MakeMIT 2014!

Created: October 27, 2017
Updated: July 1, 2024

While I was kicking it at Penn last weekend, Sam went to MakeMIT.

As a 100% hardware-focused hackathon, MakeMIT had a couple of unusual things going for it:

The event spans two phases: Phase I to get things started and Phase II -- a whole week later -- for ten finalist teams to finish up. This 'intermission' is pretty smart for hardware hacks. We're now very familiar with the "I need this part now not in the two days it'll take to get here" problem with hardware hacks at day-long or weekend-long hackathons.
In addition to the equipment you'd normally see at college EE labs, the event was souped up with extra gear, thanks to nice sponsors. Check out this video of the Cyclone Linear Actuator from Rise Robotics in action:

Why slice a banana with a knife when you can use a linear actuator?

The winner of the Octopart prize was "Resistance is Futile", a smart resistor dispenser with up-to-date pricing info.

You will be assimilated

Bonus points for accessing the pricing data using the Octopart API (of course!).

Thanks to the folks at TechX who got us involved in this, and pulled together a superbly organized event. We're excited see what comes out of Phase II...

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