Teaching workshops at CrashspaceLA

Have you heard about CrashspaceLA? It’s Los Angeles new hackerspace, and we’re moving in soon.

And to kick off the festivities I’m going to be teaching two workshops, the first of which will kick-off in mid-February 2010 (exact date TBD.) In the meantime, go check out the Crashspace page, join the group, and get involved!

Python for Experimenters

Tentative class kick-off: Feb 15

This class will be a concentrated introduction to the python language for those who have some experience with programming (Arduino programming certainly counts) or electronics experience. The rest of the class will focus on various tools and techniques in Python for quickly prototyping software tools to interact with physical devices (ones you’ve built, or commercial sensors, actuators, and communications gear). I’ll also spend a session on graphical tools in Python to visualize your data, or control your devices.

As a full-time roboticist, I’ve had occasion to interface with oddball hardware in a variety of environments. After years of using C, C++, Java, and others for these tasks, I’ve discovered that Python is as powerful as C++, easier to prototype with, and usually as fast (except for a few cases, which I will discuss and provide workarounds).

Beginning Autodesk Inventor

Tentative class kick-off: Unknown

If you’re building a Makerbot, targeting a professional-grade plastic printer, or designing parts for a laser-cutter, you can’t go wrong with Autodesk Inventor.

In this absolute-beginner level class, you’ll learn how to make sketches using parametric dimensions and constraints, create simple 3d parts, and build assemblies of those parts. With Inventor, you can quickly construct a virtual 3d prototype of your design in order to better understand its characteristics, iterate that design, and produce files that can be sent to a 3d printer or cutting tool.

Autodesk Inventor is a complex tool, capable of far more than this class will cover. I’m a capable user of the most basic features of Autodesk, and I’d like to impart this basic useful knowledge to others, in hopes that we can explore the more advanced features together.

There will also be a guest lecture or two from the engineer who taught me, about the Inventor design process.