Beatty Robotics Builds NYSCI’s Next Generation Rover

The Mars Rover is constructed of over 500 electrical components and aluminum parts that we purchase, make by hand, and/or machine on our homemade CNC Mill. In addition to the NASA-style six-wheeled rocker-bogie suspension system and the solar panels, the new Mars Rover is equipped with an infrared camera, a thermal array sensor, eight sonar sensors, and other technology. Using special control software that we will provide, kids and other visitors to the center will drive the Mars Rover remotely through the exhibit’s Mars-scape on a mission to find infrared-emitting rocks that may provide evidence of past life on Mars.

106 Days to Maker Faire New York —- Call for Makers NOW OPEN!

We’re looking for a few hundred makers. Are you one of them? Save the Date and start working on your projects (if you haven’t already…) Maker Faire New York is right around the corner and as of this morning, the Call for Makers is open. 

Step one for participating is to submit an entry so we can learn about you and your project. Here’s just a sampling of what makes for a great Maker Faire exhibit:

• Student Projects
• Robotics
• Music Performance and Participation
• 3D Printers and CNC Mills
• Textile Arts and Crafts
• Home Energy Monitoring
• Rockets and RC Toys
• Sustainability
• Green Tech
• Radios, Vintage Computers and Game Systems
• Electronics
• Electric Vehicles
• Biology/Biotech and Chemistry Projects
• Food and Beverage Makers
• Robotics
• Puppets
• Kites
• Bicycles
• Shelter (Tents, Domes, etc.)
• Unusual Tools or Machines
• How to Fix Things or Take them Apart (Vacuums, Clocks, Washing Machines, etc.

Not planning a project but still can’t wait for Maker Faire New York? Standby. Tickets go on sale soon and we’ll be warming up all summer with community gatherings, Maker Weekends at NYSCI and more.

Making Space for STEM

Move over textbooks. Step aside complicated instruction sheets. On Monday, an unusual space opens that will teach kids and adults how to create and build circuits, metalworks, quilts, crafts, robots, and most importantly, that wacky, out-there project that you were told could never be built.

Maker Space is a new area at NYSCI that is made possible thanks to an investment by Cognizant’s Making the Future education initiative. The space, designed by the Brooklyn-based firm Situ Studio, will feature workshops on topics like sewing, soldering, and programming using open-source hardware. But the real skills being honed will be collaboration, risk-taking, creativity and innovation. These are skills that are necessary for careers in STEM. And skills that will help prepare the next generation of leaders.

“Curiosity, creativity and collaboration all come together in the activities we have planned for this space…” said Margaret Honey, president and CEO of NYSCI. “The network of collaborators that will work with us in this new venue represent an inspiring pool of talent to give our visitors  – especially young children – the tools they need to nurture the innate human tendency to be creative and see the world differently.”

Beginning in May, visitors to NYSCI can participate in workshops and drop-in sessions at the space. Topics will vary but will include sessions on the basics of soldering, sewing (using machines and equipment donated by SINGER^® Sewing Company), and circuitry.

So forget your old notions of what you can and can’t accomplish. At Maker Space, there’s room for all your ideas, but there’s no space for limitations.

With a Little Help From Technology

With a little help from technology, people can see better, run faster, and do things more efficiently. NYSCI is currently working on an exhibition that will explore the user-focused engineering process that’s used to design products that enhance people’s abilities, from sneakers to eyeglasses, to wheelchairs and prosthetics. The exhibition, called Human+ (“Human Plus”), is a collaboration with the Quality of Life Technology Center (QoLT) and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). The end user figures prominently in building assisted technology products, so engineers have to consider the user at every stage of design. It is this process of asking, imagining, creating and testing that the exhibition will investigate.

Human+ won’t open until 2013, but NYSCI staff are already hard at work identifying projects to test with visitors. Working with a group of advisors that includes academics, engineers, and people with disabilities, NYSCI staff are searching for stories and projects that will capture the attention of museum visitors. A “soft-touch” robotic arm, a wheelchair with a snowplow attached, and prosthetic legs designed for running are some of the projects under consideration.

The exhibition’s main messages will include:

• Engineering is a creative process that can design technologies to meet human needs and improve people’s lives.
• Everyone can design something that helps people use their abilities to achieve their goals.
• Users should be central to the design process.
• Whether it’s sneakers or eyeglasses, or wheelchairs or prosthetics, everyone uses technology to accomplish things.

Opening in fall 2013 at NYSCI, Human+ will include examples of assisted technology projects, narratives from people with disabilities about how they have modified or designed technology to help them reach their goals, and stations where visitors can design and build products of their own.