So, we did a lot of talking over the Christmas break about programming. It’s a big area, right? Maybe a little overwhelming. You can do so much with programming skills and apply it to so many different kinds of projects. There are a ton of resources for learning online and a ton of approaches to […]
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Guess Who Had Fun At Maker Faire Rocklin 2015
We finally had an opportunity to attend our first Maker Faire last weekend. Maker Faire Rocklin held at Sierra College was close enough for us to make the trip. This was the first Maker Faire in the Sacramento area and it did not disappoint. As we walked into the faire, we watched a multi-person bicycle […]
We Made Our First LED Cube!
Over the summer, we bought a bunch of project kits from our local Radio Shack because it was closing. One of these kits was a 3D LED Cube Kit and it has been our first big soldering project. Well, we thought is was pretty big. Alex managed to burn himself on the soldering iron pretty […]
Exploring Circuits With Minecraft
Do you know any builders who play Minecraft? Mine do. A lot… Honestly, one of the reasons we’re spending the summer vacation building things is to get them doing more than just screen time. But that doesn’t mean I have no appreciation for the cube-oriented game. In fact, I thought we could get our summer […]
Need to understand those cool circuit diagrams?
Taking a look at the next robot we want to tackle brought up a nice learning opportunity. The project we decided to build has a nice circuit diagram to explain how it all goes together. Not surprisingly, this didn’t mean much to Alex. So, I explained how the diagram can be used to flatten out […]
The first project, our take on the bristlebot
So, the first thing we decided to try was a simple project to make bristlebots from toothbrush heads like this from EvilMadScientist.com. It’s simple, doesn’t require a bunch of materials, and is pretty quick to do. It got a little more complicated than that, but not too much, really. Instead of using a toothbrush head […]
Full of ideas. Where to begin?
We’ve got the best of intentions to learn new things and have a blast making stuff. So, where do we begin? We want to build amazingly cool robots that do wicked awesome stuff, but that’s just not realistic. He’s eleven years old and, even though I am a capable programmer, I work in marketing. We […]
What kind of summer are you having?
Have you got kids home for summer vacation right about now? I know I do and they would likely be satisfied spending the next couple of months sprawled around the family room with television and tablets to occupy their eyeballs. But that wouldn’t be good parenting, now would it? What do responsible parents do? Maybe […]