The Nova Labs First Robotics Competition (FRC) team had a rollercoaster of a season! Our goal was to make it to Worlds, and by winning Ashland to compete at Owings Mills and Districts, we all worked hard to achieve that goal. When we did make it to Worlds, we were all blown away by the sheer enormity of the convention center, and by the creativity and uniqueness of all the other teams' robots and their approaches to problem solving. Waiting to find out if we might be chosen

By Vince McCullough This year’s Nova Labs entry in the Reston Cardboard Regatta will be the KARDBORD DRAKEN. The DRAKEN is designed to resemble a Viking longship (a very short longship), and is built using construction techniques that are similar to those used by the Vikings themselves, though with cardboard and glue instead of wood and nails. The keel of the DRAKEN The keel of the ship is constructed by laminating five boards made of 5/8” triple-ply cardboard together to f

By Paul Chase On Wednesday, June 22nd, members of the Washington-Liberty NASA TechRise Team (pictured below) toured Nova Labs after reaching out about our 3D Printing capabilities. The team is working on a 2U satellite form factor - that’s 10cm by 10cm by 20cm - to monitor radiation in the upper atmosphere, to be launched on a sounding rocket later this year. Nova Labs printed a weight-optimized prototype of their mounting frame (pictured below) on one of our Prusa Minis, w

By Paul Chase Last Sunday the Kinetic Sculpture Team met to work out what went well during last month's race in Baltimore, and to talk about what will go even better this coming year. The Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race will run on May 6th, 2023 - only 324 build days remaining! After meeting a new member, Kevin, and another current NL member, Josh, who were interested in joining the team, we reviewed the sculpture itself and tried to figure out logistics, and broad design to

“Like Punching a Mountain in the Face” By Crystal Thurber “Does everyone on the sculpture have a life jacket?” the Dockmaster bellowed....