Embedded - 49: Is That an Ardunio in Your Pocket

Episode Date: April 30, 2014

Tenaya Hurst (@ArduinoWoman) shares her incredible enthusiasm for teaching Arduino and the San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation (The Tech). Being a geo-anthrop-actress, Tenaya teaches chemistry, geology, Arduino, and beginning wearables for the Tech, for their Galileo summer camp, for Oakland's Workshop Weekend, and on her own recognizance through her website.  Tenaya will be at the Linino booth at the Maker Faire in San Mateo, CA on May 17-18, 2014 Tenyana's movie credits Lilypad sewable (washable!) electronics Other places to connect: @TenayaRocks, @LininoWoman, and Google+ Penny Arcade Museum Also noted, Elecia was interviewed in Circuit Cellar magazine, May 2014 (#286). In the first few minutes of this show, she gives a discount code for their store.

Welcome to Making Embedded Systems, the show for people who love gadgets. I'm Alicia White. My guest this week is Tania Hurst, one of the amazing folks who work at San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation. That is TMI for those of you who want acronyms, but we'll talk about that more in a second. Before we get started, I suggest you look at May's Circuit Seller magazine, one of the very last print magazines devoted to embedded and electronics. They did an interview with an embedded systems expert. You can imagine how shocked I was to find out it was me. Nah, they asked me a bunch of questions and then put together the article as though I was a slick professional. So it was very cool.

Please check them out because they were so nice to me. And they gave me a coupon for their store to share with my friends and colleagues, which I guess is you. It is CCED20, Charlie Charlie Echo Delta 2-0, and that'll get you 20% off everything but subscriptions. They've got many books, including some audio ones that may end up in Christopher's birthday gift pile. And by audio, I mean audio design. So that's kind of cool. They've also got some kits, which brings me back to my guest. Hi, Tanaya. Thank you for joining me.

Thank you so much for having me. Could you tell me about yourself? Well, I am from the Bay Area, and I went to high school at Akilani's and was always interested in theater. So I went to Indiana University to have a degree in theater. And while I was there, I, of course, fleshed out my interest in geology, and as well as anthropology. So I left with a triple major, and was really proud about cramming all of that in and as well as I was awarded Phi Beta Kappa, which I'm also super

proud of. I worked hard to get that nomination and I achieved it. And since I overachieved, may be on the list here. I might be an overachiever. It is true. You know, just doing geology homework, you know, and then rushing off to rehearsal. That's sort of my thing. And then coming back to the Bay Area, I, of course, got into theater again and had some odd jobs doing some kind of weird things. And I found myself at the Tech Museum of Innovation. And it has been an upward, an upward spiral, I would like to even say, ever since then. And you say Tech Museum of Innovation, and I'm so used to calling it the tech. But I gather they're trying to get us to change that a little bit.

It goes along with our mission statement, which is to inspire the innovator in everyone. And I love that because it's not like we want to inspire the innovator in the people who we can get to or the people who visit there. We want to affect everyone. So we really are a world museum in that we have visitors from all over the world and, of course, all over the Bay Area. And we support hands-on science learning or, of course, this thing we hear about called STEM, which... Science, technology, engineering, and math. There you go. And if you want to have STEAM, you just add art for A. Extra vowels are always useful.

Throw in some art there. So of course, I support that goal and actual practice at the museum. So today you did, I mean, you had a huge day. Thank you for coming by after this long day. But this morning there was a flow event. What is that? Yes, that was part of something called Open Make at the Tech Museum. And they did read about that.

Yeah, they have it every once in a while. And this time was huge. Tech Museum and they... Oh, I did read about that. Yeah, they have it every once in a while. And this time was huge. They brought in not necessarily vendors, but just makers, creators of really cool things that all had to do with electricity. So they brought me in because we are going to be offering some Arduino workshops at the Tech in May and some wearable workshops probably in June. And then just like last year, I'll be teaching at the Tech Summer Camps or Camp Galileo, also Arduino and wearable technology. What's the age range for the Camp Galileo? That one at our location is fourth through sixth grade and sixth through eighth grade.

So there's both. I know, I know, I know you're too old. You're past it. Can I fake it? Maybe. There are some tall middle schoolers these days. So you did that and then you went to teach Arduino workshops all day after that? Yes, I did. While they were on lunch break in Oakland, I was driving to Oakland. And when everybody got back, I was ready to lead the next round of Arduino workshops for a group called Workshop Weekend. And we do work in Oakland, but we're just a group of electrical engineers and programmers and me. And we put on these workshops for, you know, mostly adults, but sometimes kids have taken the workshops too. And what do you, what do you manage to get through? How long is the workshop? It is just two days, so it is a bit overwhelming.

That is part of it, but we've sort of changed how we run it, where Saturday is kind of structured, so we of course give an intro to Arduino. We touch on some intro to programming or in the C++ language. And in Saturday, we also talk about systems thinking, which is kind of zooming back from Arduino and saying, okay, what do you want it to do? And you know, how do you get there? And which ones are Dan? I was gonna say Danalog that doesn't work digital and analog Danalog coined here. That's when you want it to do both square and curvy waves all in one. So yes, with your Danalogs and with your thinking through it. So we, we establish all that. Then Sunday is really an open day where it's not

like, Hey, I paid to be here. It's like, Hey, you have access to these great Arduino teachers and educators and electrical engineers and have them help you with your project. And if you don't have a project, we have projects you can try. So what kind of projects do you usually have them help you with your project. And if you don't have a project, we have projects you can try. So what kind of projects do you usually have them try? Well, if I'm teaching exactly how I like to do it, I like to teach people in sort of an abyss of learn how to use this component. And then let's put that away. And now let's learn how to use this component. And just seeing like the basic code where things are on their own. But of course, with like even just little basic projects, you're usually using a couple inputs and a couple outputs.

So one of my favorite projects is called Love-O-Meter. And basically, you have a couple LEDs and a thermistor or a temperature sensor. Yeah, I always have to, sorry, laugh about thermistor just because it sounds funny. But Mr. Therm. Mr. Therm. Mr. Therm, exactly. So holding on to the thermistor, you can affect the LEDs. And then this is, of course, referencing what no kid knows is like old-timey carnival. Yeah, mood rings.

And like there's a museum in San Francisco, like old carnival booth. Arcade is what I'm really thinking of, like arcade little things. But not video arcade, the old boardwalk arcades. That is how we're going to call it, boardwalk arcade things, yes. The Tom Hanks big movie where he – Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. So that's – you used to put your thumb on it, you know, and there was a thermistor under there.

Nobody knew it. And there was an Arduino. There was a microcontroller in that device, but it was controlled to do that one function, which is when someone puts their thumb here, you measure how hot it is, and you turn on this many lights based on how hot their thumb is. So I like that project. Do you do light theremins too, where you block the light and it makes some little... Definitely, with the piezo. Yes, exactly.

Yes, I love light theremins. And you can have a light light theremin too, where the LDR or the photocell, photoresistor, all those are the same thing, where that can affect lights. So a basic project that can correlate to a bigger deal is you use this photo cell to read data on your porch, for example, and when it reaches a certain light level, it turns your porch light on. And this, of course, is a great way to save energy. And you can make a backup in the code, like if for some reason it's malfunctioning, turn the light on at 7 p.m. But you can also use it as a way to save energy. And then do you talk to them about hysteresis, like when you turn the light on, now it's

different and you still have to sample and all of that? Exactly. So, but these people are brand new to electronics and coding and all of that, or are they interested and just need a little push? There's a little of both. Somehow how we've managed to run this workshop weekend is we have brand new people who are like, I am going to dedicate, I'm going to take this workshop because I really want to learn this now. Sometimes we have teachers who are wanting to make a

makerspace at their school. That's sort of a big trend right now. It's so cool. It's so great. They're like taking the initiative themselves. And then we of course have super expert programmers or electrical engineers that are like, I've heard of this. So not everyone is pure to it, but we cater to both levels at the same time. And that's also why opening up to Sunday to be like, work on whatever you want to, and we're here and we will help you actively and we'll jumpstart you with new ideas. Robots are hard with Arduino without the right motor shield because it doesn't really put out enough current. Do people come in saying, I want to build a robot? And you're like, yeah, maybe not.

It depends on the scale of your robot. And honestly, that's something I need to delve into more because I have taught Lego robotics too. So that doesn't use Arduino. But and then I also work for a company called CC Logistics, which is the US distributor of Arduino. And it's like weirdest company name ever. It's like CC, letter CC, logistics. And they are also offering now the Arduino robot, which honestly looks like a Roomba. So the Arduino robot will not vacuum for you. It will do many other functions that are programmed into the bot.

And of course, there's many, you know, available places to solder in other components you'd like, but there's an ultrasonic motion sensor and, you know, there's definitely a piezo and it can do, oh, like one cool thing that's coming out is that Google car. Everybody's talking about the Google car. The self-driving car. The self-driving car. And it can read like paint on the, I was going to say the floor, on the street. Yeah, they can read the curb.

They see all this data. This tiny Arduino robot can actually follow a line. And so it sort of resembles and again, I love that word correlates to sort of a bigger like real world, you could have a job working on this kind of thing. So when I'm teaching kids, I'm like, yes, we're teaching a robot to follow a line. And they're like, that's not that cool. I'm like, well, one day, if you master this, you could work for Google and design that car for us. So I hope by the time they get there, we've got the car. Me too. You've only been working with Arduinos since about March of last year. What drew you to it? This is funny too. This was actually an open make at the tech museum, also sort of themed around

wearable technology and electricity. And it was March 16th, 2013. We totally need music here, don't we? Do-do-do-do. Do-do-do-do. Do-do-do. And I was simply assigned to facilitate and contribute to this event, just like show up on Saturday. And I met one of our exhibit team members named Romy,

and he had made a wearable coat with conductive fabric that when people touched it, completed the circuit and played music. And I was instantly hooked and astounded and wanted to know everything about it. And then at some point during the day, this five-year-old, I'll never forget him, obviously, I just came over to him like I did to any other guest that day and said, oh, hey, have you heard about Arduino? And he goes, oh, I know what Arduino is. And I was just like, well, if this kid knows what Arduino is, I will find out more. And I will learn it. And I will, you know, I was so like jazzed by this kid who's like, you know, he barely is like five years old.

I mean, he was so young. You shouldn't be able to read, kid. Yes. He's like, oh, I code with Arduino, you know, on my off days. So shortly after this magical March 16th day, I was interviewing to work at Camp Galileo or tech summer camps. And it was actually my former boss of the labs because he had moved more fully to Camp Galileo. And so, he's interviewing me. He's like, Tanaya, I'd love you to work for the summer camp.

I have two new classes that have never been taught before ever on Earth, Arduino and wearable tech. Are you interested? And I said, I know what Arduino is. He goes, you're in. So little does he know, I mean, he does know, but that started my whole career with all of this. And so then that empowered me. I talked to the folks at Arduino, CC Logistics, this other company that makes Linino. And, you know, now I'm working for all of them. And, you know, people see me as this resource for learning Arduino. Do you go beyond the Arduino-ness of it?

Do you delve into the Atmel Atmega processor and how to get rid of all of the training wheels or do you not really worry so much? Pretty much. I'm interested in all of that for sure, but because I'm focusing on how to get people interested, like at a beginner level, I haven't totally gone that far. I do know some people at Atmel and I'm working with some people at Qualcomm on another project. So I want to know

more, but I'm still also sort of like the face that can get people interested at a convention and definitely in a class where I only have an opportunity to teach someone for like an hour and a half, you know, I will get them excited and motivated and, uh, you know, get them to want to come back for more and to be interested on their own, to become a maker, but still I'm new to programming as well. So my brother is a computer programmer. His name is Dakota, so we call him Decoder. Works out well. And he and I have actually had this great new awakening with our relationship in working on Arduino. So I'll set up the little connections, and then he'll take a look at the code, and he'll change things for me and help me understand it. So he does recognize the training wheels that you're referring to as sort of an Arduino IDE is a little bit different than C++. And that's why the upper level programmers

want to move on to other environments. Well, sometimes they just strip out all of that stuff and stay on that processor because it's a neat processor. I think it's a great place to learn because it is such a neat processor that if you're comfortable there, you can do so much more with it. Do you ever run out of code space or processing time or just this system doesn't have enough oomph for me? That is a problem that can occur. And so usually if someone is prototyping with Arduino Uno, that's where you hit a wall and you're like, oh, for this project, I need it to do this. And that's where Arduino, of course,

steps in with all those variations of Esplora, Leonardo, Due Milanova they came out with, or Micro. Maybe you're like, I don't need as much space or I just need a Micro and something like a shift register, which of course gives you essentially more pins to play with if you need to do that. So when that happens, when you've hit a wall with a project, you just you need to find a new Arduino. And that might be Arduino YUN, which goes wireless. And it could also be LININO, or this board that we're calling the ONE, which is sort of a play on UNO and One. And the One is sort of a basic prototyping platform for wireless and Linux systems.

Oh, I didn't realize it was a Linux system. That's pretty cool. That's getting into more serious development. For sure. And this Linino or One board, we also call it Little Dog. Oh, it has so many names. It came out at last year's Maker F Fair and will definitely be there again this year. But I went to this electrical engineering conference, ESEDHA, or, you know, for the Department Heads Association. And that was

so enriching to meet a lot of people, you know, in more higher levels of development, because we spoke to some of these university professors, department heads, and they said, you know, some of our students get hooked on Arduino and they don't want to let it go. Like they don't want to work in other, you know, circuits basically. It is really a nice processor and you don't have to do a lot of things you have to do with other processors and other dev kits. Exactly. And, you know, so they want it to be part of the smorgasbord of their students' work. But I asked many of them, and even at the university level, they're not teaching a specific class in Arduino. They're, you know, only inviting them to use it in a senior project, for example.

But really, the Lenino is being considered at, you know, very high levels of development where, you know, if people want to have something wireless, if they want something to only work on Linux or have the ability to. And so like SparkFun is using one of our Leninos to prototype this crazy thing for a NASA satellite. So what I love about it is, of course, you know, a 10 year old and me with some wires and some inputs and outputs, we can have a great time. And then people in very high levels of industry really can still get a lot out of it and prototype quickly and to be able to design what they're designing. Exactly. But your background is not software. It's not electronics. And I think that's great because you don't know all the answers and you can maintain the

communication layer. You know, when I try to explain Arduino to someone, I start talking about the Atmega and they're like, that's not what I wanted to know. Because it's a neat processor. You should be really excited about it. And JTAG and how you can get rid of all your... But no, you're teaching people the way they want to be taught, which is show me the cool stuff. And because you don't necessarily have the background of here's how programming should be done, you get a little more done because you don't have to worry about the shoulds. But do you find it a disadvantage not to be able to necessarily talk to the electrical engineers and say, no, you're doing it wrong.

Oh, yeah. I would never tell them they're doing it wrong. Yeah, it is a distance for sure. Because when the programmers are talking, like initially it was all over my head, of course, because I had never seen it. And then, of course, now it's like, I understand that little bit,

then they lose me, then I understand that bit, and then they've lost me, but coming back, I get it now. So, and again, my brother's been a great, you know, alliance in that way. But these workshop weekend guys, they're sort of like my crew, they've been very helpful in, you know, showing me. But what I also love about Arduino is if you were learning this, you know, in the backwoods of Montana, in the codes, they have all these comments. The Arduino folks and the community is so fantastic for, let's show people, because it was designed not to be a platform to develop on. It was designed to be a platform to educate with. Exactly. And it just makes it, I love Arduinos. I admit it. It is pretty good. And yet, my background, that's not necessarily me, but my mom was a really expert sewer and artist, of course, too. And so she's taught me how to sew. And so when I came around to wearable tech, it was so natural for me because I was like, I know how to make

garments and I you know, I love project runway and all this. And, and then I love, you know, circuits. That's wonderful. Then my grandpa was an electrical engineer as well as an engineer. And he was at a Kappa new and Tao beta pi. So he was an overachiever as well. And yet he, I don't remember actually learning that much electricity from him, but it is so interesting that my mom did pass away in 2011 and then my grandpa in 2013. But just months after he passed away, I learned what an Arduino was. So it's like they're sort of living through me,

and I can enjoy this now, but of course there's this asterisk of, dang, this Arduino thing came out in 2005, and I had all these years with my mom and grandpa still. I could have been doing this with them. So it's okay, Carpe Diem, I'm doing it now. And you never, you know, maybe they're watching and happy and thrilled. But wearables and Arduino, are you looking at LilyPad and the other special four wearables? How are you doing

the wearables? So I definitely work with Lilypad. We are tight. And there are many choices for you. So I, of course, teach on the basic beginner, which is let's sew a Lilypad with some lights. And I see you've got some right here. I've got the little lily pad lights sewed on with conductive thread. If you look on the inside, it's really wretched. Oh, there's all kinds of short-circuited. All sorts, yes. Because that conductive thread is so annoying. It goes everywhere.

It coils, it twists. It's like, just kidding, I'm going to leave a big dangly loop back here and you won't catch me until 10 stitches ahead. It does that. That's actually what's, you know, most frustrating to my students is just even threading their needle. And then I'm like, oh, it gets more fun after that. It'll coil and twist. But there are different conductive threads. There are. So there's nylon. I actually didn't sew this. I have a friend who sews. I don't. And I gave her the three jars or spools of thread I had lying around, and she bought a couple more. And she was like, this is the only one we can ever use again because it's the best.

I have no idea what it was. What's the best? Is it the least resisted or the easiest to sew with? She didn't care at all about resistive. And my circuits here are my little stuffed animal, which, trust me, listeners, you will be hearing more about the stuffed animal soon. But it doesn't really matter. It's a couple of LEDs and a board that's less than a foot away.

Exactly. And that's the great thing about that initial lily pad, which of course works on a coin cell battery, is that it's a great way to get a simple circuit going. And in my classes, we use alligator clips because you can draw out your circuit. But sometimes it's fun to just even to those tiny LEDs you clip on and you make sure it works because a common issue with the workshops is people want, I want five blue LEDs and five yellow. And I'm like, great. That may not all work off of one lily pad. Like we might need to add another in parallel just to give it enough power.

But I've had like 20 white LEDs working off of one. So they're very weird and their data sheets aren't necessarily accurate to what you see. So I usually encourage that just so no one's really depressed after they've spent hours sewing in. But the conductive thread, yeah, there's definitely nylon. There's cotton-based. There's steel. Boy, the steel is hard to use. It is a bit harder for sure.

And you feel it. So the nylon is easier to sew with. Yeah. But might be a little less resistant. So, of course, a small stuffed animal project, it's like like use either if you're going to put your lily pad up on your shoulder and you want a light on your toe to blink you know you might you might even matters then yeah you might even want to use a wire because it's like why use a wire well you know you want you don't want to lose a like you don't use power over such a distance i haven't really understood

why conductive thread instead of wires it doesn't buy me a lot especially if i can do it on the inside of something it's a little more flexible but but it's washable that's the thing and it won't rest oh that's oh yeah and they do make a conductive ribbon, which is also a really cool option because there's actually three conductive threads in this ribbon. So you could actually connect two of them at least to make a ground and, you know. And then a one-wire connection. Yeah. Should be fine. But, yeah, even today someone said, well, what if I want something flexible and the thread isn't flexible?

And I said, well, you can buy the most expensive conductive fabric they offer which is a stretchable jersey oh yes i saw that i wanted it although i have no idea why i want it because conductive fabric i mean that's a lot of those buttons you were talking about the guy's jacket i mean he must have had like a size of a tennis ball. Yeah, yeah. They're like three inches diameter. And they were just big enough so people could touch them. And again, these conductive fabric pieces were all on my sleeves.

Listeners, just so we know, I'm not asking children to touch other parts of my coat. But they would touch on the sleeves. And we would shake hands, again, making the contact there. And then by using their hand, after we're already shaking hands, they complete the circuits, and each one was a different note. And so you sent electricity through the children. I did that, too. Electrocuting the children is awesome. There's always other ways my work can be taken.

But I can see how the tactileness of that would be very interesting. Where did you have the LEDs? Oh, so it was actually, we had a speaker in the pocket. So this was just playing music. So the output was music. So you became a giant keyboard. Yes. Which is so cool because one of my projects that I definitely have led workshops on also

is making a keyboard piano tie. And so you have, you know, somebody can play your tie. And that's a great thing. I mean, also what works great for men, because I've done like a corporate setting workshop as well, where people are invited, of course, to just bring in something they want to add electronics to. So I bring fabric always, but people can bring their favorite sweatshirt, their hat. So with my high heels, all of my high heels was put lights on the high heels. And so, uh, but it was so funny about the men is, and they immediately knew what I was talking about. I said, you could even bring a tie in that has a stain and they're like, aha. And then, and then they sewed the lily pad right on there or sewed the lights on, you know, a little dribble of ketchup, little led each one.

And then they have a cool lit up tie now that they can wear, you know, when appropriate. But, uh, and of course I've, my favorite workshop I did last year, I've got to do a hundred of them this year is of course for Halloween and Christmas. Of course. Yes. Cause of course, parents out there, you want to see your kids while you're trick-or-treating or trick-or-treating, however you say that. But,, but you add lights onto their costume and then you can see them. We give out glow sticks. And this year people knew

that we were giving out glow sticks because we always give them out. And people came and like, we have to go here first to get the glow sticks and then we can go get the candy. Exactly. So you can keep track of them. So with the jacket.

Yes. How do you not have it touch all the time? I mean, with the button, you'd have a spring. Exactly. So for me wearing it, because I can complete my own circuit. The secret is I have some conductive fabric around my wrist that I am wired into. So I'm like grounding to myself. So I then can just touch and play because I'm completing the circuit by, by it being attached to me. And I'm of course a conductor. So then when, when I still shake a hand with another, you know, kid or adult or whatever, now still the circuit is open, but the electricity is going through to them and then they can

complete it. So there's actually no conductive fabric touching me underneath. The fabric was insulating, but each pad of conductive fabric ultimately was, we used wire, we didn't use thread for this one, but it was wired all the way to my pocket where the Arduino was. But there were two pieces of thread that touched each other in order to make this happen,

but one of them was around your wrist. Yeah, like a little strip of the conductive fabric, yeah. Okay, so your wrist is your grounding strap, and then you would touch something. You'd touch one of the conductive pad, conductive fabric areas, and that would ground that. Okay, I got it. I was trying to think of how to make a button with two pieces of fabric,

and I couldn't keep them apart. Yes, oh, well, so that just to throw in, literally what you throw in is a piece of fabric with holes in it, like Swiss cheese. So you have like on normal setting, it's not touching. I mean, of course, depending on your project, you might want thicker fabric or a little piece of foam, but then when you push down enough of that little fabric touches the other little fabric through that swiss cheese yeah and that's actually yes yeah that's on spark fun they have great tutorials and wearables and i i stole that right from them how do you deal with power is this all battery um or do you do

lipos or do you do double a's or well i don't get liposuction surgery, if that's what you're alluding. Of course not. I spend a lot of time with these lithium polymer batteries. There you go, Lucy. I spend way too much time with them, clearly. No, I call them lipo too, of course. And in my chemistry lab, I teach at the tech, we talk all about lithium and the setting of lithium chloride. But yes, so for the programmable lily pad, which we are just getting into now too, which is basically the same thing as an Arduino with pins and analog and digital, all that,

it is washable and it's a big circle. So all the pins are on the outside. And that one, I definitely use lithium polymer power. And you can get different size. Don't wash that part, though. Exactly. And just like with the coin cell, it's washable, but just take that coin cell battery out. So there is something called LiPower, which you can add into even the normal coin cell battery setup.

But you wouldn't necessarily need to even use the coin cell if you're using LiPower. But that is one of the other branches off of LilyPad with like, there's buzzers, there's something called LilyTwinkle, there are all kinds of sensors. So each of those run, depending on, you know, if you're a distributor or not, they're about, you know, $7

to $9 for each one. Like even the RGB light is like $7. Yeah. They add up. They do. But they are all designed to be washable and they're all designed to be very easy to use. And they have the resistors and, you know, it's all, it's ready to go. So playing with those, you could definitely make a circuit just using LiPower and add that lithium polymer and then sew on as normal.

So there's sort of that in between the coin cell and lily pad Arduino. Do you use regular Arduinos in wearables too? You certainly can. And that would be the category of what I'd call modular. So you just make it so it is removable. So you can wash your garment. You decide I'm never going to wash this garment or uh you know based on again your needs of the arduino because uh for example at the flow event today we had this guy named brian he's from seattle and he made a whole light up suit uh which is fantastic but he had to have 12 lithium polymer batteries and he certainly had you know still only worked for an hour exactly you know i'm like you better go get charging pretty soon but uh and then you know he he had like an arduino in his pocket but this was

like a canvas one and done suit to see me or is that an arduino in your pocket i would hope in these days i want it to be an arduino honestly so you do this for the tech, but you also teach workshops separate. I certainly do. And inspired from my connection with the tech summer camps initially. But, of course, all of the parents were like, well, where can we do this? Where can our friends do this? So it's the good old corporate events, birthday parties. You know, are you the new Silicon Valley clown?

Am I a clown? I mean, cause it would be so much more fun to have an Arduino workshop for my birthday party than like a clown. I don't know whether Arduino workshop or bouncy house is still kind of up in the air for me personally, but, but it could go either way. Certainly. I mean, it's, it is, it's so funny you say it like that too, because I, so when I'm, when I was more into my geology, cause I am, and I do still do this as well, I would go to classrooms and they would bring me in, you know, you know, just for that one day,

show off some rocks, talk about some geology, play tectonics, like cool basics. And then, you know, go to the next classroom and cart over my little rocks. And I've done that for birthday parties as well. And so then, uh, when I, when I started my own company, which is called Arduino woman, that's right. That's me. Uh, then I said, well, I'm going to sort of have this model. So I'm sort of like pampered chef where it's like, hey, invite all your friends over and buy some knives and eat good food and buy like a garlic press or something. But instead, it's like, hey, everybody who's coming is going to purchase a wearable kit. I've done many events where they're like, hey, everybody's getting the same thing or

where it's like it's going to be individual. So I'm like, great. I have kits for 15, 20, 25, 40, you know, however many lights you want to get. And then I have the extra components too, if people want those. So, uh, so, and then I bring, of course my whole caboodle of, you know, normal thread, which I call it that now normal thread, um, to differentiate it from the good stuff, of course, exactly from the primo. Uh, and then, you know, I bring fabric, I bring embroidery hoops, chalk, tape measures, extra needles, headbands, if people want to make a little headband project, you know, like I bring everything that I can think of that people have asked me for in previous workshops. And I've taught over 50 of them now. And, and it's, it's so much fun. Each one is

unique. And I love to see how everybody prototypes differently. And so that's the wearable side. And then for sure, I do just an Arduino workshop and that works even easier because then it's like, you know, you pay me something for my time and then I bring all the kits. If people want this stuff, of course, I'm a distributor. I can bring stuff, but you don't have to purchase the kits just to play with them for that day. I can take them away. And then of course I do tutoring on the side. I do everything on the side, but there are some parents who are like, yes, I really want you to be the mentor

for, you know, my son's Arduino wing and, and, and I'm there. It sounds like you're very enthusiastic about it. I mean, it just is, it must be easier to teach when you're so outgoing about these things. Oh, I'm just, I am lucky that it is purely from the heart that I think this is absolutely the coolest thing. We all need to learn it and know it. And it's a great way to get kids interested in electrical engineering, which from that conference with the department heads,

I was asking them, I'm like, how many people really get to the college level? And they're like, yeah, I want to be an electrical engineer. And they say there is like a drop-off rate. Of course, freshman and sophomore year, there are for all majors. Yeah, they realize that engineering is hard. Yeah, exactly. It's very hard. And it involves a lot of physics and definitely a lot of math.

And so I want to encourage kids that it is worth it. But of course, being in Silicon Valley, a lot of them are attracted to the programming. So in, of course, Camp Galileo situation, I make them at least the first couple of days. I want the programming. So in, of course, Camp Galileo situation, I make them at least the first couple of days. I want you to do this sketch is what we call it on Arduino. And I want you to upload it and have your partner check your circuitry. And then I want you to switch physical seats or move the Arduino over and move the laptop over and then do it again. You know, I want you to do now that other job. And that really pushes them. And then, of course, by the end of the week, the one that's like, I got this on the circuits,

he or she is going for it. And the one who's like, I got this on the programming is mainly on the computer. That makes sense. Although I was a programmer and finally discovered the joy of jumper wires and all of the things you can do without soldering. And I'm so thrilled with Arduino and the community because it doesn't have to be, you don't have to be an electrical engineer. And the things are cheap enough that,

okay, you put five volts through that LED and it was rated for three and now there's a black thing and red doesn't work anymore, but blue and green still do. Yay! Seriously, this was last week for me. So it's fun that way.

And you make me want to go out and teach kids. Oh, well, I do really enjoy it. And it's funny that you say, they are relatively cheap, obviously. I mean, this isn't like you're spending thousands of dollars on like one board, but I will open it up that it is a new shopping addiction. Oh, and there are,

because there are all the little shields and then all the little widgets and they've really tried to make it easy for me to buy things. Certainly. You're like, hey, a resistor is 20 for a dollar. You know, that's the cheapest thing I'll buy all day. Okay. I introduced you as working for the tech and what, so it's San Jose's main tech museum and there's the Discovery Museum, but that's for kids. Definitely. And we're for kids, too.

But they're little kids. They cater to really young kids. And we definitely have exhibits that little kids can enjoy. Because, again, it's a lot of hands-on. And, of course, a family will come. And they come maybe for their 7-year-old or their 12th grader even. But there's always a younger kid. So we do have some, but of course, even straight from our president,

he's like, two feet away, there is a children's museum. So we want to cater to slightly older kids usually. But it is not the Computer History Museum. It is not. That's in Mountain View, and that's more for adults. You can say, ah, that computer, I had that when I was 12. And they have all of them. They have this wall of had that, wanted that, cried when I didn't get it for Christmas,

but I did get it for my birthday. Had that, wanted that, wanted that, wanted that. Only jerks had that one. And I love that board. And the Computer History Museum is great, but it's not the tech. Because the tech's more hands-on. And you had a smell exhibit once. And I couldn't imagine that people, they would stick their whole face in it and take

a big whiff, even though it said like vomit. Hey, they want to try it. You know, they're triers. Well, that's so funny. We have an exhibit there right now that deals with another sense, which is just the sense of hearing. And it's a whole exhibit on music and it's called Reboot Music. For those of you who've been hearing it on Pandora or whatever, they do have like ads everywhere, but it is a really neat thing. Like we've invited artists to give us their device exhibits and then there's kids interacting with it all over. So some of them use lights for sure. So lights are involved and we use actually the Xbox connect, which is hilarious. And as I tell my physics of rollercoaster students, that is, they're completely stealing off of kinetic energy because to play Xbox connect,

you have to move. So these exhibits, you will see kids like running all around and like seeing what changes to the lights or the sound based on their motion so it's also you know combining inputs and outputs but that is really spectacular and it's only there till august 17th thank you for the commercial is the star wars exhibit still there star wars did close unfortunately march 23rd man i know they extended it but we had to clear out parkside Hall or as it was formerly known, the Dark Side Hall. We had to clear it out to make room for the Tech Challenge, which is a massive event that happens every year at the museum. And this is actually the 27th annual Tech Challenge. So the museum, for those of you keeping track, has only been around 15 years.

So yeah. It doesn't work. I know. So this tech challenge thing started, and then a couple years later, somebody's like, hey, we should have a whole museum that does this every day. And it was a really spectacular event this year, and I'm a little partial because I was the emcee. Very cool. The music one, how do you convince engineers that this needs to be robust enough to not break when a thousand kids come through every two hours and pound on it? Oh, certainly. That is a huge struggle of the exhibits team of they want to, you know, of course, contribute some, you know, playful learning experiences, profound experiences, but that last.

And so, you know, any idea they have, they have to go, OK, seeing as, you know, we have 100,000 kids coming through here, you know, like you said, pounding on it, twisting it, seeing how they can break it. So, you know, breaking things is kind of fun, and you're there at the tech thinking, okay, I'm going to take things apart. Please don't take apart our exhibits. Exactly. So, you know, of course, each new exhibit, once it's finally made and on the floor, still has sometimes a couple issues of just, you know, needing maintenance. So, for example, we have this other fabulous exhibit called Social Robots,

and that one is actually the main exhibit that correlates to Arduino. Third time I'm using that word. Yay. So Arduino is, of course, inputs and outputs, inputs and outputs, and Social Robots is the same. So you will connect onto this, actually, this cool magnetic column. You'll put on, for example, a switch. That's your input. And then on this side, you column you'll put on for example a switch that's your input and then on this side you're going to put a light and then you connect them with these wires so we're teaching kids circuits through physical 3d block modeling of a robot it's amazing and it's all magnets so it's like like i've taught it to two-year-olds they like totally get it and then of course you see that your switch affects the light. Then you're like,

I'm bored with the switch. I'm going to put on the motion sensor and you add that little motion sensor, switch up your wires and you're connecting it. Now, of course we found that these blocks, if dropped, you know, a certain amount of time eventually don't work and they, they still are going to work. They just need to be like reconnected inside the actual block. And so we actually make these blocks on our own 3D printer in the museum. So I love that. Like we're not sending this off to China or even New York or, you know, like some fab lab, even in the Bay Area, we're making it in the museum and implementing it in our own exhibits. Do the displays come to life after the museum closes? Well, tell me the truth. I have been there a few times after the museum is totally closed.

And it is true. Some exhibits are left on all night just to keep it going. Keep that innovation going 24-7. But a few times we have offered sleepovers in the museum. So stay tuned for those rare opportunities oh do you offer vaccine tours and stuff well we definitely can remember night sorts of things oh yeah no if you're a member oh my gosh we have member parties you get on the email list where we don't you know bug you all the time, but they will email you, for example, about my Arduino workshop in May and letting you know it's only for members. So sign up. And we have IMAX previews or discount or opening nights, certainly around Star Wars. There were a

lot of benefits for members. Oh, yes. That was, you know, really amazing. But yeah, I mean, I guess we don't if you if you just came there and were like, Hey, I'd like a tour, they'd be like, well, we don't totally do tours. But of course, if you gave it like a call a couple of days ahead and say, Hey, I've got my Girl Scout troop. We want a tour. Hey, we're thinking about holding our event at the tech museum. We want, we'd like a tour. Of course we get somebody ready for you. We'll hold our event. We'll hold our Christmas party there, huh? Yeah. You don't have to rent the whole thing. We have rooms. We can rent the two square feet we need. Yes. When should we go? When is it less crowded? Certainly. I'm glad I'm here to let you in on this. So the field trips, students actually

arrive before the museum even opens. So we open at 10 and they're there. I noticed that. Yes. They're waiting over by that, what we call the ball machine, or it's also a kinetic energy. The mousetrap thing. It's a mousetrappy thing. And then the ball goes through and the Rube Goldberg thing goes off. I love that. All of that. That's on the outside. So I will always, anytime I'm downtown, I go visit.

Certainly. And that is a great, you a great distraction to watch while you're waiting for the museum to open and bring you in. So that is when the field trip madness starts. Now, some of the students are in labs at that time. Some of them are in the IMAX theater. So they're not in the museum. So you could still be fine coming in some morning. But usually, because of the way schools work, most of our students leave by 2 p.m. They're out of there. Now, some groups, of course, I work, most of our students leave by 2 p.m. They're out of there.

Now, some groups, of course, I think are planning better and they plan to stay through the evening and the afternoon, but we do close at 5. So actually, I would recommend between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., we're sometimes pretty empty. And any exhibit is available. And of course, our full staff and volunteers are there to answer any questions and help you, which is great. And then, of course, we're open on the weekends. And it can be hit or miss. Like today with the Open Make Flow event, it was pretty packed.

But towards the late afternoon, it's not too busy. And of course, during the holidays, we're usually open until 7. All right. That sounds very cool. I haven't been to that. We, we have memberships that we get like every couple of years we'll go get a membership and then it's like, yeah,

but it was crowded last time. So maybe that will keep us more on even keel as I was, you know, cyber stalking you to make sure we had plenty to talk about. Although I should have realized that wouldn't be an issue. I noticed you have an internet movie database entry. Not everybody can say I'm on the internet movie database. You said acting, so I guess that was part of your career.

It still is. What do you do? I mean, for acting? Well, my history is, of course, mostly in stage. And so of course, I have this booming theatrical voice. And you know, that works out well. And, and actually, just the brief, brief history is, you know, I mean, I've definitely been in theater all through high school. And then I came to college. And actually, before freshman year even started, technically I auditioned for a show and hundreds of people auditioned. And it was one of those like, am I actually going to get this? I'm getting this role. They're giving this to me. Okay. So I was super excited and brought into the department right

away. And then through that was able to do many stage productions like at Indiana University on the main stage. And they have a great program. But of course, many people graduate with an acting degree that never got to do a university production. So it was intrinsic for my experience to be snatched up right away and like validated and like you're in. And that show was Noises Off. And it was a really funny British farce and the best director named Murray McGibbon. Love him. And, you know, we had a great time. So coming out of that great college experience, I was in the Bay Area and I realized that theater here, I'm going to be totally general, is kind of a hobby because honestly, a lot of

people have a nine to five job. They drive and eat dinner in one motion and then they go to rehearsal from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. and go home and have husbands and pets and kids. I don't know how that works. And then go to work the next day. So I did that for a while. And whether I had a nine to five job at that time specifically, but I just I got really burnt out. And so I connected with one director named John Baschelia. And we've been doing shows forever. And he produces San Francisco Follies. So I'm actually a show girl and, and that is a great show. We'll be reviving soon too. But in the meantime, we've done shows at the Herbst Theater and we just, we just did a show at the Marines Memorial Theater called Modern Musical.

And we're going to be doing a show at the former Exploratorium location, Palace of Fine Arts, and that will be called Funky Town. And it'll be like a huge disco show. So I do that. And you're singing in it? Oh, I definitely sing. Okay. So then meanwhile, you know, while you're in the Bay Area, you're trying to do theater, you keep your pulse on the film. And there are many film schools. So I connected with many

students to be part of their project. So, you know, that was a fun experience for sure. And then some upper echelon things, you know, that was a fun experience for sure. And then some upper echelon things, you know, were really fun to work on too. Like I was an extra in milk, you know, I'm sure like a hundred other people out there like me too, you know, so, you know, there are sometimes opportunities of bigger movies, but the IMDb stuff, I think I got on there actually through a really weird film I did called Bridal jitters. And Oh man, it's, I think anytime you're an actor and you're in a film, when you see the film, you go, Oh, if I could have seen this before making it, like I would have done this differently. And I would have done it because a lot of these

are doing your own hair and makeup. And honestly, like that is not where my talents are. Like I did my makeup for this podcast, just so everyone knows out there, but this is my own makeup podcast. So I can do makeup for podcasts. That would be my niche, but you know, I'm not so good with that. So of course, you know, I'm like looking at certain films I've done. I'm like, Oh my God, my hair isn't consistent or, you know, whatever. But another film I did is like, absolutely was like the most fun I ever did. And it was, it's called bubbles. And it was just like a really silly story about, uh, after hours at like a design studio, like people who remodel people's kitchens and stuff. Like it was like an eco-friendly, you know, cabinets and tiles kind of place. And we're just

fellow employees and we just hang out and have a good time. And the movie is just really silly, but, uh, I would love to do more film. I love to do voiceovers. You know, I'm into all of that. It's just, it is how it is that it's so hard to pursue and where I'm loving my,

it's hard to pursue and get paid for. Certainly it's, but even the unpaid stuff, you're just, you're going to auditions, you're emailing people all the time. You're memorizing stuff for the callbacks and then you still don't get it. Or I have been cast in films that don't end up happening. So that is fun. But I've worked on products that never shipped.

Exactly, exactly. So that's where with the students, I'm like, so you have to turn this in at the end of the semester. So it should be good. But, but But that's been a really great experience. I love film. Theater is its own thing, and that is similar to teaching in that there isn't a pause button, there isn't a redo. But in film, it's a whole new opportunity for specificity of looks and glances and, again, remembering for continuity. So, yeah. You do so many things. And podcasts.

If you were at a party and just a random party that you don't know anyone, you're not there to work, how do you introduce yourself? I would say, hi, I'm Tania. Well, that's good. I would start with that. I would tell them my name because I love my name. I always have. It's a beautiful name. Thank you.

It's, you know, Yosemite Lake. You know, it's beautiful. And then I would say I am a geoanthropactress. Geoanthropractress Pra... Pra... Practice. I know. I'm not going to teach it. This is a title I created for myself coming out of college, or while I was still in college,

because I was like, hey, I'm going to add on all these majors. I was like, I can't be called an actress anymore, because for years I was like, I'm an actress. I'm an actress. That's how I introduced myself. So then I just started putting it all together, and then I got to geoanthropactor, and I was like, that sounds like a dinosaur. So then I was like, I'm going to stick with pactress or actress. And you know, and and people call themselves geoarchaeologists, geo,

not really necessarily geoanthropologists. That's not totally a field. But so I just put that together. So that would be my main thing. And then I would say, and I am a lab instructor at the Tech Museum, and I teach Arduino and wearable technology. All right. Okay, so you're at this mythical party. Do you have any good museum or workshop stories that you would share? Certainly. There's always a few fun ones.

In teaching labs, I guess the one that just comes to mind is we have an experiment where the kids are given a glove to wear to you work with a material that is dangerous. It's calcium chloride. It is an itching powder or, you know, like joke shops, but it's also in foods we eat. So it's safe, you know, but but then then in this form that we have it, it's like little pebbles. So if you get it on your skin, if it just like bounces off and rolls off, you're totally fine. If you like grind it into your skin or anything like that, you will have an itchy rash for maybe a day. So it's not that dangerous, but that's why I tell the kids, these are like fifth graders, you know, we're, we're acting like this is very dangerous. So, uh, often times in the lab, the chaperones are a little too helpful. And I had a mom sitting next to her son. So already, I guess he didn't have a partner. It might've been like an odd number of students that day. And, uh, some calcium chloride was spilled. And I of course mentioned, if you spill that one, I'll come around with a wet paper towel.

It's water soluble. I'll just pick it up. You're totally fine. But meanwhile, I saw her, uh, take his wrist in her hand and put the glove on the table and proceed to wipe it towards them, like basically onto his lap. And I was like, Whoa, we don't want to put calcium chloride on the floor, let alone our laps. Like if students are wearing shorts or flip-flops, like I can't control that for the chem lab. So I have to be extra safe, but I was just like, Whoa, you know, getting a little too involved. And then of course, you know, sometimes in the chem lab, I'm like, I react like not super crazy, but you know, I reacted and then of course dangerous things there. Yeah. You know? And so it got all quiet and I'm like, it's okay, everybody. It's okay. We're just calcium chloride

spill. It's all good. But then, of course, at the end of the lab, she was walking past me and didn't want to look at me. And I just stopped her briefly. I was like, I apologize if I offended you, but this is my job is to point out lab techniques and procedures. And I just don't want your own son to get calcium chloride on his lap. That's all I was trying to do.

So did that make it better or worse? She just basically was like, okay, and proceeded out because they were going to their bus or whatever. But, but, you know, there's like little things like that I have to nab, but I guess mostly what I do observe is, you know, I'll give instruction and again, I'm a talker, I'm all in animated and I'm like, okay, go. And as soon as I say go, I want the kids to start talking to each other, peer to peer, saying, all right, so she said we have to use this marble to make a roller coaster. But what I observe sometimes is chaperones jump in. They're like, okay, so she said to do.

And I'm like, get out of here. Let them interact and be engineers and describe what they want to do and advocate for their idea. And you guys can make this with them later, you know, let them have this chance. So that's usually when I tell like only one time I've had to say, okay, chaperones, you all need to really step back here. But usually I tell them at the beginning and that's, that's sufficient. They, they know. Oh, the helicopter chaperones. Where's the duct tape when you need it? I mean, the best ones are when they're like, can we just go get coffee?

I'm like, yes. The new tech cafe called Lunch with Tony. It's so good. I go there for lunch. I'm like, they are open. Go get it. Good to know. Next time you take your kids to the museum, go get coffee.

Let them run around by themselves. But sometimes the afternoon labs where they've already been at the museum all day, the chaperones kind of, you know, does in the back and that's even better. Wake up just in time to take pictures of what they've created. In case of emergencies, that's all you're really there for. Not to interpret. Exactly. I mean, you get them, you know, for their whole lives, like talk about it on the bus

home. You know, it's like, because I love these kids. It's so exciting. But I meet them for an hour and a half. And that's my only chance to, you know, have an impact and get them excited. And, you know, the chaperone. They're your enthusiasm for science. You don't get to do that for very long.

And they should get to soak it up while you have it yeah yeah all right well if you see yourself in that you should really think about what you're doing to your kid and how much maybe it would be fun if they just went off and lit fires on their own maybe not lit fires but played with chemicals. Explore, engineer. I mean, yeah, everything we work with in the lab is very safe. And like my favorite lab is definitely our earthquake lab. But earthquakes are involved. Geology is involved. But really, we're building a popsicle stick house or structure, I call it.

So I keep it real ambiguous, a structure. But, you know, there's all these chaperones like jumping in. But we have two different tests or earthquakes. So the first test, I want them to fail. And I tell them, I'm like, I'm mother nature. When I do that earthquake shake table, I'm trying to make your building fall. So how are you, how are you going to protect it? How are you going to make it stand up? I'm telling you, like, I'm going to give you 9.0 earthquakes here. And then, you know, parents give all their ideas and I'm just like, don't do that. Because then for the second one, after they've seen what

happened to their first structure, they already have a million ideas. So even for the second one, after they've seen what happened to their first structure, they already have a million ideas. So even for the second one, it's like, stay out of it. You know, like, let them learn from their first failures. Learning is thinking, not just implementing. You have to think about it first. Well, it is starting to get late. Yes. And you've had a long day already.

Are there any last thoughts you'd like to leave us with? I would say that if you are still a person out there who pronounces it Adrino or Arduduino or something like that, it is time for you to get on board, as they say, with Arduino. And you can throw a little Italian in there if you need it. And Maker Faire is coming up. So, you know, get your tickets, get in line early. It's a stroller fest. I did not invent it that way. I would love Maker Faire to be an 18 over an event,

like for one day maybe. Oh my goodness, yeah. Can we make it a Monday or like Friday at noon, start it and not allow kids until Saturday? Just for, it's so crowded. Just for moving, because I mean, just the tiny thing is, like, I'll see a stroller and a parent. And I'm like, great. I'm going to clip them on the right. And then their kid is actually not in the stroller.

It's walking next to it. I'm so sorry. You know what I mean? He or she is walking next to him. I love kids. What am I saying? But, you know, I'm like, and I don't want to clip the kid. I don't want to hurt them.

But I'm usually zooming around Maker Faire because I'm like, I've got to be places. I've got to see things. This year I will be in one location i'll be at the lenino dog hunter cc logistics we're known as all these things and we'll be in the arduino section showing off our wearable well you can make it wearable but really it's a wi-fi enabled arduino so we'll be debuting all of that u.s distribute distribution the. The us distribution just started of Arduino in February. So we're debuting that. And, you know, I am available to really anybody. I like to talk about this. I like to do wearable workshops. I'm on meetup. I'm on every meetup group.

Twitter and Google plus. I'm on all of those. Cause, uh, even like old lady, little knitting groups and sewing circles. They're my favorite gals to hang out with with because they're really skilled in the sewing and the creation of garments. And then I'm like, let's put some circuits in there, and then they get to learn something new. And they're always so shocked when it lights up and excited. So great. I love to listen to grandma's giggle. That's what I live for, grandma's giggle.

And of course, you know, again, yeah. Birthday parties with kids. It's so much fun. You know, everybody brings like a different garment and, but even just with Arduino, that's where the success, the failure, it's, it's exciting. So if you need something to jumpstart your life, you know, there's a lot of things out there you can do, but I think Arduino is a really amazing platform because once you learn it immediately, your own mind is thinking of what you want to do with it. And that's the point. That's an excellent point.

My guest has been Tania Hurst, lab instructor of San Jose's Tech Museum of Innovation, amongst a whole lot of other titles. She has those workshops in case you're one of those folks who think their fourth or 40th birthday should include awesome blinking things. Thank you for being on the show. Thank you so much. If you have questions for Tania, there is a contact link on her website, which will be a link in the show notes, or I'll pass along notes. If you want to email us show at embedded.fm or contact link on embedded.fm she does have twitter and google plus and those will be in the show notes i think your twitter is arduino woman that's me and i'm

also linny no woman that's my second i know could i have one more thing i know i know no you could have as many twitter accounts as you want there's also t then. And listeners, thank you for your emails and encouragements. It is really good to hear from you. We got some nice emails this week. I'd also like to thank Patrick Kane from Cypress University Program. He was on last December, and he must have had an okay time on the show because he was the one who suggested I chat with Tenaya. You, Patrick.

And finally, thank you to producer Christopher White for all that he does, including all that he does for this show. This week's final thought is one of my favorites and from one of my favorite people to get quotes from, Eleanor Roosevelt. She probably didn't intend engineering when she said this, but it certainly applies and it applies to what we talked about today.

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.