Rippowam Labs @ NCC

For the third year in a row, we’ll be teaching classes in the Norwalk Community College’s College for Kids program. One of our classes will deal with DIY AI. We’ll be teaching students how to build and code a robot that responds to their voice commands!!! It’s the perfect opportunity to work with a Raspberry Pi, learn Python and experiment with the Google TensorFlow library. They say that Artifical Intelligence is taking over the world. NOW is the time to start learning about it. Don’t be left behind. See page 44 of this catalog to learn more … https://norwalk.edu/…/Continuing-Education-Catalog-Spring-2…

Classes begin begin Saturday February 29th. But signup now to secure your place!! Space is limited!!!!

How about some AI with your Raspberry Pi?

We’ve added a new class to our repertoire and its exactly what you’ve all been asking for – DIY AI!

AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning have taken a firm footing in our every day lives. We ask Siri for directions. We ask Alexa to order dog food. It’s really convenient – but kind of spooky at the same time.

In this class, students will get a first-hand look at how this technology works – and build their own voice and/or video recognition device (your choice), using a UNIX-powered Raspberry Pi, Python code and Google’s TensorFlow platform.

Students who have worked with the Raspberry Pi before will love this, because it will enable them to add cool new tricks to their projects. Just think how much fun they’d have controlling a robot with their voice. Or imagine how cool it would be for them to create their own image recognition system that could unlock doors for only certain people.

Or, to RasPi newcomers, this project will open up a whole new world of learning and project ideas.

The bottom line is this: If you ever thought about dipping your toes into the world of AI and machine learning, this class is the perfect opportunity.

As always, no experience is necessary!

Click here for more details.

Join Ron in Biking to Work on Friday!

Ron Morse will be working with People Friendly Stamford in sponsoring Stamford’s 2019 Bike-to-Work Day events this Friday (May 17 [from 7:30 am to 9:00 am]) in Mill River Park.

This is an exciting event where the city’s biking community comes together to celebrate our favorite form of transportation.

Word is that a free breakfast will be offered and, as usual, SpeakerBike will be on hand cranking his eclectic collection of tunes!

Don’t miss this great event!!!!

Rippowam Labs Now offers Scratch Tutoring

The graphical programming language invented by MIT is often the very first place that kids start experimenting with coding.

For years we resisted teaching this because we thought … “Why not just get them started writing actual code?”

But the more we explored, the more we realized how effective this language can be to teach control structures like loops and if-else statements. If they have these concepts mastered beforehand, tackling a language like Java will be much easier.

The great part of this tutoring service is that we will drive to your home to teach the classes. Yes, it’s that easy!

As always, no experience necessary! Click here for more info…

Our first-ever Open House on Feb. 11

We don’t do this very often, but on Monday February 11th at 6:30 pm, we’ll be having our very first Open House.

We were talking the other day and we all want to see more traffic walking through our makerspace. And what better way to do that than to swing our doors open to the general public?

For this night only, visitors can see our makerspace up close. You’ll be able to meet the people – and see all the cool tools – behind all the great projects we’ve produced over the years.

And to top it all off, we’ll be opening up our laser cutter, which you can use to engrave a sweet message to your sweetie on a bar of chocolate for Valentines Day.

You’r not going to want to miss this one!! We’re looking forward to seeing you!!!

Friday Night Coding Class at Trinity Park

The general public is invited to join us every Friday night at Trinity Park Apartments in Stamford for a free Web Coding class. We’re just getting going – so, if you’ve never coded before, now would be a good time to get started.

We’re starting with the basics of HTML scripting … and we’ll move on to CSS, JavaScript … and then we’ll probably make the leap into PHP/MySQL.

This is a great bunch of people and we’re looking forward to making this a great community of learning. Don’t be shy and join us tonight!

2019 will be the best ever for you and Rippowam Labs

We had such a great year in 2018! We met so many new friends who helped to add to the Rippowam Labs community, whether it be with their knowledge, their skills or tools. It all added to the mix and created a one-of-a-kind of experience for anyone who was involved.

And because of all of these new people and things, we expect Rippowam Labs to grow even more. This means more interesting classes, more free classes and more ways people can benefit from a membership.

This year, we’ll be swinging the doors of our makerspace one day a month to the entire community. You’ll be able to come in and try out our power tools, laster cutter or even take a class. So plan on stopping by the second Monday night of every month at 6:30 pm and you’ll get to see what Rippowam labs is all about.

Also for this year, we’ll be slashing our prices on our most popular classes and tutoring sessions. Each new student who signs up in January will receive a 10%-off-coupon that will be redeemable on all classes taken throughout the year. E-mail us for your coupon code.

Holiday Break Teen Tech Academy (No cell phones allowed!)

Happy Holidays from everyone here at Rippowam Labs!!!!

We were siting around thinking the other day how we could help kids break away from their cellphones – and take part in the vast technological changes sweeping over our world.

Sadly, most teens spend their free time playing Fortnite or Roblox  … or just simply cruising around Facebook. And this will be even more true over the upcoming Holiday Break, unless you do something about it!

Why not have that time be productive and have them learn some new skills that will help them thrive in the future?

Rippowam Labs has is hosting a 3-day Teen Tech Academy learning event  on December 26, 27 and 28 that will require students to put their cell phones away – and have them learn skills that are in demand right now!

  • Additive/Subtractive manufacturing  –  Students will learn to use design software that can produce files used by a 3D printer and our high-powered laser cutter. They’ll design and build intricate shapes out of plastic and then cut/engrave wood, plastic, metal, rubber and stone.(yes, that is the bottom of my sneaker)
  • Raspberry Pi  – This class will focus on setting up and using the Raspberry Pi computer as an IoT device. They’ll set up a night-vision camera that will send them text messages when motion is detected.
  • Coding for the Web  – Students will learn the foundation coding skills needed to program on the Web (HTML/CSS/JavaScipt). Nearly every Web page is based on these scripting languages. Your children should know how these work.

 

These classes will be half-day (from 1 pm to 5:30 pm) . Students can attend all three learning modules – or they can choose one or two of them (please e-mail me if this is the case).

These learning opportunities promise to be fun – and designed to ignite a passion for learning about all things tech.  Don’t let the time between Christmas and New Year’s be wasted!