Girl Scouts Add a Video Game Design Badge.

“Our ultimate goal is to create a STEM-aligned video game badge for the Girl Scouts of the United States of America,” said Amy Allison, vice president at WIGI. “Creating this badge will get young girls excited in technology and science and let them know that they, too, can have a career in the video game industry.”

Girl Scouts Add a Video Game Design Badge.
In move to pwn boys, Girl Scouts to introduce game developer badge.
GIRL SCOUTS INTRODUCE GAME DESIGN MERIT BADGE, ONE UP BOY SCOUTS WITH SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT.

Note, the badge pictured above is the Boy Scout version.

Time For Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts 2.0? @ MAKE.

Artist Shepard Fairey creates patch for new International Space Station mission via BB.

…his latest work will be conquering an entirely different realm: outer space. The artist has designed the patch for an upcoming mission to the International Space Station called ARK1 — Advanced Science and Research — that will run from September 2013 through March 2014. ARK1 will be the first flight managed by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), a non-profit organization that was set up by the US Congress in order to help promote research aboard the ISS.

Space station skill badge

NEW PRODUCT – Arduino – Skill badge, iron-on patch – Arduino! You learned how to program and use the Arduino Microcontroller board. Adafruit offers a fun and exciting “badges” of achievement for electronics, science and engineering. We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share.

This is the “I’m learning Arduino” for use with educators, classrooms, workshops, Maker Faires, TechShops, Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and around the world to reward beginners on their skill building journey!

This beautiful badge is made in the USA.

Arduino logo used with permission, this is an official Arduino badge! A portion of the sale of each badge goes to Arduino.cc !

The badge is skillfully designed and sturdily made to last a life time, the backing is iron-on but the badge can also be sewn on.

In stock and shipping now!

NEW PRODUCT – Scratch – Skill badge, iron-on patch – You are learning Scratch! Adafruit offers a fun and exciting “badges” of achievement for electronics, science and engineering. We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share.

This is the “I made something using Scratch!” badge for use with educators, classrooms, workshops, Maker Faires, TechShops, Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and around the world to reward beginners on their skill building journey!

This beautiful badge is made in the USA.

The badge is skillfully designed and sturdily made to last a life time, the backing is iron-on but the badge can also be sewn on.

Badge created with permission from the Scratch team.

What is Scratch?

Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web. As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. Vist the Scratch page.

Adafruit’s badges are manufactured in partnership with AMBRO Manufacturing located in NJ, USA. AMBRO is a family owned and operated business since 1990 that celebrates open-source with Adafruit Industries. You can meet their team here. AMBRO uses non-toxic soy based, water soluble and environmentally friendly printing supplies, threads and more when possible. AMBRO has over 250 solar panels that generate 50,000 Kilowatt hours per year. Their equipment runs solar powered, so the wonderful things AMBRO and Adafruit have worked together on are made with the sun! AMBRO Manufacturing was recognized by Impressions Magazine, a leading trade publication in the garment printing and embroidery business, who published an article highlighting AMBRO and their commitment to their environmentally focused manufacturing practices. Adafruit knows you have a lot of choices as to where you spend your money and time, we hope our open-source values, commitment to green technologies and partners helps make the decision easier and fun!

In stock and shipping now!

Coming soon! The Scratch – Skill badge, iron-on patch!. You are learning Scratch! Adafruit offers a fun and exciting “badges” of achievement for electronics, science and engineering. We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share.

This is the “I made something using Scratch!” badge for use with educators, classrooms, workshops, Maker Faires, TechShops, Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and around the world to reward beginners on their skill building journey!

This beautiful badge is made in the USA.

The badge is skillfully designed and sturdily made to last a life time, the backing is iron-on but the badge can also be sewn on.

Badge created with permission from the Scratch team.

What is Scratch?

Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web. As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively. Vist the Scratch page.

Sign up here!

Nice collection of Skill Patches at DIY’s Facebook page.

NEW PRODUCT – Perl skill badge! Adafruit offers a fun and exciting “badges” of achievement for electronics, science and engineering. We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share.

This is the “Perl” badge for use with educators, classrooms, workshops, Maker Faires, TechShops, Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and around the world to reward beginners on their skill building journey!

This beautiful badge is made in the USA.

The badge is skillfully designed and sturdily made to last a life time, the backing is iron-on but the badge can also be sewn on.

Badged created with permission by the Perl Foundation.

From wikipedia:

Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Though Perl is not officially an acronym, there are various backronyms in use, such as: Practical Extraction and Reporting Language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions. The latest major stable revision is 5.16, released in May 2012. Perl 6 is a complete redesign of the language, announced in 2000 and still under active development as of 2012.

The Perl Foundation is dedicated to the advancement of the Perl programming language through open discussion, collaboration, design, and code. It coordinates the efforts of numerous grass-roots Perl-based groups, including:International Yet Another Perl Conferences; Carries the legal responsibility for Perl 5 and Perl 6; perl.org; Perl Mongers; PerlMonks.

In stock!

Make the Metric system the standard in the United States, instead of the Imperial system. It’s a petition you can sign…

The United States is one of the few countries left in the world who still have not converted to using the Metric System as a standardized system of measurement. Instead of going along with what the rest of the world uses, we stubbornly still adhere to using the imprecise Imperial Unit – despite the fact that practically every other country that we interact with uses Metric.

Why should we convert to using the Metric System? Because it’s superior, less convoluted – everything is ordered in units of tens, while the chaotic arrangement of the Imperial System slows things down for us – not only in terms of education, but also businesses, science, foreign relations, and daily life.

More…

I “heart” METRIC – Requirements Sheet & skill badge. The Metric System is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world. The United States is the only industrialised country that has not defined a metric system as its official system of measurement, although the use of a metric system has been sanctioned for use there since 1866. Although the United Kingdom committed to officially adopting a metric system for many measurement applications, one is still not in universal use there and the customary imperial system is still in common and widespread use. Although the originators intended to devise a system that was equally accessible to all, it proved necessary to use prototype units under the custody of government or other approved authorities as standards. Until 1875, control of the prototype units of measure was maintained by the French Government when it passed to an inter-governmental organisation – the Conférence générale des poids et mesures (CGPM). It is now hoped that the last of these prototypes can be retired by 2014 via Wikipedia.

Did you know all our badges are made in the USA *and* the embroidery machines use solar power! These badges are fueled by a star!

The Perl Foundation gave us permission to make a Perl skill badge (a popular request!). We’ll have these in a few weeks!

The Perl Foundation is dedicated to the advancement of the Perl programming language through open discussion, collaboration, design, and code. It coordinates the efforts of numerous grass-roots Perl-based groups, including:International Yet Another Perl Conferences; Carries the legal responsibility for Perl 5 and Perl 6; perl.org; Perl Mongers; PerlMonks.

Python For Beginners.

This is a new serie of articles here at Python for beginners, that are supposed to be a starting point for completely beginners of Python. See it as a cheat sheet, reference, manual or whatever you want. The purpose is to very short write down the basics of Python. Let’s start with the Basics of Python.

But wait, there’s MORE!

Python @ Codecademy.

Python is a powerful and expressive language that has very simple syntax. If you’re unsure of which programming language to learn, then Python is a great choice. The language is used in a variety of disciplines: application, web, and game development. Python can do it all and you’ll be well on your way to mastery at the end of this track.

One you go through the lessons, award yourself or someone who also deserves it, one of these!

Python – Skill badge, iron-on patch. You’ve learned the Python programming language! Python is an easy-to-learn and programming language that’s popular for its powerful capabilities and human-readable code. The Python logo is used with permission from the Python Foundation.

Adafruit offers a fun and exciting “badges” to celebrate achievement for electronics, science and engineering. We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share.

The Python badge is for use with educators, classrooms, workshops, Maker Faires, TechShops, 4H clubs, Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and around the world to reward beginners on their skill building journey!

This beautiful badge is made in the USA.

With Growth Of ‘Hacker Scouting,’ More Kids Learn To Tinker : NPR.

Countless kids have grown up with the Girl Scouts, the Boy Scouts or Campfire Girls, but for some families, the uniforms and outdoor focus of traditional Scouting groups don’t appeal.

In recent months, Scoutlike groups that concentrate on technology and do-it-yourself projects have been sprouting up around the country. They’re coed and, like traditional Scouting organizations, award patches to kids who master skills.

…

The Hacker Scouts don’t wear uniforms, but soon they’ll be able to earn something akin to merit badges, made by the kid-friendly DIY electronics company Adafruit Industries.
Badges range from “learn to solder,” “aerial quadcopter” and “high-altitude balloon” badges to the “Dumpster-diving” badge — “for when you get dirty but get some free stuff,” explains Adafruit founder Limor Fried.

Read more…

Time For Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts 2.0?

Adafruit iron-on “skill badges” / patches and partners – Adafruit offers fun and exciting “badges” of achievement for electronics, science and engineering. Please visit our badge section to purchase badges or contact us for more information on how educators can participate. We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share. From the “I CAN USE A LASER CUTTER” or “I CAN SOLDER” to “I LEARNED MICRO-CONTROLLERS” Adafruit has designed open-source badges to reward students, beginners and individuals who are learning with Adafruit products.

Hackerscouts & badges! Featuring Adafruit on NPR!. Jon writes -

My story about the Hacker Scouts in California, the web site diy.org and merit badges for young makers will air on “Spark” this weekend.
Listen here. An NPR version is expected to air next weekend or soon thereafter on “Weekend Edition.

Becky and Ladyada with the Adafruit skill badges are on around the 34 minute mark!

DIY: This is where we’re going. ….

Amazing.

This is our heroic vision for the power of practical skills. It’s also the reality on DIY today. Using our app and site, thousands of young Makers build, hack, and share. They do challenges, and earn Skill Patches. They inspire each other to level up.

Adafruit’s not the only “maker badge” maker Check out these badges from DIY.

Tears of Steel – Blender Foundation’s fourth short Open Movie…

“Tears of Steel” was realized with crowd-funding by users of the open source 3D creation tool Blender. Target was to improve and test a complete open and free pipeline for visual effects in film – and to make a compelling sci-fi film in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The film itself, and all raw material used for making it, have been released under the Creatieve Commons 3.0 Attribution license. Visit the tearsofsteel.org website to find out more about this, or to purchase the 4-DVD box with a lot of extras.

We have Blender badge

All of my requirements sheets are geared toward high school environments. If you require either easier or harder requirements feel free to make a request! My objective on the requirements sheet is to have the students familiar enough with the component that they can use it effectively in their designs and troubleshoot problems when they arise. Please feel free to modify the sheet to fit your needs.

This sheet in particular focuses on developing a preliminary understanding of the system. I am considering completing an advanced requirements sheet to address some of the lower level fun.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Pi – Requirements Sheet

Each Friday is PiDay here at Adafruit, be sure to check out our posts, tutorials and new Raspberry Pi related products. Have you tried the new “Adafruit Raspberry Pi Educational Linux Distro” ? It’s our tweaked distribution for teaching electronics using the Raspberry Pi.

Hacker Scouts: Biospheres! @ Ace Monster Toys. Chris writes -

Yesterday marked the inaugural Open Lab for our new adventure: Hacker Scouts. We had an amazing turnout with about 40 enthusiastic kids and their supportive parents! Our featured project was Biospheres , which half the kids decided to work on, while the other half chose activities from our menu, including:

• Learn to Solder
• Drawdio!
• Plushy Sewing Project
• Using the Laser Cutter to produce original designs
• Laser Cut Dino Puzzles
• Kinetic Mobile Art.

Tux earns Raspberry Pi skill badge… Thanks Drew!

Educators who want to introduce their students to the wonders of solar power should check out our Solar Skill Badge Requirements Document.  Also be sure to check out or great Solar Skill Badge, which happens to be a working solar panel button.  Here are some great solar powered projects that will help inspire educators and students alike.  We have a bunch of great solar products available here.

Raspberry Pi Solar Data Logger

From the Adafruit Forums: Custom Solar LiPo Charger

Solar Temperature Badge Project

USB, DC & Solar Lipoly charger tutorial

Custom Solar Minty Project

Adafruit for Educators! #backtoschool

Please visit our educator’s section to learn more about:

• Adafruit volume discounts and programs for educators, discounts galore!
• Adafruit electronic kits, products, Arduino & Raspberry Pi products for education, we have’em!
• Adafruit products and Arduino for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Used in schools!
• The Adafruit System, the best way to learn electronics!
• Adafruit iron-on “skill badges” / patches and partners, celebrate skills building!
• Resources for educators, our picks for educators!
• Adafruit for educators content on Adafruit.com, daily posts for educators!
• Circuit Playground – iPad/iPhone App For Educators, volume discounts via Apple’s edu program!
• Adafruit copyright permission for educators, educators can use them, hassle-free!

Visit.

We added Adam Kemp’s skill badge requirements doc for Robotics to the Adafruit Academy!

The concept of using mechanism and a power source to complete an autonomous task dates back to almost 300 years BC. Today’s robots use sophisticated computers, sensors, mechanics and power sources to complete tasks that range from a simple line-following racecar to six wheeled robots traversing the surface of Mars. This badge focuses on the components and control methods that go into the design and construction of a robotic device.

Collecting maker skill badges is fun, but you need a place to display them! Sure, you could put them on your backpack, but we’d like to show you how to make this easy sash to celebrate all the skills you’ve earned. Check out our complete guide to this quick sewing project over at the Adafruit Learning System.

Adafruit for Educators! #backtoschool

Please visit our educator’s section to learn more about:

• Adafruit volume discounts and programs for educators, discounts galore!
• Adafruit electronic kits, products, Arduino & Raspberry Pi products for education, we have’em!
• Adafruit products and Arduino for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Used in schools!
• The Adafruit System, the best way to learn electronics!
• Adafruit iron-on “skill badges” / patches and partners, celebrate skills building!
• Resources for educators, our picks for educators!
• Adafruit for educators content on Adafruit.com, daily posts for educators!
• Circuit Playground – iPad/iPhone App For Educators, volume discounts via Apple’s edu program!
• Adafruit copyright permission for educators, educators can use them, hassle-free!

Visit.

“Python as Super Glue for the Modern Scientific Workflow”…

Python – Skill badge, iron-on patch. You’ve learned the Python programming language! Python is an easy-to-learn and programming language that’s popular for its powerful capabilities and human-readable code. The Python logo is used with permission from the Python Foundation.

Adafruit offers a fun and exciting “badges” to celebrate achievement for electronics, science and engineering. We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share.

The Python badge is for use with educators, classrooms, workshops, Maker Faires, TechShops, 4H clubs, Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and around the world to reward beginners on their skill building journey!

This beautiful badge is made in the USA.

A new requirements doc by Adam Kemp has been added to the Adafruit Academy– Microcontrollers!

Back in the early 1970’s, two engineers from TI produced the World’s first micro-controller, the TMS 1000. Although Intel had produced an earlier 4-bit CPU, the Intel 4004, it required external circuitry to operate and is therefore considered the first complete CPU on chip. The TMS was a true micro-controller in that it integrated all of the components necessary to function onto one chip and provided an economical embedded solution for electronic devices.  Fundamentally there is little difference between the micro-controllers of today and the ones from the 1970’s. Their objective it to provide a low-power stand-alone computer for embedded applications. Each micro-controller contains a CPU, memory and input/output peripherals and range in speed from a few KHz to a few hundred MHz. This badge will explore the fundamentals of micro-controller design and use and how you might use one in your next awesome project!

Want to earn the skill badge for welding? Check out Adam Kemp’s requirements doc and the projects below! 

On one of my favorite episodes of Make: Live, Hackett showed Matt Richardson how to arc weld. He’s my go-to resource for all things welding, and he teaches classes on different techniques regularly at The Madagascar Institute in Brooklyn NY.

David Lang cronicles his welding experience in this MAKE post.

How-To: Car Battery Welder

Make your own welding rod with coat hangers, silica gel, and lye

Here’s a TIG technique video from kevincaron on YouTube.

There are many types of welding but you might run into arc, torch, MIG, and TIG most often! Here’s some of the first welding I did– practice joints with an oxyacetylene torch.

Adafruit for Educators! #backtoschool

Please visit our educator’s section to learn more about:

• Adafruit volume discounts and programs for educators, discounts galore!
• Adafruit electronic kits, products, Arduino & Raspberry Pi products for education, we have’em!
• Adafruit products and Arduino for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Used in schools!
• The Adafruit System, the best way to learn electronics!
• Adafruit iron-on “skill badges” / patches and partners, celebrate skills building!
• Resources for educators, our picks for educators!
• Adafruit for educators content on Adafruit.com, daily posts for educators!
• Circuit Playground – iPad/iPhone App For Educators, volume discounts via Apple’s edu program!
• Adafruit copyright permission for educators, educators can use them, hassle-free!

Visit.

Pete Prodoehl captured this photo of our skill badges on a lab coat. Hey Surreality Labs– looking’ sharp!

Want to be featured on Flickr pool Friday? Add your Adafruits to the Adafruit Flickr pool.

If you are an educator who is looking to teach a fundamental skill that everyone should know, teaching people how to solder is a great place to start.  Thankfully, we have already created a Learning to Solder skills requirement sheet that you can download for free.  Also, be sure to check out our Learning to Solder Skill Badge.

Here are some great projects and resources to give you some inspiration:

MAKE Magazine’s / MakerSHED’s “Learn to Solder” skill badge kit.

Soldering is Easy Comic Book

 Learn to Solder video from Parallax

Get a ton of soldering practice with the LoL Shield by Jimmy Rodgers!

Adafruit for Educators! #backtoschool

Please visit our educator’s section to learn more about:

• Adafruit volume discounts and programs for educators, discounts galore!
• Adafruit electronic kits, products, Arduino & Raspberry Pi products for education, we have’em!
• Adafruit products and Arduino for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Used in schools!
• The Adafruit System, the best way to learn electronics!
• Adafruit iron-on “skill badges” / patches and partners, celebrate skills building!
• Resources for educators, our picks for educators!
• Adafruit for educators content on Adafruit.com, daily posts for educators!
• Circuit Playground – iPad/iPhone App For Educators, volume discounts via Apple’s edu program!
• Adafruit copyright permission for educators, educators can use them, hassle-free!

Visit.

We’ve added Adam Kemp’s requirements doc for the QR code skill badge to the Adafruit Academy! We now have requirements documents for 16 skill badges, and we’re adding more all the time. We’ve also added this doc to our QR page!

Processing skill badge

All of my requirements sheets are geared toward high school environments. If you require either easier or harder requirements feel free to make a request! My objective on the requirements sheet is to have the students familiar enough with the component that they can use it effectively in their designs and troubleshoot problems when they arise. Please feel free to modify the sheet to fit your needs.

Enjoy!

QR Code – Requirements Sheet

Python @ Codecademy.

Python is a powerful and expressive language that has very simple syntax. If you’re unsure of which programming language to learn, then Python is a great choice. The language is used in a variety of disciplines: application, web, and game development. Python can do it all and you’ll be well on your way to mastery at the end of this track.

One you go through the lessons, award yourself or someone who also deserves it, one of these!

Python – Skill badge, iron-on patch. You’ve learned the Python programming language! Python is an easy-to-learn and programming language that’s popular for its powerful capabilities and human-readable code. The Python logo is used with permission from the Python Foundation.

Adafruit offers a fun and exciting “badges” to celebrate achievement for electronics, science and engineering. We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share.

The Python badge is for use with educators, classrooms, workshops, Maker Faires, TechShops, 4H clubs, Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and around the world to reward beginners on their skill building journey!

This beautiful badge is made in the USA.

We just added Adam Kemp’s lovely requirements document to the Adafruit Academy! Our growing library of educational resources can help you teach others modern technological skills.

Digi XBee® Examples & Guides | Step-by-step Tutorials for Implementing XBee® Wireless Modules in Electronics Projects… via the Rob.

Our brand new Digi XBee Examples project site just went live! Check out  the first tutorials that Matt Richardson and Rob Faludi have published on Digi’s instructional library site: examples.digi.com.

This is fantastic! You can also get yourself an Xbee badge while you’re at it

NEW PRODUCT – Raspberry Pi – Skill badge, iron-on patch. You are learning to use the small Linux based board, the Raspberry Pi! Adafruit offers a fun and exciting “badges” of achievement for electronics, science and engineering. We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share.

This is the “I made something with a Raspberry Pi” badge for use with educators, classrooms, workshops, Maker Faires, TechShops, Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and around the world to reward beginners on their skill building journey!

This beautiful badge is made in the USA.

The badge is skillfully designed and sturdily made to last a life time, the backing is iron-on but the badge can also be sewn on.

Badge created with permission from the Raspberry Pi Foundation. A portion of the sale of each Raspberry Pi badge goes to the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

What is the Raspberry Pi® ? A low-cost ARM GNU/Linux box.

The Raspberry Pi® is a single-board computer developed in the UK by the Raspberry Pi Foundation with the intention of stimulating the teaching of basic computer science in schools. The design is based on a Broadcom BCM2835 system on a chip (SoC), which includes an ARM1176JZF-S 700 MHz processor, VideoCore IV GPU, and 256 megabytes of RAM. The design does not include a built-in hard disk or solid-state drive, instead relying on an SD card for booting and long-term storage. The Foundation plans to support Fedora Linux as the initial system software package/distribution, with support for Debian and Arch Linux as well – Wikipedia.

Raspberry Pi® is a trademark of the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Adafruit’s badges are manufactured in partnership with AMBRO Manufacturing located in NJ, USA. AMBRO is a family owned and operated business since 1990 that celebrates open-source with Adafruit Industries. You can meet their team here. AMBRO uses non-toxic soy based, water soluble and environmentally friendly printing supplies, threads and more when possible. AMBRO has over 250 solar panels that generate 50,000 Kilowatt hours per year. Their equipment runs solar powered, so the wonderful things AMBRO and Adafruit have worked together on are made with the sun! AMBRO Manufacturing was recognized by Impressions Magazine, a leading trade publication in the garment printing and embroidery business, who published an article highlighting AMBRO and their commitment to their environmentally focused manufacturing practices. Adafruit knows you have a lot of choices as to where you spend your money and time, we hope our open-source values, commitment to green technologies and partners helps make the decision easier and fun!

In stock and shipping now!

Twizted in the Adafruit forums writes in with an update about his bag:

Just turned 34 today and my GF got me some new badges for my birthday so I thought I would update the thread with the new ones added

Since the original post I’ve added Dumpster Diving, PHP Elephant (thank you for making this one!), Android, Magic Blue Smoke Monster, QR Code, and Multi-meter.

PHP – Skill badge! - You learned PHP! PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML. Adafruit offers a fun and exciting “badges” of achievement for electronics, science and engineering. We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share.

This is the PHP elephant skill badge is for use with educators, classrooms, workshops, Maker Faires, TechShops, Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and around the world to reward beginners on their skill building journey!

This beautiful badge is made in the USA.

The badge is skillfully designed and sturdily made to last a life time, the backing is iron-on but the badge can also be sewn on.

One of most requested new badge for us to add was one for PHP. So we talked wth Vincent who designed the very cute PHP elephant and we now have permission to make these! The elePHPant created by Vincent PONTIER – www.elroubio.net Adafruit has permission directly from Vincent to make this wonderful badge! Read more about PHP here.

Adafruit’s embroidered badges are manufactured in partnership with AMBRO Manufacturing located in NJ, USA. AMBRO is a family owned and operated business since 1990 that celebrates open-source with Adafruit Industries. You can meet their team here. AMBRO uses non-toxic soy based, water soluble and environmentally friendly printing supplies, threads and more when possible. AMBRO has over 250 solar panels that generate 50,000 Kilowatt hours per year. Their equipment runs solar powered, so the wonderful things AMBRO and Adafruit have worked together on are made with the sun! AMBRO Manufacturing was recognized by Impressions Magazine, a leading trade publication in the garment printing and embroidery business, who published an article highlighting AMBRO and their commitment to their environmentally focused manufacturing practices. Adafruit knows you have a lot of choices as to where you spend your money and time, we hope our open-source values, commitment to green technologies and partners helps make the decision easier and fun!

All of my requirements sheets are geared toward high school environments. If you require either easier or harder requirements feel free to make a request! My objective on the requirements sheet is to have the students familiar enough with the component that they can use it effectively in their designs and troubleshoot problems when they arise. Please feel free to modify the sheet to fit your needs.

Enjoy!

“Dumpster Diving – Requirements Sheet

All of my requirements sheets are geared toward high school environments. If you require either easier or harder requirements feel free to make a request! My objective on the requirements sheet is to have the students familiar enough with the component that they can use it effectively in their designs and troubleshoot problems when they arise. Please feel free to modify the sheet to fit your needs.

Enjoy!

Digi XBee – Requirements Sheet

All of my requirements sheets are geared toward high school environments. If you require either easier or harder requirements feel free to make a request! My objective on the requirements sheet is to have the students familiar enough with the component that they can use it effectively in their designs and troubleshoot problems when they arise. Please feel free to modify the sheet to fit your needs.

Enjoy!

CadSoft EAGLE – Requirements Sheet

Fermentation Thermostat Project – “Ohm Brew” via the Adafruit customer support forums. ruprect writes -

Good afternoon all. I wanted to show you guys my project and possibly get some feedback. I home brew beer and, during the (Texas) summer, I have a problem keeping my house at a temperature that is within the ideal conditions required for the yeast to thrive during the fermentation process. So a common solution to this is to create a fermentation chamber to allow your beer to ferment in a controlled environment. Many people use a chest freezer with an additional thermostat for this. There are a couple non-programmable thermostats available that work very well.

However, when brewing a lager-type beer, a more complex temperature profile is required for ideal fermenting conditions. For instance, a typical lager fermentation could be: Lower the temperature from 76 to 52 degrees over a period of 24 hours, hold temp at 52 for 10 days. Slowly raise temperature to 68 degrees over a period of 24-48 hours, then lower the temp to 34 degrees over a period of 48 hours and then keep it at 34 for 6 weeks.

This sequence of temperature is a lot of work and dedication (especially for someone with as short of an attention span as myself) for a manual thermostat. So I have created a programmable thermostat to control my fermentation chamber. I created it with a PIC18F microcontroller, a TMP36 temperature reading IC, and a relay. I created a user interface with the help of a 16×2 character LCD and an up/down/select keypad arrangement.

I have a ‘Default Lager’ program built into the thermostat (not surprisingly, very similar to the one described above), but I also added a function to be able to create your own temperature profile or edit a currently saved one.

I have added functionality for the user to navigate through the program to any stage/time the user wants.

I’ve just finished up with this, I am currently testing it out and working out a few little bugs here and there, but I hope to be able to put this to work very soon. Being able to brew lager-type beers opens up a whole new set of beer recipes to brew (and drink! )

We’re awarding this maker a “brewing badge!”

All of my requirements sheets are geared toward high school environments. If you require either easier or harder requirements feel free to make a request! My objective on the requirements sheet is to have the students familiar enough with the component that they can use it effectively in their designs and troubleshoot problems when they arise. Please feel free to modify the sheet to fit your needs.

Enjoy!

Welding – Requirements Sheet

Matthew Beckler (one half of the great Wayne & Layne duo) taught a KiCad class on Saturday at the HackPittsburgh maker space.  The multi-part class will teach the participants how to design a physical circuit prototype on a breadboard, translating the breadboard design into KiCad, ordering the PCBs through a quick-turn PCB manufacturer, and then soldering up their own boards.  At the end of the class, the participants will take home their own, completed circuit boards, and an official KiCad skill badge.

This sounds like a really great class, and we love to see our skill badges being put to use.  If you live in the Pittsburgh area and are kicking yourself for missing the class, check out the HackPittsburgh website here, and hopefully Matthew will run another KiCad class in the future.

Check out all of our Skill Badges here (including the KiCad version above).

If you or someone you know has used the requirements sheets to earn their own skill badges, please let us know in the comments below!

Another great requirements doc by Adam Kemp has been added to the Adafruit Academy! It’s Ohm’s Law, bringing the set up to six.

All of my requirements sheets are geared toward high school environments. If you require either easier or harder requirements feel free to make a request! My objective on the requirements sheet is to have the students familiar enough with the component that they can use it effectively in their designs and troubleshoot problems when they arise. Please feel free to modify the sheet to fit your needs.

Enjoy!

Ohm’s Law – Requirements Sheet

Val Head taught her first Processing workshop at HackPittsburgh, and handed out Adafruit Processing skill badges to the participants.

I had such a great time teaching my first Processing workshop this past weekend. I had a wonderful group of ten students to spend the day with and get them started on their own creative coding adventures.

We set aside the last half hour of the class as “free time” for everyone to make something on their own. (An idea I borrowed from Seb’s CreativeJS training.) It was amazing to see what the class came up with even in such a short time. Most of them had never even opened Processing or done any kind of programming before. That made it even more impressive!

Pick up the Processing badge or one of our many other skill badges here.

Adafruit academy list updated – solar!.

Solar cells, or photovoltaics, are made out of photosensitive semiconductors that convert light energy into electricity in a process known as the photoelectric effect. This process describes the interaction between light energy and the materials that make up the individual cell. Depending on how the cell is configured, conversion efficiencies can exceed 30%!

The solar requirements document can be used by educators to help teach students about solar power. Once completing, the students get a solar badge

Dave writes -

My 10yr old’s #Arduino diorama she did for school while also earning another “Hack Scout” badge we got from @adafruit… This is an Arduino based diorama that my 10yr old wanted to do for her book report on “The Egg Monsters From Mars” for school. While wanting to do a diorama she commented that she wanted to spice it up with lights and moving parts. More then glad to help her earn another Hack Scout badge by assisting her with this project she was able to learn a little something with my assistance & referencing the book “Getting Started with Arduino”. The design, painting, & coding she did her self using the example found in the Arduino library based on the “Sweep” example.

This is the future folks, kids making electronic-dioramas, using open-source hardware.

Adafruit offers a fun and exciting “badges” to celebrate achievement for electronics, science and engineering. We believe everyone should be able to be rewarded for learning a useful skill, a badge is just one of the many ways to show and share.

The Ruby badge is for use with educators, classrooms, workshops, Maker Faires, TechShops, 4H clubs, Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and around the world to reward beginners on their skill building journey!

This beautiful badge is made in the USA.

The badge is skillfully designed and sturdily made to last a life time, the backing is iron-on but the badge can also be sewn on.

Adafruit’s embroidered badges are manufactured in partnership with AMBRO Manufacturing located in NJ, USA. AMBRO is a family owned and operated business since 1990 that celebrates open-source with Adafruit Industries. You can meet their team here. AMBRO uses non-toxic soy based, water soluble and environmentally friendly printing supplies, threads and more when possible. AMBRO has over 250 solar panels that generate 50,000 Kilowatt hours per year. Their equipment runs solar powered, so the wonderful things AMBRO and Adafruit have worked together on are made with the sun! AMBRO Manufacturing was recognized by Impressions Magazine, a leading trade publication in the garment printing and embroidery business, who published an article highlighting AMBRO and their commitment to their environmentally focused manufacturing practices. Adafruit knows you have a lot of choices as to where you spend your money and time, we hope our open-source values, commitment to green technologies and partners helps make the decision easier and fun!

In stock and shipping now.

TheViper.

Our Maker Faire project for 2012, part of the Young Makers Program, is “The Viper” — a motion controlled flight simulator inspired by the ship of the same name from the SyFy Channel’s TV Series Battlestar Galactica. I just bought some great badges from you for the flightsuits for my son’s latest invention.  Thanks for having great tech goodies and an inspiring collection of engineering quotes.   If you’d like to see what 5 high school kids can do with some Arduinos, open source Flight gear software, an airplane fuselage, welded steel, and some electric motors, check out their project for the Bay Area Maker Faire:  the VIPER flight simulator. Truly amazing! www.the-viper.org Cheers–a happy customer