Fixing broken things was just a normal part of my family life. I was born in New York City and was raised in New Jersey in a home with lots of tools, a garage, a basement workshop, and a backyard. My father was a Depression-era baby who grew up with a sense of frugality. He […]
For years, my organization, U.S. PIRG (Public Interest Research Group), has been campaigning with iFixit,Repair.org, and a plucky team of repair shops, makers, and hackers to pass laws that guarantee access to what people need to fix modern gizmos, specifically the parts, tools, and service information. We’ve had “right to repair” bills in 40 of 50 […]
I often describe Fixit Clinic as “a hobby that’s gotten way out of control.” We held the first Fixit Clinic in 2009 as a modest experiment to make basic tools and specialty tools available so attendees could disassemble, troubleshoot and — hopefully — repair common consumer items: to take apart appliances and electronics, mend fabric and […]
From 1997 to 2004, I competed around the world in a number of different robot categories, primarily sumo robots. I also worked a lot of shows (judges are always in demand) while teaching robotics at San Francisco State University. One thing I noticed in that time was not only the variety of robots out there, […]
The year is 2015. Pebble have just set another Kickstarter record with their new Time model, which in addition to a color display, features a mysterious new “smartstrap” functionality. An exciting hackathon is announced, called Pebble Rocks Boulder, where 75 lucky hardware hackers will get the chance to preview the new smartstrap API, which allows […]
The thing about being a robot builder is, well … we’re odd. If you’re thinking about building a robot, well … you’re odd too. But that’s OK! The very best thing about robot events is that they’re entirely populated by weirdos. Every race, religion, gender, political bent, whatever. But everyone in the building really loves […]
My first experience with combat robotics ended exactly as I expected: in complete destruction. It was 2016. A friend of mine, Leanne Cushing, competes on BattleBots, and she suggested I join her for a combat robotics competition in Massachusetts. Not knowing much of anything about robots in general, or combat robots specifically, I built two bots […]
