Pacific Regiment mentorship program - is it already here?
So, as I said in an earlier post (quoted below) I think a mentorship program would be an awesome thing to start up and get more people learning the 'tricks of the trade'. AND I put my butt on the line and started to make that happen. I have gotten approval for/begun a HALO club at the Simon Fraser University campus in BC (not quite official Pacific Regiment, but so close to WA that it is easier to get there than anywhere else in Canada). Their is a faculty advisor, a budget, and 4-12 students in its ranks for the first little bit. Currently the students are coming in from the Faculty of Computing Sciences and are mainly looking at embedding systems to make the suits 'high-tech', as the club moves along it will morph and evolve into other aspects as well. I have been working as the link/guinea pig/cheerleader to help test this idea out and it has been a whole lot of fun for me (I will let you know what we've been doing so far later). But, I wanted to see if any of you had any input as to what we should be looking to do in the future, what sort of official involvement the Pacific Regiment would like to have, and if any of you are interested in taking part (even skype counts as participating!).
As we begin recruiting students this club will become a student led organization that would liaise with 405th members (ie. me and/or YOU) to plan projects, demos, and events. I would like your input as to what you think about this club and ideas for the future; here are some topics that I would think are worth considering;
- Formal 405th member/s as part of the organization? Should there be a member cap? What sort of structure would you recommend?
- HALO projects that would be fun to get the club working on? (I am thinking an easter egg mode for the suits with grunt props loaded with confetti poppers and RF sensors to read the shots from prop guns)
- Demo ideas for SFU recruiting AND the local costuming community? (I have done one recruitment demo with a pepakura helmet and the high schoolers were all over our demo table, the actual students were demoing lighting controls, relays, and eye controls via the Google glass, and to show what they will be installing into the suit. I have also been asked by the local cons to bring the students and hold a panel covering setting up an embedded system in cosplay projects)
- Event ideas to make the club FUN? (maybe meet-ups with you guys to show off your suits, as mine is still in progress)
Is the Pacific Regiment interested in being 'officially' involved in this club? I am not an organizer nor do I hold any leadership role within the Pacific Regiment or 405th, so I will leave this to allow those who hold that responsibility to make a decision on this, but some considerations might be;
- Geographic location, while not exactly in the bounds of the Pacific Regiment, most events we plan to attend will be in BC, WA, OR, CA.
- Official partnership - we can add some sort of official indicator into the club's name and logo if we are definitely wanting to work together
- What would the Pacific Regiment want from SFU in return for their assistance, if anything?
Who would be interested in being involved in this endeavor? As I said before involvement might not require physically being here, but there are a lot of different ways to participate in something. What do you think would be good participatory activities, and what would you be inclined to do? Here are some ideas I had;
- Skype in for a Q&A session.
- Schedule a Google hangout to brainstorm ideas, work together, BS about past events, etc. Even invite the whole 405th to join us.
- Become an email mentor, allowing us to send you questions and thoughts for your feedback.
- Social media supporter, helping the club share their accomplishments through your networks and fans.
So, what have we been doing thus far? Currently the students are helping me with my Sarah Palmer suit, making prototype and proof of concept systems; which will be duplicated into my husband's scout suit. Here's what we are working on:
- Automatic lights, sensing ambient light levels and adjusting LED brightness when in a well-lit area
- Cooling system, testing a liquid based cooling system using ice water and peltier elements to cool the body's pulse points
- Body bio-metric monitoring, tracking body temperature and heart rate to ensure the user is comfortable and is not being cooled too quickly or over heating
- Streaming video, online stream showing the experience of the suits user as they attend an event
- Sound system, allowing various status FX to play from the suit, as well as voice amplification, etc.
- Integrated controls allowing the various processes to be controlled via android phone, google glass, and logic sequences on a microcontroller (so far the BeagleBone Black)
- power management and safety, using ultra high capacity lithum polymer batteries to power the suit in an efficient manner
- 405th app and spartan GPS mapping, using smart phone technology to provide information tags on a map displayed on the HUD
- Automated displays, showing logos, website information, ammo counts, etc.
- prop controls, implementing sounds and lights, bluetooth allowing props to communicate with the suit for ammo count, status, etc.
And some other cool features down the line like full night vision mode, easter egg mode, etc.
I have about a bazillion other ideas as well, but I figure the wall of text is reaching mind-numbing proportions, so I will leave it at that so far.
Thanks for your input!
Dee
So I have been brainstorming about this topic in the back of my mind over the last few days and have come up with a few additional ideas that I would like to share. Along with community events and volunteering (already discussed above) I would like to see:
- Mentorship programs to help new recruits plan and follow-through with their projects. Maybe not in person, but a Skype style connection to discuss progress and hurdles might be really valuable.
- Having pacific regiment/405th tables at conventions and events to connect people with the group (I think this is already happening).
- Holding pacific regiment/405th panels at conventions and events showing how to get started with the group and create your own armor.
- Holding our own special events (there have been meet-ups in conjunction with conventions before). Things like bowling or laser-tag meet-ups, those with costumes should wear them. I would really like to get a group together and head over to a theme park (Play Land in Vancouver, too many to list in California) in costume and just have fun. Play Land has Fright Nights at Halloween, and I think there would be some amazing photo ops if a bunch of us Pacificers came in costume to get freaked out by the spooks.
- Organize a recognition system to allow members to show their involvement. Like scouts badges, one for completed armor, one for hosting an event, one for 5 hours of volunteer/community outreach on behalf of the 405th/pacific regiment, etc. I'm not talking about ranks, just recognition. For example, look at the skill badges the diy.org has. The badges can be added to your community profile here (have to coordinate this with forum mods and entire 405th) or just can use the badges for personal use, or on ONI cards.
- Establish a network of members, coordinators, and volunteers. This way when an event comes up, members can be contacted; when we want to hold our own event, coordinators can be asked to organize the event; when we are asked to participate in a volunteer program (or just want to get out and do something), volunteers can be made aware of the opportunity to serve.
What are your thoughts/ideas/criticisms?
