Popular Science (PopSci) is joining in the hack- and make-a-thon Red Bull Creation fun next week, as the LI4E Makerspace team joins in with 11 other teams from around the country in a 72-hour finals competition, running July 19-22. PopSci will be co-hosting the livestreamed event as it happens.
Click the pic below to learn more about the “Bullduino” being used in the competition works. Go LI4E Makerspace Team!!
Planning out the Red Bull Creation entry
They did it! Learning is for Everyone’s LI4E Makerspace Project team will be representing Tampa Bay, Florida and Learning is for Everyone as a finalist in the 2012 Red Bull Creation Contest. Provided only with an arduino open source microcontroller – called a Bullduino, in Red Bull’s honor – teams from around the country put together a device of their choosing to try to impress judges with their creativity and engineering skills.
That was easy!
The LI4E Makerspace team created a Rube Goldberg-esque Red Bull Wake-Up Call alarm clock, and entered a video of their contraption into the competition on July 3. The clock, in their words, is “an over-engineered beauty .. ” Apparently Red Bull agreed!
The Red Bull launcher
Red Bull Creation judges selected the LI4E Makerspace team and 11 other teams from around the country as finalists, who will now compete in a 72 themed build that kicks off July 19. After a public voting period, top scoring teams get to take their creations the World Maker Faire 2012 in New York, in September. Besides getting to showcase their creations, Red Bull Creation finalists will be vying for a top prize of $10,000.
LI4E Makerspace and Team Duct Tape members, with mentor Paul Markun, of Tampa Technik.
The LI4E Makerspace Project is an effort by Learning is for Everyone (LI4E) to bring community makerspaces to Tampa Bay. The LI4E Makerspace team is an intergenerational, multi-talented crew of youth and adults, who are students, writers, artists, programmers, engineers, craftspeople and all-purpose tinkerers – a cross section of the community that would value and use a makerspace. Many of the team members are also members of LI4E’s award winning FIRST Tech Challenge team, Team Duct Tape, recently returned from competing in the FIRST World Championship in St. Louis, MO.
LI4E’s motto is “No Limits!” and the Red Bull Creation team exemplifies that no-holds-barred creativity in all they do. More information about the LI4E Makerspace team can be found here .
Congratulations, LI4E Makerspace Team! We’ll be following closely next week,and fully expect to see one or both of their creations at Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire 2012!
Posted in Artists, Contests, Craftspeople, DIY, DIY Fun, Makerspace, Mini Maker Faire, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, Young Makers
Tagged Learning is for Everyone, LI4E Makerspace Project, LI4E Makerspace team, Makerspace, Red Bull Creation Contest, Red Bull Wake Up Call, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, Team Duct Tape, Young Makers
The LI4E Makerspace Project is an effort by Learning is for Everyone, the lead sponsor of Tampa Bay’s first ever Mini Maker Faire, to bring makerspaces to Tampa Bay . Not waiting for makerspace to start making things, team members are hard at work and play in 2012 Red Bull Creation Contest , armed with a “Bullduino” and loads of creativity, hoping to make it into the top 12 makers or maker teams, who get to compete in a 72-hour build starting July 19.
After a public voting period, top scoring teams get to take their creations the
Getting a few supplies for the Red Bull Creation project.
World Maker Faire 2012, in September. Besides getting to showcase their maker awesomeness, and hang with other great techies and artists, Red Bull Creation contestants will be vying for the top prize of $10,000 - pretty decent seed money for a Makerspace!
Working with a few things the LI4E Makerspace Project team found in the garage.
You can follow along the LI4E Makerspace Project team’s adventure on their Facebook page . And check back here soon to see a video of their creation!
GO TEAM!
On June 25, 2012 a Maker Space – a community space to “create, tinker, play anad collaborate” – will begin to operate in the Westport Library in CT, joining the growing number of libraries reimagining themselves as makerspaces. From June 25th to August 23rd Joseph Schott will be our first Maker-in-Residence. Patrons can participate in assisting with the creation of two model airplanes that will ultimately be suspended in the Great Hall of the Library. How about it Tampa Bay? Interested in collaborating on similar spaces here? Check out the LI4E Makerspace Project.
Posted in Craftspeople, DIY, DIY Fun, Makers, Makerspace
Tagged Joseph Schott, LI4E Makerspace Project, Makerspace, Wesport Library makerspace
Check out our Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire Photo Album!
Posted in Artists, Craftspeople, DIY, DIY Fun, Entrepreneurs, Florida Inventors, Food Trucks, Hobbysts, Inventions, Makers, Makerspace, Mini Maker Faire, Music, New technology, Radio, Robotics, ROV, Sponsors, Tampa Bay inventors, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, Young Makers
Tagged CyberCraft Robots, Dex Imaging, Electrathon of Tampa Bay, electronic music, Elizabeth Baker, FIRST robotics, Florida Inventors, inventors, MAKE, Makerspace, MATE, Mini Maker Faires, Nancy Tedeschi, NetBot, new technology, Snapit Screw, Suitcases of Sound, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire Food Truck Rally, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire pictures, Tampa inventors, TBMMF Sponsors, Team Duct Tape
Our inaugural Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire 2012 was a resounding success, with over 300 people enjoying over 20 Maker exhibits indoors and out – at least until some torrential Florida spring rains came, driving everyone indoors – where the party continued right up until closing time!
There were robots to drive, custom chess pieces to make, duct tape and paper 
crafts to create, patent searches to, cool inventors to talk with, 3D printers to marvel at, great art, great food, and great people to share it all with!
Many, many thanks to all the great volunteers who helped make our event so successful, from the great FTC Team Duct Tape family that staffed our registration table all day to the wonderful University Area Community Development Corporation volunteers who helped guests and Makers and aided in the smooth and swift movement of Makers from the patio to the gym when the skies opened up. It all went so smoothly, no one missed a beat in activities or fun!
We’ll share more photos and stories soon. And you can find more on our Facebook page, too.
Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire 2012 totally made our day!!
Posted in Artists, Craftspeople, DIY, DIY Fun, Entrepreneurs, Florida Inventors, Food Trucks, Hobbysts, Inventions, Make, Makers, Makerspace, Mini Maker Faire, Music, Robotics, ROV, Sponsors, Tampa Bay inventors, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, Young Makers
Tagged Florida Inventors, inventors, MAKE, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire Food Truck Rally, Tampa inventors, TBMMF Sponsors
Adding another gem to the Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire crown of wonderful Makers, is GWIZ Science Museum’s Faulhaber Fab Lab!
Fab Lab Foreman , Eric McGrath, will also be joining in our Makerspace Unconference at our event.
Thanks for joining us GWIZ!
Posted in DIY, DIY Fun, Makers, Makerspace, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire
Tagged Fab Lab, GWIZ Science Museum, Makerspace, Makerspace Unconference
Learning is for Everyone, the lead organizer of Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, recently met with University Area Community Center Complex directors, Tampa Freeskool, and Forward Thinking Initiatives, for a Skype meeting with James Carlson, of SchoolFactory.org, an organization that assists in the development of community makerspaces. We’re confident our collaborative efforts will result in the creation of at least one big public makerspace in the Tampa Bay area, and hopefully several!
The makerspace movement is growing nationwide, but it’s a relatively new concept for Tampa Bay. James Carlson’s BucketWorks in Milwaukee is a great example of the community building power of a makerspace. The Mt. Elliott Makerspace in Detroit is another. The Mt. Elliot folks recently created this video titled “What Is the Mt. Elliott Makerspace?” that captures the spirit and power of makerspace awesomeness!
If you’d like to see great public spaces like this in our area, join in our Makerspace Unconference, which will be held during our Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire on March 31. Check back regularly for the event agenda to see what time we’ll hold our informal informational gathering, so you can share your voice and vision about what you’d like to see in your own Tampa Bay Makerspace!
Posted in Craftspeople, DIY, DIY Fun, Entrepreneurs, Makers, Makerspace, Mini Maker Faire, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, Young Makers
Tagged Bucketworks, Forward Thinking Initiatives, James Carlson, Makerspace, Mt. Elliott Makerspace, Schoolfactory.org, Tampa Bay Makerspace, Tampa Bay Makerspace Unconference, Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire, Tampa Freeskool
