Proposed projects

This is a page where members can propose projects they'd like to work on, and potentially receive funding for. Anybody is welcome to post a project, and, in the last meeting of each month, a vote will be held to determine which project(s) is/are awarded funding. The projects may be personal, or may benefit the space. Or be anything else, really, we aren't going to be picky (it's up to the members to vote). See Project funding for more information.

In our current Budget, we have $100/month dedicated to projects. Projects can request all or part of the money, as needed. Our goal is to make this as simple as possible.

Instructions:

• Post your project at the bottom of the list
• Estimate the dollar value - if your project is selected, you'll be given a cheque for that amount
• Be prepared to talk about your project at the last meeting of the month
• Create a link to a page where you describe it, if possible

Hovercraft

• Proposed by: Molly
• Amount requested: $300

I wish to finish the Skullspace hovercraft.

Robotic Parts Finder

• Proposed by: Rylaan
• Amount requested: $500

Robotic Parts Finder. I would probably want to hack this design a bit to make it usable for more than just small trays. http://www.instructables.com/id/StorageBot-voice-controlled-robotic-parts-finder/

USRP

 NOT SEEKING FUNDING AT THIS TIME 

• Proposed by: Mak
• Amount requested: $1,000 - $2,000 (USRP only)

If we can ever get together some crazy money, we should get a USRP. Sniff all the things.

Examples of what we can do are:

• Demonstrate sniffing cell (IMEI) / bluetooth (MAC) / wifi (MAC) to identify nearby individuals
  • A creepy application of this would be a webpage with, at a minimum, the number of people in SkullSpace
• Examine our keyfobs, and try to crack and clone them

Updates

• 2012-03-19: We've looked into things, and for a basic USRP it'd cost $1,000, but for doing something like capturing all of bluetooth / wifi (2.4 GHz ISM) we'd need $2,000.
• 2012-03-20: Clarified that we're not seeking funding, as we're still in the research stages.
• 2012-03-22: Compiled list of all Basic and Advanced Exam questions for amateur radio exam, required for sending radio signals outside ISM bands.

Signs

• Proposed by: Roswyne
• Volunteers required first!
• Amount requested: $100 (estimated)

We could use some signage to help people recognize where SkullSpace is physically located. This could include:

• A sign at the front door, in the lower portion of the door (replacing the really old Cre8ery sign).
• A banner to be hung on the William St side of the building (to attract the attention of RRC students).
• An insert for the colour-scrolling sign, which could potentially be placed in a window.

We could also use additional signs within the space, to help people find the washrooms and make the drink machine look better:

• Hanging signs in the hallway, pointing which way to go to the washrooms and AssentWorks.
• A replacement front panel for the drink machine, with a cool logo.
• Labels for the drinks actually in the drink machine (replacing the handwritten scraps of tape).

Many of these can probably be done at AssentWorks for the cost of parts, if anyone is familiar with using the vinyl cutter, etc.

Community calendar display

 CANCELLED -> ADDED TO THE TOUCH DISPLAY PROJECT 

• Proposed by: Gorgeous Mike
• Amount requested: $200

Putting a monitor up in the hallway and displaying a live updated version of the community calendar. This way all members and guests and first Friday people can see what's going on in the hacker community. We should have enough computers around that can drive a display but a ~20" TV would look really nice out there as well.

Skullspace Hardware Programming Challenge

• Proposed by: Mark Jenkins
• Amount requested: Indefinite -- but able to make use of $100 per month to make progress (see below)

Development of levels for the Skullspace Hardware Programming Challenge. Each level will be based on a strange hardware platform where participants have to program it to extract a secret message. All funding will go towards small honoraia ($5/hour) for the real technical work of level development (software development, circuit design and assembly, quality documentation, etc). Things like project co-ordination will be 100% volunteer all hardware will be donated/on loan.

A one month allocation of $100 will fund 20 hours of progress and will always be targeted for a level under development that is near completion. Development of levels will continue at a slower, volunteer pace during unfunded months.

Evaporation cooling for the space

• Proposed by: Gorgeous Mike
• Amount requested: $200-$500 (may be considered part of the renovation budget)

A "Swamp Cooler" is a type of evaporation cooling system that uses dry air to remove heat from water via evaporation to the outside air. There are several different designs but the best case is to mount a frame in the window of the ventilated room (beside rear elevator) and run water over a cooling pad. This would pull cool moist air into the space at all times as long as we had a fan blowing out somewhere else in the space. --OR-- Put a large fan to pull air in and run ducts to various rooms, its more money / work but much better air flow. The electrical load of such a system is much less than a standard window AC unit (quieter too!) It may not be a 100% solution for the heat problems in the space but it will definitely help!

We would need the following:

• Pump (sump or fountain) anything over 50GPM
• Furnace fan
• Garden hose
• Water storage tank (Blue RubberMaid would work)
• Cooling pad material

Vertical wind turbine farm

• Proposed by: Gorgeous Mike
• Amount requested: $100-$300

Building a small vertical wind turbine farm on the roof would help us offset our carbon footprint as well and reduce our electrical load on the building. We can use it to run lights, small projects etc. The whole project would hinge on if we can get get roof access from the landlord unless we build one off the roof access ladder.

Also good training for the apocalypse!!

We would need the following:

• 55 Gallon drums ( $20-$40 on Kijiji )
• Magnets
• Magnet wire ( We have a large spool in the space )

Parts database and organization

• Proposed by Ben/Justin
• Amount requested: TBD (could be anywhere from $0-$500)

There are lots of parts at the space available to users, but no one really knows what exactly we have. We would like to index all the parts in the space. We have a database setup at parts.skullspace.ca, but it needs to be populated yet. In addition to this, we would like to better organize the storage of the parts. The money could go towards anything from buying food for a part-indexing party, to building a sweet storage system, installing a dedicated inventory kiosk, or making a nearly-autonomous inventory tracking system. This project could also tie in well with the proposed robotic parts finder.

Public Facing Touch Screen Terminal

• Proposed by: Gorgeous Mike
• Amount requested: $50-$100

Based on the awesome donation of a touchscreen computer from ENTS in Edmonton I have a few more ideas to incorporate to the public hallway display.

• Calender to see all the space and community events ( from depreciated project above )
• Maker Passport stamper ( Linky )
• Simple interface to enter credentials to open door for forgotten fob or locked out members.
• Display checklist of 'last man out items' Lights left on, doors locked etc. (use inputs from Arduino for monitoring)
• Interface into parts database

• USB Camera for the following:
  • Visual guestbook ( Take a pic and add your info! )
  • Scan QR codes! We can have little slips of paper sitting with projects! Scan one, enter your email and you will get an email filled with info and links about that project / talk / person!
  • Request to enter mode - Takes pic, sends it to a group that has remote access to open the door for people that forget / don't have a fob or guests!

We would need the following:

• Touchscreen ( Donated already )
• Arduino and some small servos for the passport stamping machine
• Some programming skills
• Various small sensors

• • NOTE: This could be utilized for a SkullSpace Geocache in some way as well.