Open Lab Idaho Inc

The purpose of Open Lab Idaho is to:

 

• Provide an environment to facilitate and promote creative, technological, and educational collaboration where members and those in the community can gather and share ideas, knowledge, equipment, and opinions in a friendly atmosphere.

 

• Provide education to the community through workshops and outreach events. Some of the events hosted by Open Lab Idaho include:

  • HAM radio classes by the HP HAM Radio club

  • The participants of BreakerBOI toured our Lab, learned about design and 3D printing and did a design activity

  • Two of our female members have been part of Girl's STEM Day for the Boise School District running Robotics workshops

  • Has been part of Boise State University's Engineering and Science Festival

  • Did a presentation for the teen group at the Garden City Library

  • Decorated and donated a tree to the Festival of Trees

 

• Provide education to teens by sponsoring an Explorer Post under the Learning For Life Program through Ore-Ida Council of Boy Scouts of America. Explorer Post #4 is the first Explorer Post in Southwest Idaho to have a STEM focus. Explorer Post #4 currently has 22 members including 6 young ladies!  We are excited to be able to encourage yourng ladies into STEM activities!

  • We do several community outreach activities and demonstrations through out the year. These include Engineering and Science Festival at BSU in the spring, school science fairs, scouting events, library presentations, organizing training sessions for the community and coaches of local FIRST Lego League (FLL) robotics teams, and assist with FLL Competitions including the Southwest Idaho FLL Qualifying Competition. We also run Lego Robotics Day camps for kids!

• One of the activities our Explorer Post does is robotics.

  • We are involved in the FIRST Robotics Competition as team 5461, V.E.R.N (The Victorian Engineered Robotic Nation)

  • 2015 was our rookie year

  • Unlike most of the other FRC teams in the Treasure Valley, V.E.R.N. is open to everyone. Regardless to where you live or which school you attend. Team members come from across the valley. Six traditional public schools, three charter schools, and the rest are homeschooled.

  • The team has competed at the FRC Regional in Salt Lake City, UT as wel as in Boise, ID.

  • To teach shop and tool safety V.E.R.N. built a demnstrtion robot using a donated electric wheelchair which we deconstructed, rewired added our own electronics and the programmed using "C".  'Wheelie' goes to demonstrations and outreach including helping to transport food as part of "Scouting for Food".

  • The student members of team V.E.R.N. designs, manufactures, assembles and programs the parts needed to build a robot and prepares for competition with in a six week build season! 

 

Open Lab Idaho is excited to be part of the Treasure Valley and welcomes everyone who would like to 'learn new things'!  We would like to thank you for your support!