Makexchange

The Makexchange Portable Electronics Invention Lab. Advanced usability design meets the Maker Movement. Our lab introduces absolute beginners to the world of programming machines in a fun painless way.
We invented a Programmable Paper Airplane Launcher with it!

What Will You Invent? Come make see our lab and launch some paper airplanes too!

What inspired you to make this project?:
I originally set out to create a vanilla arduino kit and market it with my brand. I had hired two video production interns to help make high quality instructional videos for our site. Since they would be filming these arduino projects, I told them they needed to become familiar with the technology and gave them each a used arduino kit I'd been working with.

When they opened the boxes up, a look of pure terror flashed on their faces. None of them had a technical background. Something clicked in my head! Quickly, I grabbed the nearest whiteboard and marker. "Quick, tell me the feelings that you are having when you look at these boxes and their contents!", I asked them. Words like Intimidated, scared, frightened, confused, and others were expressed.

I immediately recognized an opportunity. These guys were having a visceral negative psychological response, but what was the stimulus? I realized if I could identify the specific elements of the standard bread-and-butter arduino kit that were triggers for these emotions and neutralize them, I'd have something no one else has in the market. So I got to work.

Through countless iterations and observations of newbies working with the technology, I came up with this design. It's truly unique and I hope it helps bring down the barriers for those less technically savvy and open to them a new world of possibilities.