Do you sometimes feel your electronics seem a little well... naked? Perhaps they are lacking a little support or need mechanical parts to finally realize world domination? Well it's time to think outside the boring black project enclosure!
GeekDad, Ponoko and SparkFun are teaming up for a unique design competition with a very impressive prize.
What is Ponoko you say? You haven't heard? It's the world's easiest making system! Ponoko is a very cool laser cutting service with a impressive selection of plastics, wood, fabrics and other materials available for your custom design. Check out their showroom for some inspiration or check out our Snake Stomp Game. We used Ponoko to custom design our acrylic pads. Then we stuffed them full of LEDs and accelerometers to create a custom game interface.
So, here's the deal: design a brilliant device, gadget, widget or work of art using materials and components from SparkFun and Ponoko. Then post the sketches, product photos or the final designs on GeekDad's flickr pool by July 31st and tag them 'Ponoko'. If all you have is your imagination that's ok too, put a description of your concept in the comments section of the GeekDad post. A panel of judges from GeekDad and Ponoko will choose their 10 favorite designs. Those designs will be posted on a public poll for readers to decide the overall winner.
But what is this most astonishing prize you ask?
That part is up to you! If you win, your design will be produced for free by Ponoko and SparkFun.
SparkFun and Ponoko want to make it easy for you to assemble your ideas into real products. Homebrew sunrise alarm clock? A few SparkFun parts wrapped up in Ponoko goodness creates an attractive personalized bedside buddy. Reverse geocaching box? Build a custom treasure chest and send your kids off on a treasure hunt. The possibilities are endless!
Keep in mind that to make something on Ponoko, you need to submit your design in either EPS or SVG format. They have plenty of getting started documentation and FAQ to help you out with this.
That's pretty cool! It's nice that Sparkfun will gladly team up with companies who others might call competitors to come up with a new concept.
So, just to be clear, this doesn't have to be for children, correct? Like it can be anything?
Correct - build whatever you want.
When does this competition end? If I can, I would gladly submit my "Saphira-Project", that I'm still thinking about.
July 31. There's more information at the GeekDad site:
GeekDad: Competition: Design a Geeky Product Using Ponoko and Get it Made for Free
It's ok to use some parts that are not from sparkfun or ponoko, right? Because I have a bunch of old servos lying around that I would like to use.
Absolutely - you can use any parts you want. We'd just like to see what can do!
I'm really curious about those Snake Stomp pads. Please take some pictures of them!
There is a picture of them in the Maker Faire San Mateo recap: http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/news.php?id=367