IDEA Shanty

"I Didn't Expect Allathis" - chalkboard

The first weekend went off wonderfully. We got the turbine up and running and on Saturday it was definitely charging the battery (at a trickle). Unfortunately (for us, everyone else loved it), it was dead calm on Sunday...absolutely zero wind, but the turbine sure does look nice sitting up above the shanty.
Inside we had a blast playing with circuit bending all day. There are certainly some strange sounds coming out of those keyboards and I hope we've encouraged many youngsters (and some adults, too!) to start ripping into their electronics.
Next weekend the Design Team kids arrive! Come ready to play and create. Bring along your idea for a useless, impossible, or otherwise inspired invention for our emerging gallery of inventions.

We did it! The shanty is built and is sitting pretty out on Medicine Lake! We put the shanty together out on the ice on Saturday, January 9th. Today (tuesday) we returned to finish the turbine and test it out on the tower. Though the wind speeds were low today, we are confident the turbine is going to work great.

Countless hours of hard work have paid off... The shanty and turbine are looking great. Can't wait for this weekend when the projects open to the public! Come visit us and learn about circuit bending this weekend!

We've been so busy planning and building that we just now got around to building a website for the IDEA Shanty!

We are making a lot of progress these days. The shanty structure is set up in the Soap Factory looking beautiful (and warm), and the turbine is coming along nicely. Building and troubleshooting has been a blast - but we are SO EXCITED to get out on the ice!

Also - the first Design Team group came out to check out the shanty today! They are a cool bunch of kids... tons of creative energy. They are pumped about the project, too.