Dorkbot Bristol and Bristol Hackspace share may links. Support from ‘BotLab’ the company that runs Bristol Hackspace and made the ‘Draw’ project possible for Dorkbot is one of them.
Come along to the BotLab AGM on Thursday 16th Feb to find out more about what BotLab does and what it can do for the creative technology community in Bristol. Best of all you can help shape it. A new cooperative constitution will be adopted at the meeting. You can become a voting member at the meeting to both stand and vote for a new board of directors for the company.
The AGM will be held in the Hackspace at BV studios in Bedminster, doors open at 7.00pm for a 7.30pm start.
The aim is for the business of the meeting to be prompt. Refreshments will be provided to celebrate the occasion for those who want to stay and chat and/or hack.
A fuller account for the agenda of the meeting can be fount on the Hackspace Wiki at the following address:
http://bristol.hackspace.org.uk/wiki/doku.php/agm_16_02_2012_and_adoption_of_new_botlab_constitution
From Thursday the 15th to Sunday the 18th the hackspace members took over the gallery space in BV Studios, exhibiting a variety of projects old and new.
Bristol Hackspace welcomed Carolyn Hassan, Russell Knights and Dane Watkins from the Knowle West Media Centre and Jeff Lucas and Jasmine O’Shaughnessy from the Bristol Civic Society.
KWMC are running the “Whose Data?” project with the aim of showing how data collected locally can influence the decisions made by people in the locality and the wider community. The archetypal project is the Electric Footprint project led by Dane which used energy monitors to help residents understand how electricity was being used in their homes. Other data sources of interest include environmental data (weather, air quality, pollen counts), ecological data (wildlife sightings, production in allotments), social and family histories and health (food consumption, exercise and emotional states).
Last week, 8 artists worked at the centre and presented proposals of which 4 will chosen for longer residences. There are possibilities for collaboration with the selected artists when they are in residence and more generally, KWMC are open to suggestions for new projects within this umbrella project.
The Bristol Civic Society is planning a day of events on the 25th June and is looking for partners in bring the event to life via real-time location-aware data streams from mobile phones to be visualised on the web and in the main event location at the “Bear Pit” (Evening Post
June 19, 2010, October 26, 2010)
Elsewhere in the Hackspace, a quadracopter was undergoing flight testing, high energy LEDs lit up another corner and project ideas bubbled away. A great evening.
We had another busy night at the Hackspace this week, with lots of electronic projects going on. Somebody brought along a Trio oscilloscope with a recalcitrant timebase and a number of switches that nobody had ever seen before. We built a simple 555-based PWM motor controller using parts that we had in stock, and discovered that it really didn’t want to work at 3V, even though the schematic said it should. A few people were tinkering with Arduinos, and a few others had lego NXT robots.
So, if you’ve got an interest in electronics, or just want to find out more, do come along to next week’s Thursday evening get-together! Just turn up, any time after about 7pm, at the hackspace in BV Studios, Bedminster.
Arduinos are a cheap and easy way to create amazing things with microprocessors. The documentation is good, development tools great and there’s acres of sample code, tutorials and advice out there – more than enough and its easy to get lost. So it’s good to talk to other programmers face-to-face.
At Bristol Hackspace on Thursday evenings there’s a lively bunch of beginners and experts happy to swap advice and ideas. Currently underway are projects with multi-coloured LEDs, LED arrays , a quadacopter and a radio-controlled clock. Come and check us out this Thursday evening.
In January 2011, Bristol Hackspace moved from Hamilton house to BV Studios in Bedminster.
Studio G11
BV Studios
37 Philip Street
Bedminster
Bristol
BS3 4EA
The hackspace is on the corner of Phillip Street and Stillhouse Lane. Here we are on Google Maps. If you’re looking on Street View, the building has been refurbished . We have large windows and a side door onto the lane.
Meetings are every Thursday night from 7.00 pm onwards and are open to all hackers.
Another free workshop on tonight, from 7pm, in 100 Stokes Croft. We are making drawdios and bristlebots.
We are holding Hackspace sessions every Thursday evening at 7pm at 100 Stokes Croft. This Thursday it is bristlebots for the Drawbot project.
The Drawbot project is a Dorkbot Bristol project enabled by the empty shops scheme. We have rented 100 Stokes Croft from 1st of November till the 17th of December. We open the shop on Saturdays from noon till about 6pm to the general public. Currently we have drawing robots, restored pen plotters, sub-woofer drawing, lasers! and much more. Have a browse through the flickr pool and Richard’s pics to get an idea.
To put the Hackspace on a firmer financial footing (i.e. to ensure that we can continue to pay the rent) we are aiming to get twenty new members by the end of the month. If we reach that target I will personally make an interest free loan to the Hackspace to buy a second generation RepRap printer, Mendel.
What does it cost? £10 pcm. What do you get for the money? You get to support a worthwhile project which encourages an open spirit of enquiry around technology and the arts, you get access to a space with tools for tinkering with electronics, you get advance booking and discounts on our public courses, discounts on kit from partners such as XMOS and you get to meet other interesting hackers. What a bargain!
Don’t forget that when you sign up as a member you will get a discount code for half price tickets to the Mitch Altman workshop on Sat 27 Mar 2010.
Lastly, if you just want to make a one off contribution to the costs of running the space you can make a donation:
