Together in electric dreams
By Nie Xin |
May 27, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Technology enthusiasts, digital artists and self-proclaimed geeks are gathering at a city "hackerspace" where they hold informal labs, share ideas and help each other create everything from robot vehicles to electronic trees and "useless machines." Nie Xin sees if it all computes.
If you are interested in robots, why not build one - remote-controlled or autonomous - and race it against others? A group of technology enthusiasts who call themselves "hackers," though not the people who break into computer systems, are doing precisely this.
XinCheJian (literally "new workshop") is the first "hackerspace" in China, where, organizers say, people can meet, help each other and have fun on their technical projects.
A roboracing competition will be held on June 24 at XinCheJian's new home in an old building on the corner of Changle and Wulumuqi roads.
XinCheJian is holding a race every two months this year, according to Paul Adams, who is in charge of the roborace.
Adams, a British who runs a web development company in Shanghai, came to XinCheJian with a background in design and programming and says the place and people inspire him to make fun things.
Adams recalls his first few visits to XinCheJian, when he was hacking his first robot, a hovercraft.
"I had no idea where to begin or what I was doing, but fellow enthusiast He Qichen took 10 minutes to give me a brief introduction on using a multimeter and I was setup and burning stuff quicker than you could scream fire!" he recalls.
In the upcoming competition, individuals will participate in three different groups - line followers, autonomous and user-controlled.
Line followers have to drive along a line on an elevated track, attempting to do it quickly while staying on the track, or else face a 60-centimeter drop to the ground.
Autonomous cars try to navigate a track without obstacles as fast as possible, with a penalty for each time they touch a wall.
"And user-controlled robots, while simple, aren't that straightforward in practice," says Adams. "The driver cannot look directly at the track and must watch through an onboard camera, which is not easy when all the walls are white."
An early famous hackerspace was the Homebrew Computer Club in Silicon Valley in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, which included Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as members.
Adams praises the collaborative and practical nature of XinCheJian. "The learning process is inspirational but doing anything with stuff is just the greatest," he says.
XinCheJian now has about 20 core members - about 60 percent expats and 40 percents local Chinese, according to David Li, one of the founders.
The average age of members is early 30s, but youngest member is only 11 with the oldest in his 50s.
Originally from Taiwan, Li moved to Shanghai from Los Angeles in 2002. He has worked mostly on social applications - mainly apps on Facebook - for the past few years and founded XinCheJian with Ricky Ng-Adam and Hsieh Min Lin.
The mission is to support, create and promote physical computing, open source hardware and the Internet of Things, say its founders.
Physical computing includes things such as handmade art, design or hobby projects that use sensors and other electronic devices.
Open-source hardware includes such things as the Arduino microcontroller platform, used in the creation of interactive electronic objects.
"The Internet of Things" refers to uniquely identifiable objects, and how they are represented in a virtual world.
To try to achieve their mission, XinCheJian's members organize discussions, projects, startup promotions, workshops and competitions.
They meet every week, most recently inviting Lisa Juen of proonk.com to talk about her jewelry and electronic mash-up.
"Our long-term goal is to spread the philosophy across China and inspire hackerspaces in every large city from east to west," says Li. "A hackerspace like XinCheJian aims to demystify technology and make it more accessible to all people."
Clemence Peng came to XinCheJian without knowing much about electronics or programming and spent two months creating her first piece - an interactive tree offering a touch-based light and sound experience.
Shanghai native Peng, a 21-year-old student at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, works in collaboration with her partner, Adams.
"I am planning more sound-related interactive projects, probably using a stethoscope," she says.
Another core member, Edward Jiang, builds what he calls "useless machines and super-simple line following robots."
"At XinCheJian, people make things and things get done, help each other and exchange ideas. This attracts me to the space," says Jiang, who describes himself a "fat guy" and full-time web developer and part-time hacker.
"We make ideas into real physical thing. Knowing the path is totally different from walking the path," Jiang explains.
XinCheJian
Address: 2/F, 1035 Changle Rd (near the intersection with Wulumuqi Rd)
Hackers meet-up: Wednesdays, 7-9pm
E-mail: info@xinchejian.com
If you are interested in robots, why not build one - remote-controlled or autonomous - and race it against others? A group of technology enthusiasts who call themselves "hackers," though not the people who break into computer systems, are doing precisely this.
XinCheJian (literally "new workshop") is the first "hackerspace" in China, where, organizers say, people can meet, help each other and have fun on their technical projects.
A roboracing competition will be held on June 24 at XinCheJian's new home in an old building on the corner of Changle and Wulumuqi roads.
XinCheJian is holding a race every two months this year, according to Paul Adams, who is in charge of the roborace.
Adams, a British who runs a web development company in Shanghai, came to XinCheJian with a background in design and programming and says the place and people inspire him to make fun things.
Adams recalls his first few visits to XinCheJian, when he was hacking his first robot, a hovercraft.
"I had no idea where to begin or what I was doing, but fellow enthusiast He Qichen took 10 minutes to give me a brief introduction on using a multimeter and I was setup and burning stuff quicker than you could scream fire!" he recalls.
In the upcoming competition, individuals will participate in three different groups - line followers, autonomous and user-controlled.
Line followers have to drive along a line on an elevated track, attempting to do it quickly while staying on the track, or else face a 60-centimeter drop to the ground.
Autonomous cars try to navigate a track without obstacles as fast as possible, with a penalty for each time they touch a wall.
"And user-controlled robots, while simple, aren't that straightforward in practice," says Adams. "The driver cannot look directly at the track and must watch through an onboard camera, which is not easy when all the walls are white."
An early famous hackerspace was the Homebrew Computer Club in Silicon Valley in the United States in the 1970s and 1980s, which included Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak as members.
Adams praises the collaborative and practical nature of XinCheJian. "The learning process is inspirational but doing anything with stuff is just the greatest," he says.
XinCheJian now has about 20 core members - about 60 percent expats and 40 percents local Chinese, according to David Li, one of the founders.
The average age of members is early 30s, but youngest member is only 11 with the oldest in his 50s.
Originally from Taiwan, Li moved to Shanghai from Los Angeles in 2002. He has worked mostly on social applications - mainly apps on Facebook - for the past few years and founded XinCheJian with Ricky Ng-Adam and Hsieh Min Lin.
The mission is to support, create and promote physical computing, open source hardware and the Internet of Things, say its founders.
Physical computing includes things such as handmade art, design or hobby projects that use sensors and other electronic devices.
Open-source hardware includes such things as the Arduino microcontroller platform, used in the creation of interactive electronic objects.
"The Internet of Things" refers to uniquely identifiable objects, and how they are represented in a virtual world.
To try to achieve their mission, XinCheJian's members organize discussions, projects, startup promotions, workshops and competitions.
They meet every week, most recently inviting Lisa Juen of proonk.com to talk about her jewelry and electronic mash-up.
"Our long-term goal is to spread the philosophy across China and inspire hackerspaces in every large city from east to west," says Li. "A hackerspace like XinCheJian aims to demystify technology and make it more accessible to all people."
Clemence Peng came to XinCheJian without knowing much about electronics or programming and spent two months creating her first piece - an interactive tree offering a touch-based light and sound experience.
Shanghai native Peng, a 21-year-old student at Shanghai Conservatory of Music, works in collaboration with her partner, Adams.
"I am planning more sound-related interactive projects, probably using a stethoscope," she says.
Another core member, Edward Jiang, builds what he calls "useless machines and super-simple line following robots."
"At XinCheJian, people make things and things get done, help each other and exchange ideas. This attracts me to the space," says Jiang, who describes himself a "fat guy" and full-time web developer and part-time hacker.
"We make ideas into real physical thing. Knowing the path is totally different from walking the path," Jiang explains.
XinCheJian
Address: 2/F, 1035 Changle Rd (near the intersection with Wulumuqi Rd)
Hackers meet-up: Wednesdays, 7-9pm
E-mail: info@xinchejian.com
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