The element14 Community 2019 Year in Review - Winners Announced!

The names were selected, the votes were cast, and now the results are in! 2019 was an amazing year for element14, and as always we wanted to round up some of the highlights in our Year in Review. Thanks to all the nominees, everyone who voted, and everyone who contributed in 2019. And now, the moment you've been waiting for: it's time to announce the winners!

MEMBER OF THE YEAR - shabaz

Because our Year in Review often coincides with the Oscars, I usually want to make references to them when we work on this post. Just last night as I write this, the Best Picture award was a shocker, with Parasite becoming the first non-English language film to win the award.

In the element14 version of the Oscars, however, our biggest award was not an upset at all: our 2019 Member of the Year is shabaz! Also a winner for his work in 2016, Shabaz is the kind of member that every community wants and needs: he creates, he helps, he contributes, he does it all! It would be quite an extensive post that could contain all of his 2019 work, and this doesn't even mention his tremendous support for other members in their work, but here are some notable highlights from his 2019 on e14:

PlanetCatcher: Building a World-Band Radio Receiver

Creating your own Handheld Electronic Games – Pocket Nim

Building an LCR Meter

DIY Logic Analyzer and Protocol Tester – L.I.S.A.!

DESIGN CHALLENGE PROJECT OF THE YEAR - Art-a-Tronic, by balearicdynamics

Enrico was the winner of the PiCasso Design Challenge for his entry Art-A-Tronic, an interactive art exhibit in Gent, Belgium. We've seen some amazing work in our Design Challenges over the years, but no one has ever submitted an entire interactive exhibition!

Enrico completed "Seven of his Nine goals:" an augmented mannequin that can host Raspberry Pi Computer vision, has binaural hearing and turns to face you, and an MQTT connection to the "Borg Communication Nexus," an aptly named Cube featuring an MQTT Server. Aside from the articulating mannequin, the Communication Cube talks with a Raspberry Pi Smart Mirror and a cage full of Arduino controlled Bird Automata.

PROJECT14 DECIDER, FOUNDER, AND INFLUENCER OF THE YEAR

2019 Decider of the Year - DAB

These are the often-unsung heroes of Project14 who volunteer for the monumental task of deciding who will win our competitions. Standouts included genebren, three-phase, and fmilburn, but ultimately it was DAB who took home the trophy, for his amazing support of the program!

2019 Founder of the Year - dougw

Great things are founded on great ideas, and Project14 launched in April 2017 as a "by members, for members" program. Members help develop and vote on themes for each monthly competition, and during 2019 we've had themes chosen based on ideas from phoenixcomm, ninjatrent, fmilburn, so many others. And the member whose ideas birthed the most competitions in 2019 was none other than dougw !

2019 Influencer of the Year - dubbie

This final member award for Project14 goes to the most active member in 2019. This is the most subjective of the three categories, but we tried to remain as objective as possible! We considered how many projects people started (and finished,) how many blog posts they submitted, and how many videos submitted as well, in addition to their activities like live stream appearances and theme ideas used in competitions. And in the end we felt the winner was clear: dubbie , so congratulations to him!

PROJECT14 PROJECT OF THE YEAR - 5000W Dual Drive Electric Car, by deolee

For the 2019 Project14 Holiday Special, Deo Lee decided to modify and upgrade a 50W BMW i8 electric baby car, which originally could barely move when he sat on it, to a fast and furious 5000W dual drive electric car which can hit top speeds of 60km/h! Truly one of the most unique Project14 submissions ever, it was a testament to the ingenuity the program has brought out of our skilled and knowledgeable members.

FAVORITE ROADTEST PRODUCT OF THE YEAR - 3 Series MDO Mixed Domain Oscilloscope

We weren't that surprised when this product took first place: it's an amazing piece of test equipment that received a whopping 113 applicants. We would of course like to thank Tektronix for providing the products. It has many "WOW!" features, like a high-definition display in a compact package, built-in spectrum analyzer option for RF analysis, a wide range of available serial bus decode and trigger options, and more. Check out the reviews to see what our illustrious RoadTesters thought!

3 Series MDO Mixed Domain Oscilloscope - Review

NEW ROADTESTER OF THE YEAR - robogary

Gary joined e14 in 2018, and completed his first RoadTest in 2019. He has been a test engineer, but retired recently, now doing part-time consulting and leading the Roanoke Robotics and Makers Club for several years. He also regularly teaches classes at the local library. And in terms of RoadTest, his reviews are detailed, and when he doesn't know something he asks, and as such he helps other members get involved in the program. For his dedication, amazing output, and fantastic reviews for a first-timer, Gary Yohe is our best New RoadTester of 2019! Here are a few of his great reviews:

Raspberry Pi 3B+ Media Center Kit - Review

Arduino Engineering Kit - Review

Arm Education: Internet of Things Course - Review

ELEMENT14 PRESENTS VIDEO OF THE YEAR - Raspberry Pi 4 Experimental Resin 3D Printer, by Mayer Makes

Small resin-based 3D printers may be on the rise, but size matter sometimes, and how these printers operate does not tend to scale up well. So Clem had the idea to circumvent these technical limitations with a groundbreaking giant 4K Resin 3D printer. Utilizing 2 Raspberry Pis (a Pi 4 Model B & 3 Model B+) he set out to prove that FEP foil can be replaced with a specialized liquid, making the LCD-masking technique viable for large format 3D printers. It was a hit on the community, it was a hit on YouTube; we think he might be on to something!