Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

nbizzell — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 14:22:04 GMT

Building a robot is a great project for kids and raspberry pi and the CamJam team have made it easy with their robotics kit:

https://thepihut.com/products/camjam-edukit-3-robotics

But if that is a stretch too far the codebug makes a great tool for starting out Build a virtual pet with CodeBug

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

gregoryfenton — Wed, 22 Jun 2016 13:39:28 GMT

As a visitor to this year's Maker Faire UK I was lucky enough to see the Pik3a and I would definitely love to build one with the help of my son.

It'll have to wait for a while, he broke his arm recently.

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

spannerspencer — Mon, 20 Jun 2016 08:35:28 GMT

It seems a little obvious, but I'd have to go with the PIK3A: The Raspberry Pi 3 IKEA Retro Gaming Table as a project to do with the kids. The gaming angle is such a powerful motivator for the young 'uns!

That being said, Chore Wars is a pretty solid way to gamify the mundane and tedious for kids! Opening an account there and getting them involved from the start - such as setting up characters and developing a great storyline - could offer a lot more than just motivating them to tidy up. This could be the beginnings of a game design, writing, artistic or other creative career path.

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

bobpombrio — Sun, 19 Jun 2016 22:45:56 GMT

How about a punishment seat that shocks the littler buggers when they sit down. (yes yes I have a twisted mind)

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

COMPACT — Sun, 19 Jun 2016 04:48:19 GMT

An excellent project would be a remote control usage tracker.

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

clem57 — Sun, 19 Jun 2016 03:05:49 GMT

My son’s favourite video game was Mega man from Capcom. Since I was teaching Microsoft windows, I tried to get him interested. But his interested lie in this game. Later he got a job as a computer operator and decided to major in Computer Science. We will see how that goes.

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

jkutzsch — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 18:08:36 GMT

The CodeBug is a great way I believe to get my daughters intrigued with the basics of coding and electronics. The Micro:Bits look really intriguing and will be something I try out once they become available for this side of the world.

I had been hoping working with the Raspberry Pi and it's Minecraft implementation would intrigue the kids but it seems the downside of having Minecraft on Computer, android and xbox makes the smaller implementation less appealing.

So far one daughter has been working with Scratch jr on her tablet and I think is ready to jump farther into actual working with hardware as well.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.scratchjr.android&hl=en

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

the-dubster — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 16:32:26 GMT

If I were in the blessed position to have children then I think the Bare Conductive range would be a great introduction, a nice link between an artistic side and electronics.

Maybe start with something fun like the Glowhouse kit, a nice construction that you could use for a nice winter village around Christmastime!

Maybe I'll just buy it for myself. [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-ea78414b-e0df-4b96-b06a-fa1fbad50bd0/contentimage_5F00_734.png:16:16]

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

mcb1 — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 01:22:20 GMT

I have to be careful about how much I pass onto my son.

He seems to know more than me in many areas already.

The next project I sugest is an intelligent Night Light.

We live in the country and I find the commercial ones are too bright while they are sitting there.

The lamps cost more than the complete item, which is rather wasteful, and sadly they don't last very long especially if knocked.

Hence an arduino, PIR and the neopixel were combined to make something that glowed red until triggered and then slowly ramped up in brightness.

To make sure you know it's working the cycling of a single 'pixel' just as per the Parking Sensor.

When I have some time I might need to do a blog.

Mark

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

balearicdynamics — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 19:05:02 GMT

The big status bar.

Where is mom?

Dad, are you in the shed?

Can go out to play with my friend?

and again ...

Remember to drive Jenny to the B.day of her best friend at 4 pm

Tomorrow no home

Jack says ...

Missed calls

Where is my mobile?

and so on.

How many simple yet time-consuming things in a house happens? And how many of these can be avoided or simplified it a small alarm and a big status bar (maybe 1 m wide x 30 cm height) with a scrolling LED matrix or old laptop screens or something else can be helpful in the most visible point of the house? The bar is controlled by a PI, or a BBB and through the WiFi sensors here and there keep updated continuously the status bar, scroll important text, notify alarms, and many other things.

And I think this is also really feasable.

Enrico

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

DAB — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 18:55:45 GMT

If you are just pounding nails, just about anything can be a hammer, but do not expect to get bolts or screws loose.

Except maybe those between your ears when you hit yourself with the hammer. [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-ea78414b-e0df-4b96-b06a-fa1fbad50bd0/contentimage_5F00_938.png:16:16]

While anyone can do the job with the right tools, it takes innovation and creative thinking to still get the job done with what you have, even if it is just a hammer.

MacIver still lives.

DAB

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

Robert Peter Oakes — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 15:35:08 GMT

My Daughter wants to get into making things like Fashion Jewelry out of wood etc. and as I had a CNC we are working together to add a 4th Axis rather than buy a lathe

[View:/resized-image/__size/620x465/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-ea78414b-e0df-4b96-b06a-fa1fbad50bd0/6763.contentimage_5F00_181678.jpg:620:465]

Now she is learning 3D modeling and all about how to run a CNC and what is GCode [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-ea78414b-e0df-4b96-b06a-fa1fbad50bd0/3618.contentimage_5F00_1.png:16:16]

This image is not one of mine but it does show a 4th axis in operation

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

srpsco — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 15:34:28 GMT

Kids love the sound of their own voice so voice changers can be fun. You can also make led christmas trees as gifts for the family.

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

Instructorman — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 15:29:58 GMT

My kids are pretty much grown up; one just graduated with a masters degree in political science, the other just graduated with a bachelor's degree in biological science. However, both have shown some interest in learning more about electronics and in making things, probably because they were exposed to that environment at home for a couple of decades straight.

For my son, I'd like to work on automating his old Jeep Power Wheels car, which I have stored in the garage for 20 years.

I have some experience developing autonomous robots, and my son used to compete in the FIRST Lego League robotics challenge, so making his old Jeep Power Wheels autonomous would allow for some nice nostalgic father-son time.

[View:/resized-image/__size/235x215/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-ea78414b-e0df-4b96-b06a-fa1fbad50bd0/contentimage_5F00_181677.png:235:215]

My daughter is planning to get into a masters degree program in biomedical engineering, so to inspire her, I'd like to work on some sort of cyber-interface, something like [mention:20de3d39ce8d4f81acb3a7a4693cbeac:e9ed411860ed4f2ba0265705b8793d05]'s brain wave appliance controller: Smarter Life.

RE: Father's Day Badge-a-Thon: The Maker

pettitda — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 14:38:40 GMT

Star Wars is big in my house, so it would have to be a LED light saber!