Silicon Chef Hardware Hackathon for Women #sichefhack

I joined Silicon Chef - Hardware Hackathon for women. Beginners were welcomed, so it was a great opportunity for women to get into hardware hacking! Each team received a box filled with tools such as Arduino, breadboard, LEDs, cables, servo, motor, wind sensor, etc and a booklet to learn about Arduino. They also could borrow Leap Motion devices.

You can see the list of the projects here:
http://www.hackathon.io/silicon3/projects

It was really awesome seeing the room filled with women eager to hack hardwares!
360 degree photo of the room can be seen here:















Welcome from Shannon Spanhake, Deputy Innovation Officer, City of San Francisco in the Office of Mayor Edwin M. Lee



"From Makers to China" Welcome from Brady Forrest, Vice President, Highway1 







Shenzhen is the Silicon Valley of hardware!

Suggested reading from Brady: “From concept to consumer” by Phil Baker and Bunnie's blog.

"Software Girl in a Hardware World" by Julia Grace, Head of Engineering, Tindie

Julia did a live demo of sending SMS via Arduino button. You can read the process and code here:
Learn how to send an SMS text message in Python by pushing a button on your Arduino!

"Launch - How to get your idea to market" by Katherine Hague, CEO & Co-Founder, Shoplocket

She shared examples of various successful hardware startups such as Lockitron, LittleBits, Roominate, OtherMill, etc. You can read them here:
http://shoplocketblueprint.com/

"Beyond Hard Electronics: Empowering Soft Tech with Soft Circuits" by Kanjun Qiu



She talked about how LilyPad Arduino changed the way women perceives and got involved in hardware hacking movement.





Arduino developer community: 86% male vs LilyPad is 65% female!



They are running awesome workshops.







Wow. Pre-workshop "I feel comfortable programming computers on my own" 27% > 82% after workshop. It makes you feel "I can do it!"





People will run into issues- so they made this troubleshooting flowchart. Awesome!

What's in the box?

Announcement of what the teams are getting in the box ;)





Red Sparkfun Arduino, red breadboard, red display, red micro-USB cable, red LED, red pen... so many red stuff :D









Unboxing, and many women starting hacking Arduino.... for many of them, for the first time!






























Skittles Team

The "Skittles team" kindly welcomed me in for the day - thank you everyone!! (Since I cannot come on Sunday, I could not really join the teams...) We were using Leap Motion for one of the inputs, to wave and light the LEDs, and using wind sensor as the other input so that we can blow our breath towards it and operate the LEDs, like blowing on the birthday cake candle.



It was the first time trying Arduino for most women, so they were seriously reading the book together, and learning. Several male members who had Arduino experience helped out, and walked us through the code for us.





Making the Arduino visible to everyone... yes, kitchen paper works!
As always, "Blinking LED is Hello World in hardware" so we let the LED blink as step one :)



Next, input. Making Leap Motion work....



Making the wind sensor work...



This is wind sensor.



Blowing into the wind sensor... we're getting data. Yay!



Other teams are making progress too!















Many teams were huddling and hacking on the floor ;)
I think this is unique for hardware hacking.
And people looked really relaxed and enjoying!









 Lilypads!



Outdoor hacking! Indeed it was a lovely day...





One of the mentors showing her hacks. We had many mentors to help around.



Some people were soldering.



"Evolution of Arduino" poster on the wall.



/dev/food





Since I needed to go to yet another hackathon on Sunday, I couldn't join... but here are some tweets by +Pamela Fox about the demos!

Defensive clothing: using hardware to turn a camera on + pop out claws when you stomp. I’d wear it in SF! #SiChefHack pic.twitter.com/tFlb9wUYcd
— Pamela Fox (@pamelafox) October 7, 2013

Curtains that automatically open and close to let you enjoy the night lights & block out the sun at dawn. #SiChefHack pic.twitter.com/1LwfIUPqU2
— Pamela Fox (@pamelafox) October 7, 2013

ArtDuino: responds to a wind sensor by drawing with sharpies. Its like a voice controlled Spirograph! #SiChefHack pic.twitter.com/EGuaHOnFyI
— Pamela Fox (@pamelafox) October 7, 2013

The “Oprah ball”-a magic 8 ball that outputs Oprah-like phrases generated by an HMM when you shake it. #SiChefHack pic.twitter.com/2gGtDTDgTh
— Pamela Fox (@pamelafox) October 6, 2013

Watching demos at #SiChefHack. Love this board that puts on a laser show for a cat and then feeds it! pic.twitter.com/qjRMWwCqAG
— Pamela Fox (@pamelafox) October 6, 2013

A crowd favorite: a board that warns you if you’re pouring your beer at the right angle for optimal foam. #SiChefHack pic.twitter.com/lQ9tMSY4f6
— Pamela Fox (@pamelafox) October 6, 2013

Thanks to organizers at Hackbright Academy, all of the staffs, volunteers, sponsors and mentors for making this awesome event happen. Talking with the attendees, I felt it really opened the doors for many women.

Loved the T-shirts too :D

Front:



Back:



By the way, we were not allowed to stay overnight, and had to leave the venue at 8PM. However we were given this "diplomatic passport" of HackerSpaces.





I need to visit many hackerspaces to fill in the visa stamps!



I always love this wonderful slogan "Be Excellent to Each Other" :D

This passport is CC licensed! Created by +mitch altman and Matthew Borgatti



Other articles:

Make: Silicon Chef Female-Focused Hardware Hackathon

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are my own, and do not reflect those of my employer. -Fumi Yamazaki