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We had a fantastic day yesterday!  Team Brutus, with Amanda Fowler, and Team Overhaul, with Charles Guan, brought their bots to the Lynn Library Summer Reading Kickoff to talk about all of their experiences designing, building, and battling.

These two bots were fresh from the filming of the BattleBots Season 3 fights, and both showed their scars (and chars!), showing just how brutal the competition can be.  Amanda and Charles explained the entire process, and, even more than that, how they have learned to do this stuff.  After about an hour of “swarm” mode, where they talked with people one-on-one, showing off every detail of their machines, they gave about an hour-long talk on the Library lawn.  Take a look at the photos and clips from the day!

The Brickyard Collaborative brought over 150 people to the Summer Reading Kickoff, and gave the Lynn Library and QuaranTEEN Makerspace program a huge boost in the process!  We were glad to be a part of it, and we’re looking forward to more work with this awesome partner!

 

We’ve been working on this for a while, and it’s finally going to happen!  Join us to meet Team Brutus and Team Overhaul!  This will happen on June 16th in the afternoon, and as soon as we can do it we’ll announce the exact place and time…  but SAVE THE DATE!

Brutus and Overhaul, just back from filming the BattleBots Discovery Channel 3rd Season will be giving a show and tell, a little history and how-to, and a first-hand introduction to these BattleBots stars! Meet the makers: Adam Bercu and Charles Guan, both 3-season BattleBot veterans, as well as longtime robot builders from right here in Boston. Learn how they learned how… hear their stories, ask all the questions you want, and maybe pick up some secrets of robot combat!

For more information on the BattleBots show, see this link: BattleBots

Be sure to catch up on the episodes – Brutus first appears in Epsidode 2, and Overhaul in Epsisode 3, which you can watch on Discovery or Amazon.

See the trailer here:

 

As we wind down into the Memorial Day weekend, we here at The Brickyard are going to take a few days and, oh, maybe sit on the beach.  OR, take the boat out?  OR fly a kite?  Who knows…  but there’s still a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks.

Events

Don’t forget the Brickyard Night at the Ballpark on June 9th!  Get your (free) tickets here: Brickyard Eventbrite.  The North Shore Navigators will take on the Nashua Silver Knights at Fraser Field – a great chance to sit back, chill out, meet and greet some fellow members and enjoy some collegiate baseball…  the best!

On June 16th we have a special treat, with details still unfolding.  The Lynn Public Library is hosting a Summer kickoff event, and we’ll be there – but by “we”, I mean two of the contestants from the recent Science Channel  BattleBots TV show!  Adam Bercu, with Brutus, and Charles Guan with Overhaul, are making a very special appearance with their bots fresh from filming the new season!

…wait.  What?  We’re bringing actual MAJOR TV ROBOT STARS TO LYNN?  Why yes.  Yes we are.  Details will be announced.

One more thing…  Mid-August, look for The Brickyard at a new series of events, still in the planning stages: SAIL, or “Summer Arts In Lynn”.  More to come.

Workshops

We had a great time with our first series of workshops, and we worked out a few of the kinks…  stay tuned, we’re planning a Summer Series, and the details with be coming soon.  We’re planning on offering some of the same classes we did, because people had such a great time, and a few additions as well.

BrickStarter

BrickStarter is quietly kicking butt over here.  We picked up another $1000, and extended the deadline to May 31st, so there’s still time to get in!  Thanks to all the supporters and donors, as well as our new Charter Members!

That’s it for now…  enjoy your weekend at the beach, in the shop, or wherever you choose to enjoy your holiday weekend, and we’ll see you next week!

OK folks, we’re at that point.  That point at which we’re going to start talking about an actual space, actual facilities and actual card-carrying members.  Here’s the deal.

Within a month or so we’ll have a handful of spaces that will be good candidates.  We’re looking at primarily the downtown Lynn area, but there are a few that are outside that immediate area we’re considering as well.  We are in some negotiations with some building owners that would be in absolutely incredible spots.  Naturally, we can’t really talk about that publicly, but it’s moving along.

What we need now is a handful of people who’d be interested in talking about signing up for a space, and membership in The Brickyard Collaborative.  Our goal is to secure a space, move in our equipment, and lock down some people who would like to be a part of this.  Do you need a shop?  A studio?  Access to equipment?  We basically need to be able to go into a lease fairly confident that we can cover it with at least a few active members.

Sound reasonable?  Of course, what you’ll get is access to all the equipment, storage space, and workspace, according to what you want.  Here are the basic membership levels we’re looking at:

Membership			Rentals Permitted
	Weekday Access	Weekend Access (Sat & Sun)		Rates
Weekend Warrior	None	8 am – 10 pm	Shelf, Rack and Sheet Storage	$60/mo
Weekday	6 am – 6 pm	None	All storage, 50 sf studio, shared 75/100 sf studio	$90/mo
Nights/Weekends	6 pm – 6 am	8 am – 10 pm	All storage, 50 sf studio, shared 75/100 sf studio	$90/mo
Unlimited	24/7	24/7	Any	$150/mo
Day Passes	Mon-Thurs	Fri-Sun	Rentals Permitted
Day Pass 5-Pack	12 pm – 10 pm	10am – 6pm	None	$90
Day Pass 10-Pack	12 pm – 10 pm	10am – 6pm	None	$150

Of course you have questions.  There’s a lot up in the air, we’re not looking for cash in hand right now, and we’d love to sit down and talk about the various options.

If you’re interested, you’ve been following opur progress, or you’re supporting us, now’s the time to have a chat about the details.  Contact us here.

 

Keep making stuff. Take care of people, play nice and clean up after yourselves.