On wednesday June 27th, Karaj hosted the Making Beirut v1.0 event which was part of the Beirut Design Week 2012. For four consecutive days, the rooms of Karaj were filled with electronics and robotic gadgets made by local electronic developers. This event was the first of its kind in Lebanon that showcased the work of  local hardware hackers. Attendees of the event were allowed to be an active part of the exhibition, they interacted with robots, played with interactive surfaces, experimented with photography, and even built circuits with electronics kits!

The Karaj space was divided into three different sections:

- The main exhibition venue included:

Shakerbot-Snakeboard inspired robot by Sevag Babikian
Emily the waiter robot by DepotBeirut Team
Firefighter Bot by Innovo-smart solutions
Ejet, Ejet (Elusive Electricity)  by Ayah Bdeir
LittleBits by Ayah Bdeir
PicoSpaces interactive surface by Marc Farra and Maya Kreidieh
Sociatag by Wassim Hakim
Checkoids by Bassel Jaafar, Stefano De Luca, Wassim Chidiac and Jean Charles Hage Boutros
Moore Pattern by Jeff Lieberman

- The photography  experimentation dark room included:

Water Droplet Photography by Innovo-smart solutions
Sound Triggered Flash by DepotBeirut Team
Double Pendulum light painting by DepotBeirut Team

- The outdoor space included projects such as:

Mighwar by Innovo-smart solutions
Hexacopter by DIYdrones

Note: we are trying to organize a community of hardware and software developers in order to setup a Beirut Hackerspace. Making Beirut v1.0 was the first event, soon you will be hearing about other interesting events to come so please stay posted!

If you’d like to be part of the hackerspace or would like to be added to the mailing list to hear more about the latest news/updates, please contact me (Bassam) here. We need all the support you can provide!

photos of the event venue are courtesy of Patrick Abi Salloum

The main exhibition venue (photo courtesy of Patrick Abi Salloum)

Double Pendulum light painting

Double Pendulum light painting