Club News March 2020

Hugh Macdonald

Coder Dojo

Our South East Melbourne Coder Dojo has been going now for three sessions and is establishing itself well with regular attendees coming back each time to learn more about basic concepts of programming through the beginner language of Scratch. So far about 10-15 children (or ninjas) have attended each session.

The dojo has been setup by club Vice President Stephen Zuluaga. Committee member Paul Hattam has been largely responsible for devising the session plans and running the sessions. Committee members Lorenzo (Aavon) Fernando and myself have been the other main volunteers. We’ve also had other volunteers from outside the club join us in Rob Carlei, Victor Lu and Guyan Perera. Everyone has different skills in information technology, programming and education, and we’ve all been able to make contributions to make this a so far successful initiative.

Caption: Ninjas Dylan, Jackson and Oliver at work on a concept

The range of different skills that the ninjas possess has been interesting and amazing to see. Some are very much beginners and are learning as they go, but a couple possess understanding of programming concepts that only comes from being true digital natives.

If you have someone in your family aged 7 -17 that is interested in programming, 3D printing or robotics then please bring them along to Coder Dojo, which runs every second Saturday during the school term. It’s free for members and non-members. More information and registration details can be found at http://www.melcc.org.au/coderdojo

Introduction to 3D Printing

On Saturday, February 22, Melb PC hosted an introduction to 3D Printing in association with Fashion3d. This event was organised by club President David Stonier-Gibson and committee member Dave Williams ran the session. There were 12 attendees including two non-members.

I was one of the 12 attendees and it was a great way to get started with 3D printing. We learnt about the website Thingiverse where you can download 3D designs that other people have already created and reuse them, Ultimaker Cura which is open source software for creating and editing 3D objects and ‘slicing them’ (preparing them for printing).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Caption: One of the kid size 3D printers provided by sponsor Fashion3D

We were then able to print our designs using the printers provided by Fashion3D. I chose to make a die, while there were also vases and rings and Raspberry Pi Zero brackets being produced. Anything is really possible with a 3D printer.

Most of the printers are remaining at the club for members to use, and there will be more 3D printing introductory sessions coming up later in the year.

Coming Up Next

The club’s next big event is Arduino Day on March 21. This will be the chance for anyone to come along and build a robot with an Arduino board and other parts. It sounds like it will be a lot of fun. If you’d like to find out more about this and come along then head to https://melcc.org.au/arduinoday2020 for more information.