Seek Robotics Makerspace
xanadu
Posts: 3,347
The location is in a town called Vista directly off highway 78 in San Diego county, CA. In an effort to relocate 24U of servers in a local area serviced by Cox coax (cheapest in town) I came across a very low rent 1200'sq two level office. At $1 a foot sq the servers easily pay the rent. It is two floors, and the servers are upstairs for security reasons.
I have the remaining downstairs available basically rent free to play with. It will be there until Cox installs fiber in that area, so potentially three or more years. I would never consider opening a retail electronics location because I know it wouldn't make money. Now I am presented with a low risk option and certainly going for it.
Here is the space:
A friend of mine has all kinds of retail stuff like counters and peg boards etc that I can borrow. I'm thinking about selling drones and robots. There's a Fry's right down the street so if I were to sell components I would have to find stuff they don't sell.
I don't want to load it up with expensive stuff that doesn't sell, but I do want to load it up with stuff people cannot buy locally.
I'd also love to hear suggestions, electronics is not my forte but I know the feeling of being able to go somewhere to get a part nobody else has. I wouldn't mind providing that service. It would be easy enough to staff, I could move my office in there's a little private room the back just big enough for my puters.
The other thing is the room needs to convert from retail to micro hacker space. This will definitely be known as the coolest place in the county for (micro) hackerspace. I may even give classes on how breadboards work...
So what do you think?
Suggestions on stuff that isn't expensive that you can't find anywhere?
Suggestions on cheap and durable furniture for hackerspace?
I have the remaining downstairs available basically rent free to play with. It will be there until Cox installs fiber in that area, so potentially three or more years. I would never consider opening a retail electronics location because I know it wouldn't make money. Now I am presented with a low risk option and certainly going for it.
Here is the space:
A friend of mine has all kinds of retail stuff like counters and peg boards etc that I can borrow. I'm thinking about selling drones and robots. There's a Fry's right down the street so if I were to sell components I would have to find stuff they don't sell.
I don't want to load it up with expensive stuff that doesn't sell, but I do want to load it up with stuff people cannot buy locally.
I'd also love to hear suggestions, electronics is not my forte but I know the feeling of being able to go somewhere to get a part nobody else has. I wouldn't mind providing that service. It would be easy enough to staff, I could move my office in there's a little private room the back just big enough for my puters.
The other thing is the room needs to convert from retail to micro hacker space. This will definitely be known as the coolest place in the county for (micro) hackerspace. I may even give classes on how breadboards work...
So what do you think?
Suggestions on stuff that isn't expensive that you can't find anywhere?
Suggestions on cheap and durable furniture for hackerspace?
Comments
Are you opposed to Chinese knock-offs?
I would like to build a brand, but sure parts from China will end up there. Individual components, no blatantly cloned assemblies that hurt the manufacturer.
I could go with something really weird like sell prepacked kits over the counter. When you come to buy the kit you stay to build it. Or you can just leave with it, jerk. I could show the people I work with how to build the kit so when I'm not there it could still happen.
Would people be beating down the doors? No, but that doesn't really matter. It's different, that matters more to me. Whatever goes on in there has to be unique. We could call this entire thing an experiment just to see.
Also thinking the space will be a good excuse for Erco to come down for his regular marathons and bike rides he likes to do. If he does make it down, he'll insist you sell Parallax hats.
What Fry's doesn't have is anyone who knows the Parallax products. Because they sell at full retail, there's no discounting needed to attract customers. IMO, just having a place where you could come in and build your robot, with the helpful eye of a keen teacher, is an excellent draw. I know for a fact (won't go into details here) the area schools have active robotics courses and activities.
I think so, if you stayed under 20' nobody would see a copter. The owner of the property doesn't have an issue with it, he loves the idea of all of this and has been really accommodating. There are some second story offices with large windows which need further investigation.
Screwdrivers and hats are a great start to the list!
I agree about Fry's. They should have an assembled version of the kits on display. Or put a BOE Bot in a clear case and let it roam. The boxes sitting on shelves doesn't work without someone there who knows the product.
Second location will be on the east coast
Sadly Fry's here in Downers Grove is going down hill rapidly. High prices, low inventory and bins full of "junk" at very low prices. Even the they're cheap you get what you pay for. Sad to see it.
Ken Gracey
-Phil
There is a local game store that went to an almost round-the-clock schedule. They are growing extremely fast. They host competitions of all sorts and have all sorts of food and drink. It helps to harbor a sort-of club type atmosphere. Everyone is extremely friendly and excited to be around others who are interested in the same things. It would be great to have the same type of establishment for makers, hackers and programmers, though I don't think that this could work if their numbers aren't that high in North County San Diego.
Thank you Ken, that is great news! I will email you soon.
Today I met with Gordon at the new spot! It was the best conversation I've had in many years. We talked about a lot of ideas, and some different ways to go about this.
As Phil mentioned, customer expectations will need to be met. It will likely start out as multirotor and robotics classes a couple nights a week. We would offer kits and building sessions but try to focus most of it on learning and of course having fun in the process! Hopefully that will bring in more people.
Doing the classes should provide a lot of insight onto those needs in a controlled and manageable method. Then things can expand into a more retail setting.
I think the internet was just hooked up, better go run some speed tests...
My dog Rubie wants her water dish moved over. She loved the space.
Look familiar?
It looks like I will be in San Diego sometime this summer. I would love to get together with you and Gordon maybe for lunch and a visit to your hacker space. What do you think?
Jim
Jim send me a date in advance and I'll post an invitation and see if we can get a group going.
Everyone else that lives close by can stop in anytime. PM me, I'm there a lot!
Think I saw the old Subaru there yesterday when we drove by on the freeway after doing errands in San Diego.
Probably, I haven't been using the cloaking device much. By the way the internet is fixed, it was the modem.
Ha! And was it also DOCSIS 2.0? I firmly believe Cox regularly sends down corrupting code to mess with those, so you will upgrade.
Throwing a patch panel in and running some wires. Then comes the roboweb server
Jim