By Jennifer Myers
Lowell is a city that was born on innovation and creation. Making stuff . . . that’s how Nathan Appleton and Kirk Boott rolled.
That industrious spirit lives on nearly 200 years after the canals were dug and the mills erected on what had been East Chelmsford farmland.
It’s about 3D printing, metal and wood work, software and robotics and whatever else your imagination and drive pushes you to make.
Lowell Makes, a non-profit organization, is a “makerspace,” a place for people to gather, collaborate, work on projects and learn from each other. It also gives people the opportunity to use tools and machinery they could not afford to have in their own homes. A variety of membership levels are available, as well as day passes. They space will also host classes in a variety of trades.
It’s proprietors are Kamal Jain, John Noto and Eric Sack: an IT and network operations specialist; a physicist; and an AV/computer technologist.
They will celebrate their grand-opening on Friday Nov. 1 at 10 a.m. and all are invited to come check the place out. They are located at 47 Lee Street downtown.
The festivities continue the next day with a 24-hour Grand opening Hackathon.
Participants have 24 hours (12 p.m. on Nov. 2 to 12 p.m. on Nov. 3) to “make something that does anything, or anything that does something, from scratch”
“It could be an artistic piece which moves or interacts with its surrounding in some way, it could be a robot or automated pet feeder, some electronic gadget built around an Arduino, it could be software, or it could be any combination of any of those things or whatever else you imagine. The one thing your creation is not allowed to do, however, is…do nothing,” the website states.
For more information about Lowell Makes and the Hackathon visit: www.lowellmakes.com.
Room 50 