We’ve had a busy week, both making LipSyncs and reaching out to the community, at the #BCTECH Summit (new window).

Above: We had 12 groups making LipSyncs out of kits of supplies that we had assembled prior to the event.

Below: The groups used our instruction booklets and supplied us with valuable feedback that we will use to improve our instructions.

On Monday, we hosted the pre-summit Monday Makeathon. 12 kits of supplies were handed out to groups of makers who attempted to build LipSyncs based on the instructions we provided — an assembly manual that is available on our Hackaday page (new window).

It was our first event where groups of makers focused on building LipSyncs, specifically to our instructions. It was a good trial run to see how easily makers could follow our instructions and build a LipSync.

By the end of the day — a four hour event — we had two LipSyncs fully completed, and the rest were nearly done, but needed new force sensitive resistors (new window) (FSR). The FSR joystick was harder to build than anticipated, as the pressure sensors are delicate. Most just need one or two sensors swapped out.

We received some great feedback on our instructions, and will be working in the next few days to improve our instructions. For future LipSync making events, we will have checkpoints to ensure that each stage is done correctly, and we will give makers more than four hours — four hours turned out to be a tight turnaround.

Our client Lorraine, took home a LipSync after the Monday Makeathon.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, at the #BCTECH Summit with over 5,000 people in attendance, we had a booth in the Innovators Corridor. We shared space with the winner of the Access Makeathon, the “Wake Up Honey (new window)” team, who used a modified LipSync device for their solution.

We got to show off the LipSync at the Project Wearable Runway — where a variety of innovators got to show off wearable technologies — near the closing of Wednesday’s activities.

Above and Below: Jim Ryan, the captain of the Wake Up Honey team at the Access Makeathon, modelling the LipSync on the Project Wearable Runway.

It was a great way to start the week! We learned a lot, both about the LipSync — we’re working on the instructions to make sure makers can make a LipSync with relative ease — and about the wide range of technological innovations happening in BC.

PS: Check out our new LipSync video