking, the use of digital fabrication tools and electronics. ShopBot is pleased to have a presence in each of the STEM schools." Sallye was part of a Professional Development team that trained teachers. The principals and students in the schools were welcoming and excited to have the Fab Labs…and even did a little dancing on the ShopBot table!
Camp Shopbot at Florida State University
For the 3rd year in a row, the School of Theatre’s Technical Production department at FSU in Tallahassee hosted a Camp ShopBot. Their building is located off campus in a converted middle school, which also houses the Art department and Interior Design department’s Digital Fabrication studio.
Sallye Coyle and Thea Eck lead presentations on importing vectors, bitmaps and 3d files into VCarve 8.0, understanding chipload calculations, troubleshooting mechanical problems, what’s new in VCarve 8.0, an overview of Fusion 360 and more. The Handibot’s rotary indexer attachment was shown, and Sallye tackled how to set up a design in Vectric’s software in relationship to your machine’s setup, not just for the Handibot. Read Thea's blog post and see pictures at the ShopBot blog.
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