Physical computing hardware acquired; lab is taking shape!
Today we received a big box of hardware from Sparkfun including a few Arduinos, prototyping hardware and wearable computing parts (Lilypad kits). Oddly they arrived just a few minutes after I asked about when the shipment might arrive. Now I’m not saying these parts are magical….but they kind of are. After the jump you can check out a full list of the parts we received, if you’re interested. Also in a matter of minutes we ordered a lockable mobile cabinet to store all these parts (and the hardware to come) and move them around campus for workshops and demonstrations. If you’d come up with an idea of something you’d like to create using these parts or just want to learn more please send me an e-mail, comment on this post or talk with the department (CSIS) we’ll get started: these parts are here to be used!
Over the next few days I am going to be unboxing, organizing and assembling the items into discrete kits and creating a physical inventory book that students can use to check out the various kits and see who has what. Even though we’ll be storing all these materials in a new moving cabinet I will also be spending some time in the next couple days to organize and scavenge materials from one of the over-stuffed CSIS file cabinets. The cabinet in question is just full of random cables, obsolete hardware and things that just have no life left in them; many of which can be recycled for fun robot workshops for the lab!
This week we will be expecting the remaining materials for the lab such as a few laptops, projectors, webcams and an electronics toolkit. So again, if at any point you have any ideas for projects or see something in the inventory that you find especially interesting please contact me and I’ll get you set up!