Robot Fest 2010 has come and gone. Some of the many interesting exhibits this year included the pneumatic rocket experience provided by the Baltimore Node, the many Lego Mindstorms projects, Maker Bot demonstrations, various art demonstrations, and a fashion show.

Make coverage and more pics here.

We’d like to thank everyone that stopped by our exhibit to view the Oobleck demonstration, PIC micro-controller LED arrays, the hand-powered Arduino random movie quote generator, build some cardboard robots, or just hang out and talk electronics. We had a great time and we hope to see everyone next year. Our next event will be at ArtScape in Baltimore. In the meantime, feel free to come by and do some hacking on one of our open hack nights.

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It’s come to my attention that everyone may not be aware of the upcoming events.  So I thought I’d post about them.   They are however posted on the calendar to the right for future reference!  We hope to see you at the these events!

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I know I’m bad with these photo updates. Mostly because I am having too much fun at the Hackerspace that I just forget to take photos. I took a lot more photos than these but it turns out that my flash card was bad and my camera never let me know. I’ll try to recover those images later.

So, last week we finished building the Y axis for our CNC project and we talked about launching a payload into near space. Before that we built a Corstarch Monster for Electronica Fest and we were messing with some PIC kits (microncontrollers) using speakers and LCDs as outputs. Now that I have a new phone which actually takes decent photos (the above were taken with my Palm Pre) I will probably be able to share more of our hackerspace with those of you who don’t like to leave your computer chair.

We are really starting to look like a team now. Last night we built the base for the CNC Machine and accurately measured and drilled the holes for our linear bearings. I’m am happy to say we got the bearings marked and drilled correctly the first time. Here are some more photos of the progress.

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In April we were at RobotFest demonstrating Chris Cockrums CNC Machine. At our last meeting we decided that we would build one as a group which meets the needs of our members. Future projects ideas included etching circuit boards and milling knife handles and guitar necks.

Last Thursday we met in superfro’s garage where we gathered our tools and spare parts and started getting organized. You can find more details about the project on wiki.harfordhackerspace.org or www.harfordhackerspace.org/forum under the Projects section. Since I know everyone loves photos here are a few snap shots from Thursdays meeting.

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I took the family to see the FIRST High School robotics competition at the Washington, DC Convention Center. My brother in-law held 2nd place throughout the competition with his 007 “Thunderbot” but was later eliminated in the alliance competition rounds. Check it out!