All they had was 30 days, $250 and their minds to get them through one of the most innovative tech competitions in the land: The RadioShack Hackerspace Challenge.
Given the task of taking an older technology and putting a new twist on it, the teams set off on a whirlwind of creation. Time passed, blood, sweat and tears were shed, until finally it was time to put down their weapons.
As the smoke cleared, amongst the slurry of wires and lights arose the winning body of a magnificent creation: The Tardis.
That’s right, the Dr. Who classic had been brought to life right before our eyes. The seemingly uninteresting Police Box Lander hid within it something Dr. Who himself would’ve been excited to walk into. Inside awaited a video game that used mind control EEG headsets to navigate the game’s avatar. You could submerge yourself into a sea of lights and sounds and get lost in a vision Dr. Who fans could only dream of.
You may not know it, but all around us in the Tampa Bay area are meet ups filled with people excited to share, create, and learn about technology! The inventors of the ingenious winning creation were the team members from Tampa Hackerspace.
Discovering the Tampa Hackerspace
This group is a local non-profit community workshop created to provide tools and knowledge to those with a hunger to learn and create. There is no absence of cool projects being worked on in the shop, thats for sure! Some of their members are currently on a project team making a micro satellite for NASA. But don’t worry, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to get in on the action. They have a multitude of activities, big and small for anyone to enjoy, and lots of people excited to help.
Tampa Hackerspace was founded by Bill Shaw, who took an abandoned dream and revived it to form the thriving tech paradise that it is today. It is fueled by the passion poured out by its founder. Shaw strives to maintain a very inviting culture and make any visitor feel right at home.
They grant the space, equipment and classes to aid in anything from small fun projects, to business startups. Tampa Hackerspace is happy to share their equipment and make it more cost-effective for you to build and explore new hard wear and soft wear.
The majority of members are involved in tech industries like development and engineering. But Shaw’s goal is not just to bring together those with a vast knowledge of tech, but to also educate and involve those without it.
Shaw wants people of every shape, size, color and background with a curiosity for tech, building and learning to be able to come together and enjoy sharing and gaining hands on experience as well as new ideas.
Tampa Hackerspace has even reached out to the little ones. They took on the “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” mentality and decided that instead of taking kids away from video games, they’d just show them the technology behind it. They have a kids open-make night twice a month where your child can go learn and explore technology while having fun! They have also gone into title one schools; bringing fun tech projects to those kids who would otherwise never get the chance to experience this in such a creative and entertaining atmosphere. Tampa Hackerspace is striving to create a new generation of thinkers.
Powered Labs is on a mission to find these kinds of places and let the community know how to get involved. Make sure to keep up with our blogs, as we find more gems all around the City of Tampa Bay.
