X-Bot is evolving and now already smart enough to follow another X-Bot. What is so special about that you may ask. Well, there is this small quite technical looking robot and there is a program running in X-Bot’s brain (also called Microcontroller or MCU). To follow another robot means that they need to communicate and this works with infrared signals going from the leader to the follower and back. Leo did the programming and the hardware and is willing to share that with you. Just check this website regulary and see when the next workshop is scheduled. Build your own X-Bot in Xinchejian

If you want to support the X-Bot, buy a couple of them or just help to develop it further then please go to http://dreamore.cn/Project/Show/512 and see more details there.

Last Sunday we had a brilliant workshop at XinCheJian — the brave robot workshop hosted by Yair Reshef, an artist from Iseral. Yair started the brave robot workshops as the idea of compassion in design and robotics is something he has been dealing with and the workshop is the chance to get it on. The brave robots in this project are the ones without micro-controllers and/or sophisticated programming. The robotic design is purely analog and mechanic based. You can make your brave robot without much electronic knowledge but you need to be creative to make your robot unique and have fun!

During the 3 hour workshop, everyone who joined finished their first brave robot. Thanks to the hard work on soldering! Perhaps we could expect a brave robot racing at XinCheJian sometime, why not?

Chromaphase (aka  Matthieu Tondeur) will be presenting this Wednesday at XinCheJian. In addition to having his own Wikipedia page, Matthieu is currently doing exciting 3D mapping video DJ  using Mao Livehouse as his home base. Here’s his self introduction:

Congratulations to those that built a 3D printer on the weekend, Lucio was excited and nervous to host this workshop, being his first ever one! You’ve all done very well and not given up! Look out for more improvements and more workshops from High Energy – i don’t sleep – Lucio!

Summary for Wednesday/本周三开放日综述

胡介鸣 – BlackBoxlab
Alex Cureton-Griffiths – SpaceGAMBIT

Wednesday Presenters/本周演讲者介绍

胡介鸣 will be presenting blackboxlab and some of their installation work done previously and how you can also get involved. Using art, electronics, design, interaction, any action! check out http://www.blackboxlab.org

Alex from SpaceGAMBIT will hopefully be presenting this evening, it’s been hard to pin him down, so we just tied a rope to his rocketship!

who else? *your name here* it’s also adhoc, so get ready, just keep it to 9 minutes plus Q&A afterwards

Summary for Wednesday/本周三开放日综述
Last Weekend it was great to see the multi touch tables working in no time! Patricks at it again, check out this weekend!

Francesca will be presenting on design buildings with locally available materials with an example of a school in the Himalayas, not to be missed

Zhang Chi (张驰) will be presenting on building your own oscilloscope (those pricey things with squiggly lines going up and down) and the workshop he’s got running, if you sign up tonight, you’ll get a 100rmb discount on the workshop! that’s up to 40mhz frequency or 20mhz if you want a little cheaper, it’s USB!

Upcoming Events/近期活动安排

Building interactive installations with the vvvv environment – vvvv与交互项目应用工作坊 (英语教学)

http://xinchejian.com/event/?ee=152

Date: Saturday Nov. 17th & Sunday Nov. 18th 2012
Time: 10AM – 12PM, LUNCH, 1PM – 5PM

This is the most in-demand for workshop, 2 days of feature-packed-fun-filled-action-play – only a few spots remain

be Secret spy, or a double agent! – 007秘笈之一～密信潜伏

http://xinchejian.com/event/?ee=153

Date: Saturday 24th 2012
Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Perfect for kids and adults alike to explore and experiment with science and technology in a fun filled 007 workshop

既上次Sunny Sun老师在新车间推出深为孩子们喜爱的“导电面团”以后，这回我们又推出了更为方便，好玩的“纸电路”。纸电路是MIT High Low Lab开发的新奇互动电子艺术项目的一个子项目。它成功的将表面贴装发光二极管（LED）和艺术结合在一起，制作出各种互动的电子卡片。看看下面的这些纸电路作品，你带能猜出来我在说什么了。

说到艺术和电子，千万不要被这些名词吓倒了。纸电路的推出，实际上是将以前复杂的，乱糟糟的电路艺术化。在这里，电路里面的一根根导线绝不再是面无表情，深沉的隐者，而是变成了可以随你的控制，改变形状，改变路线的翩翩舞者。只要你愿意，你可以将电子线路摆成心形，摆成小车，甚至可以融入到您孩子的的艺术创作画中，让电路和您孩子的艺术创作融为一个有机的整体（其实，本人觉得，相对于导电面团，这个项目女孩子应该会更喜欢了）。

除此以外，由于电路本身使用的材料都非常安全，也非常容易获得，大部分原材料你在厨房里拼拼凑凑就可以开始你的电路工作了。从此，孩子们做手工再也不需要花费大量的时间准备材料了。同时由于材料的简化设计，纸电路为孩子们安全玩电路提供了保障。

在此次工坊， 我们将提供所有纸电路需要的全部材料。您和您的孩子将在电路中将学习到

1） 什么是纸电路

2） 孩子们将会在制作一个基本纸电路的过程中明白电路的基本原理

3） 制作纸电路需要注意的事项

4） 纸电路材料从哪里获得？

5） 活动的最后，孩子们会有一个自由创意时间，通过基本电路的掌握，孩子们将发挥自己的创造力，创造出他们自己的纸电路，并带回家中。

6） 同时为了方便孩子们回家继续创作，每个孩子将获得一个材料包，里面有一些家里不容易获取的材料。

活动时间：

10月20号（周六）下午2~4PM

活动地点：

上海新车间: 上海市长乐路1035号2楼（长乐路，乌鲁木齐南路路口）地铁7号线出来步行10分钟即到）

活动收费：

每个孩子：100元（陪同大人免费），通过新车间网站报名 90元（点击活动报名链接即可报名）

最大报名人数：15个孩子

报名链接：http://xinchejian.com/event/?ee=148， 填好报名表格（Registration Details)表格的相关信息，然后点击表格下面的“Submit”按键，既完成网上报名。我们强烈建议家长们在网上预先报好名，因为空间面积有限，最大只能容纳15个家庭，因此参加活动将以网上报名的优先。如果您的孩子这次没有报上名，我们将根据报名情况以后再开workshop满足要求。多谢理解。

其他要求：

孩子年龄：最好6岁以上，操作过程中可能会使用到剪刀，需要家长帮助。

新车间是一个共享空间，有很多其他人的电子作品和电器工具，为了您和您孩子的安全，请仅在我们活动的区域活动，不去触碰其他作品和不安全的区域。我们会在活动中有专门集中介绍新车间的部分。谢谢您的理解

注： 纸电路（paper circuit）是美国MIT 互动媒体实验室开发的互动电子电路。此次活动得到了发明人 Jie, Qi的指导和准许。再次，也感谢MIT Media Lab和Jie, Qi的无私奉献和指导。

A successful workshop to build SwarmRobots with ten attendees was held last Saturday. There were some minor hiccups with part changes and delivery, but the batteries and chargers have now arrived. Workshop attendees can be collect these at the Wednesday Open night and presentation night or at Thursday nights SwarmRobot makers night, or by arrangement.

The SwarmRobots have also been entered into a worldwide educational competition, see our entry here.