I was lucky enough to catch a meeting of a new Arduino user group in Nashville last night. That picture above is a prototype of a segway-like machine that uses tilt sensors to turn. (Segways use a handle-twist mechanism to turn.) I spent an hour or so reading through code, and helping identify the various constants we need to pull values for off of the equipment Jay used for his project.

We met at in a building that houses a distillery in a building called the Corsair.

The person demo’ing was Jay Settle, a brewmaster who, along with his brother, is a tinkerer. Jay showed some videos of projects like this one:

He’s also automated the work of distilling by modifying some 1920s-era copper stills with Ardiunos and temperature probes. He put together a terrific site showing his work on it. Don’t miss all of the rest of the projects on the links at the top of the page, including my favorite, the remote mower.

Anyway, the group is awesome, and you should go! If you know any hackers in Nashville, send them to the mailing list.

Nashville is not really known for it’s hacker culture, but it’s alive and well and finding its center. I have to think that the BarCampNashville has something to do with that – giving locals a reason and a deadline for showcasing ideas. Now, more conferences like the PHP Community Conference are picking Nashville. Anyway, I looking forward to seeing what comes next from the Arduino hackers!