Author: Daniel Toliaferro

Hey readers,

Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator has it’s own night at Hive 76 now! For all you trekkies out there, Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator is a networked multiplayer game that simulates a spaceship’s bridge; much like what you’d see on Star Trek®. We’ll be doing the event on the second Tuesday of each month, and our next game is… tomorrow (Tuesday, March 8th)! If you can make it, don’t forget to bring your laptop or netbook.

Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator Night
Hive 76 (915 Spring Garden)
Tuesday, March 8th @ 7:00 PM.

Engage!

Howdy folks,

Last night’s open house was awesome. Some new people stopped by and that’s always great to see. The highlight of the night (at least for me) was doing karaoke again. Even when you’re screeching out of key, karaoke is always a good time.

See ya next week!

Tonight  was great. The space was busy with so many people working on so many different things. Including a public mini project where we made geometric figures out of paper clips and solder, and various 3D printing projects.

There were some pretty interesting discussions tonight too, ranging from urban exploration to video game development.

Also, and most excitingly, our very own Adam Kaufman showed off a new product that he’s been working on. More details to come.

Hope to see you there next week!

Well another open house has gone by and it sure was a lot of fun. Last night was literally bursting at the seams with activity as we had people doing all manner of things from working on 3D printers, experimenting with electronic music sequencing, and all the way to people working on top secret projects.

Of course we also had our second game of Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator last night, which was (I believe) our 3rd gaming night. Again, we had a blast playing quite a few rounds (some being a bit shorter than others) at full crew capacity. We had a few first timers playing with us so that’s always fun. I for one can’t wait until next month’s game!

Toward the end of the night we had another impromptu music session, but this time instead of karaoke we did some jamming with electronic instruments and sequencers. The group consisted of Brendan Schrader and PJ Santoro on sequencing units, and Jack Zylkin and I on keyboard synthesizers/samplers. Could a possible musical project be brewing at Hive? I guess we’ll see!

See you next week!

Hey folks,

This Wednesday at our next open house we’re hosting another game night with Thom Robertson’s excellent Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator. Artemis is a networked computer game that allows players to simulate the operations of a spaceship much like what you’d see on Star Trek™. The setting of the game is the command bridge of the ship, and each player is given a station to operate (such as helm, tactical, science, etc). Another player takes the role of captain, who attempts to conduct the crew and guide the ship on a successful mission. We had a blast last month with the game, and since then Thom has implemented quite a few significant upgrades so we’re bound to have even more fun this time.

Players need only to bring a netbook or laptop (preferably with Windows) to play, and the game software will be provided.

Game Night with Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator
Hive 76 (915 Spring Garden)
Wednesday, February 16th @ 8:00 PM.

Engage!

Well I got there a bit late, as I also attended the second ever PhillySec meeting earlier that night. So when I finally got to Hive there were already a lot of interesting things going on. I noticed Sean McBeth working on a contraption that he revealed to be an Atari Punk Console (which he later finished that night), Jordan Miller printing away on his newly completed RepRap, and Brendan Schrader and PJ Santoro doing some music in the back of the room. Brendan had an Electribe with him (having previously engineered new features in to), and PJ was tinkering with some Linux-based karaoke software.

Yes, thanks to PJ’s karaoke software, Brendan’s audio mixer, and one of Chris Thompson’s (and Brendan’s) BOOMcases we indeed had an impromptu karaoke session. Yours truly sang “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash, and “Maneater” by Hall & Oates; which I must say was my first time doing karaoke. Eventually the night ended after we did a modest set of about 7 or 8 songs. It was a blast, and something that we may well do again in the future.

Next Wednesday we’re hosting another game night. We’ll be bringing back Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator for a second round.

Hope to see you there!

Last night Hive 76 hosted the second Robotics Meetup Group of the year. We saw some new faces and discussed some interesting topics such as beginner robotics kits, Arduino-based robotics solutions, oscilloscopes, and wirelessly powered flying robots.

Speaking of flying robots, regular member Tom Setliff brought in his quadrotor (a robot which uses 4 rotors for flight) project that he’s been working on for about 2 months now. It really surprised us how far along he’s already gotten with the frame for his creation. Kudos Tom. Our organizer and group leader Roy Brewer also talked about the custom made AVR-based microcontroller that he’s testing out for his own quadrotor project.

The video here, sent in by Hive 76 member Jim Fisher (also of PLUG and PACS fame), shows a proof of concept Quadrotor demo being done at GRASP Labs at the University of Pennsylvania.

Our very own Hive 76 Quartermaster, Brendan Schrader had some cool things to say in our conversation about oscilloscopes. He even showed us his neat Seed Studio pocket oscilloscope.

All together another great meeting for 2011!

For those that are interested, our next meeting is March 10th at 7:30 PM. Hope to see you there next month!

Last night’s gaming event was a huge success! We played 3 consecutive games of Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator, and the entire event lasted about 3 hours. Highlights were our tactical officer Adam E. blowing up every ship that we came in contact with, Captain Chris’ excellent leadership, and our engineer Brendan possibly getting us blown up while he was on his phone. Starfleet Security is looking into that last one. Everybody seemed to have a lot of fun and there was interest in playing the game again soon.

I’d like to thank Hive members Brendan, Adam K., Chris, and PJ for helping to set everything up and making sure everyone had enough computers to play. I’d also like to thank everyone else who rocked at their bridge stations and commanding roles.

Until the next adventure, Hive 76 out.

At this week’s open house Hive 76 is hosting it’s second LAN gaming event. We’ll be playing Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator. What is Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator you ask? Well, it’s a co-operative computer game that simulates a spaceship bridge, similar to the ones you’d see on Star Trek. Each player is given a key bridge position to help guide the ship on a successful mission. Click here to see an awesome, and quite hilarious example of the game in action.

Players need only to bring a PC laptop or netbook as the game software will be provided. So come join us, because at this open house we’ll be cranking it all the way up to warp 11!

The fun starts this Wednesday, January 19th at 9:00 PM.

Hope to see you there, Captain out!

Last night Hive 76 hosted the first Robotics Meetup Group of 2011. For those who are unaware, the group is organized and run by Roy Brewer and Hive 76 has been hosting a space for the group since September of 2009.

This month’s meeting featured an appearance by inventor & entrepreneur Michael Treat, who’s company Robotic Systems & Technologies, Inc. (RST) has been featured in sources such as the New York Times, ABC, TLC, and BusinessWeek. Mr. Treat stopped by to give a talk on his company’s newest project: a robot called Penelope CS, which is designed to automate work in a hospital’s sterile supply department. Sterile supply is the department where used surgical tools are cleaned, sorted & inspected, packed into containers, and finally sterilized to be ready for the next procedure. The talk concluded with Treat announcing that Penelope CS is ready for action, and RST is looking for partner hospitals in which to deploy the product.

After the talk we discussed ongoing projects within the group including 2 members who are building quadrotors, our uGPS project (an indoor GPS system), and other types of robots (delta bots, for instance).

We meet every second Thursday of every month, and our next meeting is February 10th at 7:30 PM. I’d like to encourage everyone with an interest in robots or electronics to join us. This is a fun and exciting group!