Author: Dan

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FabLearn 2012 at Stanford

Stanford was beautiful and warm, the people were beautiful and warm, the food was… I think you know where this is going. I had a great time on campus listening to the informative talks and participating in strange workshops. I got a good reminder about keeping an open mind.

I had two whole minutes to talk to a room full of teachers, easily my biggest opportunity this year. How well did I do? That’s a tough call. I think what I’ve learned is that marketing in the states is not worth it for me because I can’t make an on-the-spot sale, even when people are waving their wallets at me. I just hope they visit the shop and place an order.

In any case, here’s some photos of things I saw on my trip.

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Can Drawbot hold a child’s attention?

Ben says “It is a hit! The kids love it and teachers too.” I couldn’t be more pleased. This is exactly what I’m trying to do – inspire, educate, and maybe pay my bills (in that order).

Now if only I had some lesson plans…

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Record Time for Order Fulfillment; 3D printing challenges; IndieGoGo; new pen holder; Skycam

Wow! Some days there is just too much news. I should split this into 5 separate postings but one of my news dissemination providers just changed their TOS and it means I can’t post as often as I’d like.

I’m setting new records for fastest order fulfillment! It makes me giggle. It’s almost ticklish, in a good way. Fastest order to fulfillment time is now 30 minutes, including the time it took to bike to the post office. I’ve got another one today, and that means I have only two Drawbots (or one skycam) left in stock. Better get that 3D printer going and restock ASAP.

Segues? We don’t need no segues! IndieGogo’s Robots for School campaign ended yesterday. Thank you to everyone who participated, shared, tweeted, linked, and so on. Those of you who contributed have been emailed a coupon code for the shop and a sneak peek at the next kit.

Alan, one of the local VHS members, bought a Drawbot from the shop (thankyouthankyouthankyou) and has been playing with Shapelock to design a better pen holder. Check this out!

Nice work Alan! Have you made some tweak to your drawbot the world should know about? Please share! I’m seriously considering a forum.

I’ve got FabLearn 2012 on my mind. I haven’t figured out how to save time to work on the next kit. I don’t remember the last time I felt like I was working on something fresh from the top of my dome, so to speak. More parts are due from Adafruit any day now and I’ve found a chinese supplier who can get me 12v2a power supplies for about 1/3 of what I’m paying right now.

Lastly, because I’ve been sitting on it forever and haven’t done anything… The Skycam code is now on github. I haven’t documented it yet. I hope it encourages you to buy a second Drawbot and do something cool, like build a room-sized machine that builds LEGO houses or something.

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Halloween EL wire specials

Halloween special pricing!
For the next two weeks I’m having a sale on orange EL wire and yellow EL wire. 25% off the usual price. Get all decked out for Halloween while supplies last!

…and seriously, be quick about it. These things are moving. While the 3D printer was stalling all Drawbot orders EL was movin’, movin’, movin’.

It’s always busy in some way here. I love the way the challenges keep changing and things are growing. For instance, last night I bought a new Brother printer and label maker. Kits look great when they’re nicely labelled and come with an invoice. Feels more industry standard, less care package from mom. Also: Shaking my fist at HP and Canon. Not only have I been disappointed in your product but now I see your display at the local Staples should have tipped me off from the start – HP’s says “we will distract you with video!” and Canon’s says IDGAF. Brother’s was the only one that clearly spelled out their support plan to give me confidence with my purchase. There’s a lesson in there.

Last night a new piece of contract work fell in my lap. It’s the first time I’ve ever used the Twitter API or Tropo.com. So far they seem great and are really forthcoming with help. My hat is off to you for doing it right. Easy APIs make me a happy man. It’s also great to be working on something while the 3D printer is going. It makes me feel so… efficient. Like my first employee, almost!

PS: Did you notice there’s a Facebook and Twitter icon in the top left? You can follow us there if you like.

This morning I woke to find my development web server died and took out half the electronics in my office. Thankfully it was just a flipped breaker. After we got the power back on the server refused to start. It’s in the shop now and as soon as it’s back I’ll you the twitter stuff. Nobody likes to be teased without mercy.

So while it’s in the store I went to the post office and shipped another 3 kits today. All the back orders (except my less-than-stellar IndieGoGo campaign) are now filled and “delivered”. Special thanks to each of you who sent me kind words of support and kept clicking refresh until I delivered a tracking number. Special thanks also to the lady at the post office who gave me water when I nearly collapsed. Note to self: bike more often!

Today’s next goal is to get all the products in the store photographed. You may remember I built a light box a while ago. I never showed you the box itself, did I?

Let me know if you find something in the shop that is missing a picture and I’ll take one ASAP.
Many hands make light work, yes?