Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1104607
12 PCB007 MAGAZINE I APRIL 2019 VCRs converted into cat feeders and 3D print- ers. Maker spaces and events have become more and more popular, inspiring startups and manufacturing innovation as well as clogging garages the world over with half-finished ro- bots and potato cannons. Mentors and Judges Sunstone Circuits returned this year after sponsoring a judging category for the first MakeHarvard event in 2018. If you were there, you saw us—our team was hard to miss in our bright orange vests (Figure 2). Sunstone em- ployees served as both mentors and competi- tion judges. As mentors, we were out and about helping students and answering questions (Figure 3). Students were full of questions, and we were eager to help. Sometimes, there were ques- tions we didn't have complete answers for at the ready, but usually, we were able to sug- gest a place to find the answer. All the students needed was direction, and they were all over finding the solution. Problem solved. Jess, one of the event staff at Harvard, said, "We really appreciate the enthusiasm Sun- stone brings to MakeHarvard. We're so happy that everyone from Sunstone had a great time, and thank you for the t-shirts! Our team really loved the beautiful PCB trophy." Elton, anoth- er staff person, said, "You guys are definitely our favorite sponsors!" Award Winners As judges, our Make it Matter category fo- cused on innovative prototypes. The competi- tion required makers to engineer, build, and document a working prototype with significant social, personal, or environmental impact that incorporated an Adafruit ESP8266 HUZZAH breakout board. Teams had 24 hours to come up with an idea and bring their creation from design to prototype. It was clear that these students' flexibility, creativity, and speed gave us a lot to be ex- cited about with this incoming gen- eration of makers. We were amazed at the ideas these makers came up with for our category as well as throughout the event. Our team was also impressed by the speed with which participants built their proto- types—often having to quickly learn complex engineering skills formerly foreign to them. Within the allotted hours, they built prototypes meant to discover cracks and defects in pipes, clean oil, and output light, among others. The event was full of impressive designs and equally im- pressive prototypes that needed few adjustments before they could be put to use. The student projects had all kinds of design elements, from software Figure 2: Sunstone Circuits' booth being visited by students. Figure 3: Sunstone representative Bob Tise (orange vest) works with students.