Do you have a new year’s resolution to be more creative? To try something out of your comfort zone or learn something new? Are you interested in making some awesome, easy projects that combine technology and your other hobbies or interests? If so, read on! I’m really excited to talk about this week’s topic, which is putting a spotlight on the recent Maker Movement. What is the Maker Movement? Well, I’d like to think of it as a movement of homebrew hackers and artists using technology to create useful, inspiring and innovative projects. These projects are generally inexpensive and come with a fair amount of support through tutorials (written and video) and documentation. There’s a whole community of Makers constantly creating new guides on how to make LED cubes or self-contained watering systems or even customizable digital clocks. So if you’re not afraid to get your hands dirty with a little bit of hardware and software, you can make pretty much anything with just a few set of tools. And even if you’ve never wired up a breadboard or written a line of code, many tutorials online provide code that you can just copy/paste and have step by step instructions on how to plug and wire together all the parts you need. If you can read, you can pretty much do any of the projects that are well documented online.

arduinoThis quarter I’m taking several classes involving the intersection of hardware and software. I was exposed to the Arduino (a microprocessor) for an electrical engineering class I’m taking. I’m also using it for a pretty cool remote vaccine monitoring project I’m working with a group to create for the non-profit PATH. Within a day or two of experimenting, I had a very solid grasp on how to use the Arduino and all the crazy sensors it came with; it’s not hard at all to learn with the Arduino! Many kits even come with special projects and guides to get you started. Best of all, the Arduino is pretty cheap. For around $30 you can get a powerful microprocessor that will be the core of many homebrew projects. And since the Arduino is so popular, whatever project idea you may have will likely already have been done. That makes super easy to get started and making!

One of the best resources for learning about the Arduino is its website, www.arduino.cc. Here you can look up different Arduinos and various sensors you may need for your project. There is a strong membership community and tons of examples and project ideas to get you started! For more awesome project idea websites (not limited to the Arduino) with detailed tutorials, check out instructables.com, adafruit.com or makezine.com. All of these websites are pretty heavily intertwined with the Maker Movement. Even if you don’t use an Arduino, they have lots of other hands on projects you can test out!

Making isn’t just about technology, it’s about creating something awesome with untraditional materials to perform some sort of functionality that fulfills a need. That could mean you design an artistic piece that makes people happy, or a device that automates your home and reduces your stress. So I encourage you to go out, to experiment and come up with any crazy idea that you think you might want to build. Just make sure it’s technically and physically feasible! Then build it. Use strange or uncommon materials to get to the goal of your project, whatever it may be. The creativity making allows is incredible. And soon enough, you might just get hooked. And that’s all it takes to join the Maker Movement.