Over Coffee® | Stories and Resources from the Intersection of Art and Science | Exploring How to Make STEAM Work For You
241 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 2 years ago - ★★★★★ - 10 ratingsInterviews with guests who innovate, create and make a difference!
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Episodes
TheBeamer: Technology, Fun and Stardust
March 02, 2018 11:00 - 22 minutes - 30.9 MBOriginally, co-creators Peter and Sally Solomon envisioned TheBeamer as a book. Based on Peter's experiences as a physicist, the plan was to share some of the stories of science, and the universe with their grandchildren. The book, The Stardust Mystery, centers on a competition-winning virtual reality website. But then, the grandchildren encouraged them to take that idea much further. At CES® 2018's Eureka Park™ Marketplace, Peter and Sally were showcasing the result: their first epis...
Shleep: The Science of Better ZZZ’s
February 24, 2018 22:34 - 14 minutes - 19.9 MBShleep is the world's first science-based personalized sleep coach app! And its creator, sleep expert Dr. Els van der Helm, says it's designed to step you through a few lifestyle changes that'll lead to much better sleep. At CES® 2018, in Las Vegas, Dr. van der Helm, who is the founder of Netherlands-based sleep consultancy firm Shleep, was on hand at startup area Eureka Park™ Marketplace. She and her team of neuroscientists and sleep researchers had just released their brand-new app for...
Putting Maker Skills at Students’ Fingertips
February 16, 2018 21:00 - 11 minutes - 15.4 MBSan Francisco-based startup MakePi is based on an exciting concept: Most of us love to make things. And MakePi has come up with--the world's first DIY tablet computer for kids, the MakePad! At CES® 2018's Eureka Park™ Marketplace, MakePi co-founder and CEO Bruno Costa was exhibiting the MakePad. Besides utilizing maker skills, the MakePad is designed to teach students, ages 5 to 14, hardware awareness and coding. And it doesn't require an Internet connection. Bruno explained how kids ...
Love and Technology
February 09, 2018 21:00 - 45 minutes - 61.9 MBAn Over Coffee® special-edition podcast STEAM can contribute to a very creative and fun Valentine's Day. And Over Coffee® has just had the privilege of "counting the ways" with three STEAM experts! On Saturday, February 3, Play-Well TEKnologies Los Angeles Regional Manager Michael Luong, Play-Well TEKnologies' senior Los Angeles instructor James Castellanos and maker, educator and STEAM enthusiast Mitchell Malpartida joined us for a discussion panel at Pipe & Thimble Bookstore, in Lomita. ...
Aeolus™: The Robot That Can
February 02, 2018 17:45 - 9 minutes - 12.8 MB"Tidy up, please, Aeolus™." How would you like to be able to say that, leave for work or play--and come home to a clean house? That's the idea behind the Aeolus™ household robot. This is the world's first multifunctional robot--which can learn domestic chores specific to your home and keep right on learning through AI, according to creator Alex Huang. Premiering at CES 2018 in Las Vegas, Aeolus™gave onsite demos: moving chairs, picking up toys and vacuuming the floor. And, it even bro...
Winky: Education Plus Ethics
January 26, 2018 14:00 - 15 minutes - 20.9 MBWinky is a very cute new companion robot. With a somewhat catlike appearance, it can react to its environment, and to input. And it's designed to teach a child about robotics, including what a robot is--and is not. Created by Paris-based robotics startup MainBot, Winky will respond to simple actions--such as being hugged. Hugs and other environmental factors amount to elementary coding. But Winky's based on an important principle. "It's not a pet. It's not a human," says MainBot Chief ...
Laundroid: Folding Away a Chore
January 19, 2018 19:43 - 9 minutes - 13 MBFolding laundry is a lot of fun--not. And that's where the Laundroid, created by Tokyo-based Seven Dreamers Laboratories, Inc., comes in. Laundroid is the world's first laundry-folding robot. Seven Dreamers president and CEO Dr. Shin Sakane was onsite at CES® 2018, to demonstrate how it worked. And Shin says, not only is the Laundroid premiering in Tokyo and San Francisco--it's on its way to becoming an affordable reality for the average person. (Think "available on an everyday basis ar...
Ozobot®: Upgrading “Very Cool”
January 13, 2018 23:50 - 5 minutes - 7.75 MBHow can you possibly improve on something that's seriously cool--and cute? Ozobot® makes it look very easy. Introduced in 2014 as the world's smallest programmable robot, it was designed to teach kids how to code. At CES® 2018, in Las Vegas on Tuesday Ozobot® Marketing Project Manager and Producer Morgan Andersen explained what's new with this one-inch-tall innovation--and what's coming next! Ozobot®, which first appeared at CES® 2014, is a multiple award-winner. Among its honors are the...
Putting VR at Your Feet
January 11, 2018 07:24 - 6 minutes - 5.61 MBWhat if virtual reality--games or other applications--could be hands-free? That's the premise which led 3DRudder Founder and CEO Stanislas Chesnais to create a different way to power VR . Stan, as he likes to be called, designed a foot-powered "joystick" for virtual reality! And since its creation, his 3DRudder VR Motion Controller has received multiple honors, including four CES® awards! At CES® 2018, attendees had the opportunity to experience it, onsite. But while they were having a ...
An Innovator’s CES® Win
January 10, 2018 05:33 - 3 minutes - 3.4 MB"With our technology, Snow White would have never eaten that apple," says Senorics Chief Sales Officer Robert Langer. And on Monday evening, Robert, and his early-stage startup Senorics, won first place in the "Pitchfest" awards, as CES® 2018's Euro Tech Week kicked off in Las Vegas! Robert, who is from Dresden, Germany, had the opportunity to pitch Senorics as part of a pilot project, ENRICH in the USA, funded by the European Commission. Congratulations to Robert, the first early-stage Eu...
3DVarius: Classical Meets Tomorrow
January 05, 2018 21:00 - 8 minutes - 12 MBOver Coffee® is headed to Las Vegas for CES 2018! Don't miss our coverage, starting January 9th. Meanwhile, here is one of our most popular podcast episodes, recorded at CES 2017's Eureka Park® . "This violin is for me. So I love it!" says professional violinist, mechanical engineer and 3DVarius creator Laurent Bernadac. So do a lot of his fellow musicians, as they play his creation: the world's first concert-quality 3D printed electric violin! We met and talked with Laurent during CES®...
LCFTRA: The Best Kind of “Panda-Monium”
December 31, 2017 04:11 - 8 minutes - 12.2 MBCreativity and project planning are a special challenge when you're making something that weighs several tons. Throw into the mix: your finished product will move at about two miles per hour, make millions of people laugh and remain current for about a week. That's a challenge which Pam Wiedenbeck, and La Canada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association, relish. Pam is La Canada Flintridge Tournament of Roses Association's treasurer. And LCFTRA is one of six community organizations which...
STEAM: Math, Science–and Magic
December 23, 2017 00:29 - 1 hour - 97.4 MBOver Coffee® is on hiatus through the Christmas holidays. We’ll be rebroadcasting some of our most popular episodes of 2017. Thank you for listening–and be sure to be with us for our coverage of CES 2018! Who knew that science, math and art are inseparable? Artist/Instructables designer Audrey Lee Love and electrical engineer/educational advocate/author Sylvia Libow Martinez use that concept every day. And that statement is at the core of the book Invent to Learn: Making, Tinkering and Eng...
RSSC: The Magic of Robots
December 17, 2017 02:36 - 26 minutes - 36.9 MBOver Coffee® is on hiatus through the Christmas holidays. We’ll be rebroadcasting some of our most popular episodes of 2017. Thank you for listening–and be sure to be with us for our coverage of CES 2018! Alan Timm (l) and Walter Martinez (r) with one of RSSC's early battling robots. How would you like to start building your first robot? Or, if you already have, would you like to learn even more about your next ones? The Robotics Society of Southern California is waiting to help. A nonp...
The “How-To’s” of Indiegogo
December 08, 2017 21:00 - 10 minutes - 13.7 MBOver Coffee® is on hiatus through the Christmas holidays. We’ll be rebroadcasting some of our most popular episodes of 2017. Thank you for listening–and be sure to be with us for our coverage of CES 2018! What if you wanted to fund your dream project through Indiegogo? At CES 2017's Eureka Park™, we met Kate Drane, who is Indiegogo's Senior Director of Outreach for Tech and Hardware. Kate is also an entrepreneur: she co-founded craft brewery mobile canning service The Can Van in 2011. ...
Road-Mapping Innovation
December 01, 2017 22:35 - 36 minutes - 50 MBOver Coffee® is on hiatus through the Christmas holidays. We’ll be rebroadcasting some of our most popular episodes of 2017. Thank you for listening–and be sure to be with us for our coverage of CES 2018! Where are we headed, with autonomous vehicles? Michigan Applied Robotics Group co-founder Rourke Pattullo is participating in answering that question. And that response keeps evolving. Rourke, who is majoring in electrical engineering at the University of Michigan, is currently spendin...
Local Roots Farms: Feeding the Future
November 24, 2017 21:00 - 10 minutes - 14.7 MBOver Coffee® is on hiatus through the Christmas holidays. We'll be rebroadcasting some of our most popular episodes of 2017. Thank you for listening–and be sure to be with us for our coverage of CES 2018! Local Roots Farms founder and CEO Eric Ellestad is combining ancient knowledge with cutting-edge technology. His indoor farming company uses LED lighting, sensors and hydroponics in its proprietary growing system. Local Roots Farms delivers turnkey "Terra Farms" to clients including u...
Socos: Hacking Education
November 19, 2017 22:29 - 22 minutes - 31 MBWhile Over Coffee® is on hiatus through the Christmas holidays, we're rebroadcasting some of our most popular episodes of 2017. Thank you for listening--and be sure to be with us for our coverage of CES 2018! Vivienne Ming at SRK Headshot Day in San Francisco(Photograph courtesy of Scott R. Kline, and used with permission.) Can learning outcomes be predicted, just by the way students talk among themselves? And, can both learning and life outcomes be changed by some minor daily "tweaks"? Ye...
Safeguarding the Innovators
November 10, 2017 21:00 - 20 minutes - 28.2 MBAn Over Coffee® Veterans' Day rebroadcast (Photo courtesy of Brent Chapman, and used with permission.) For Veterans' Day weekend, Over Coffee® would like to thank our veterans and military service members, who give us the freedom to innovate. And one of the first people who comes to mind? U.S. Army Captain Brent Chapman. Brent has made mindful innovation the focus of his career. He is an avid maker, an information security professional and a Cyber Operations Veteran. His military career...
VR and the Ultimate Question
October 30, 2017 03:51 - 26 minutes - 36.1 MBWhat does it feel like, to die? Through virtual reality, Julian McCrea's Flatline Experience offers some answers to that question. Julian is the founder and CEO of London-based Portal Entertainment. He and his crew spent sixteen years creating his six-part virtual reality series, Flatline Experience. Then, they premiered it in August, 2017 at ScareLA. But this was no "buy-a-ticket-and-go-into-the-theatre" show. Attendees were strapped into an ambulance. A virtual-reality headset went ...
Inspiration in the Making
October 21, 2017 01:33 - 25 minutes - 35.1 MB(Photo courtesy of Houston Maker Faire, and used with permission.) "Houston Strong" is the theme of this year's Houston Maker Faire. But that's a lot more than just a theme. In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Houston makers have already been using their skills and imagination to help rebuild communities. And Maker Faire Houston, happening this Saturday and Sunday, October 21st and 22nd, is going to challenge them. As Maker Faire Houston celebrates its fifth anniversary, David Brunet and...
The Red X: “Augmenting” the Haunt Experience
October 08, 2017 23:24 - 23 minutes - 32.5 MB(Photograph courtesy of Todd Larsen, and used with permission.) The Red X, the world's first augmented-reality immersive-theatre haunt, is back with something new for Halloween 2017. And Immersion X Productions founder and creator Todd Larsen is already innovating beyond this latest show. He's come up with an app that enables you to use AR in your own Halloween haunts! Todd, who premiered his immersive augmented-reality show in 2015, is now scaring everyone with The Red X:The Torn. This ...
Podcast Legalities: The “Wright” Approach
September 29, 2017 20:00 - 27 minutes - 37.8 MB(Photograph courtesy of Shahara Wright, and used with permission.) If you're a small podcaster, how can you possibly get into legal trouble? All too easily, says business attorney, author, professor and business strategist Shahara Wright. Shahara's career is all about serving small businesses, both as an attorney and as a business strategist. She founded her law practice, The Wright Firm PLLC, in 2000, and serves as lead attorney. Meanwhile, Shahara also helps small businesses chart a...
Octobo: Cuddly Technology for the Future
September 22, 2017 20:00 - 13 minutes - 18.5 MBRemember your favorite stuffed toy, when you were a kid? What if that teddy bear, dog, cat or otherwise had really been able to interact with you? Meet Octobo, a blue plush octopus. He's equipped with sensors and designed to work through your tablet. And his goal, says creator Yuting Su, is to get families playing together and sharing stories. Yuting is the founder and CEO of Thinker-Tinker creative lab, in Los Angeles. On her website, she describes herself as a "thinker, tinker and dre...
His Creativity is Going to Haunt You
September 19, 2017 00:01 - 26 minutes - 36.8 MB(Photograph courtesy of Jeanne Escher, and used with permission.) "Godfather of Haunting" Leonard Pickel knows exactly what will make you jump. He's been creating haunted attractions--and leaving patrons screaming with fear and delight--since his college days. In the process, he's revolutionized the haunt industry. Leonard, who has a background in architecture, is the owner and designer of Hauntrepreneurs Themed Attraction Design and Consulting. which he founded in 1987. Through Hauntrep...
Podcast Monetization: Fact Vs. Fantasy
September 08, 2017 20:00 - 19 minutes - 27.4 MBToday, there's a lot of hype about podcast monetization. Podcasting is exploding. And the Internet is full of stories of people who launched podcasts, built communities--and ultimately, wound up with six-figure incomes. But, just how realistic is all of this, for the average person? Not very, says podcast business strategist, talent agent and podcaster Jessica Kupferman. Jessica launched J/K Media Agency, the first advertising agency for podcasters, in 2016. Since then, she's been actin...
Mastering the Art of Podcasting
September 03, 2017 00:55 - 13 minutes - 19.1 MB"Podcasting isn't easy," says international broadcast consultant and author Valerie Geller. But, she says, if you love doing it, that won't stop you. And if you're producing a podcast, she can tell you exactly how to make it a magical experience for your listeners. During the recent Podcast Movement 2017 conference, in Anaheim, we discussed the elements behind that magic. Valerie, who is the president of Geller Media International, is the recipient of the Conclave's Rockwell Lifetime Ac...
From PM 17: Podcasts and Other Dreams
August 27, 2017 20:57 - 39 minutes - 53.8 MBAuthor, speaker and award-winning producer Jenna Edwards knows how to chart her course to a dream. What she has to say is pertinent to aspiring podcasters--and to anyone who'd like to turn an exciting idea into a reality. We talked onsite at Podcast Movement 2017, in Anaheim, on Day One of the conference. Podcasters from all over the world had congregated to learn more about their craft, and to enjoy being part of the growing podcast community. And one of the exciting features during the...
Immersed in STEAM
August 19, 2017 00:00 - 46 minutes - 63.2 MB(Photo courtesy of Marine Advanced Technology Education Center, and used with permission.) Jill Zande uses underwater robots to fire students' imagination. As Associate Director of the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center, in Monterey, Jill is the founder of MATE's annual student ROV (remote-operated vehicle) competition. Since its creation in 2002, the MATE Center's underwater robotics competition has grown to an international event, in which 710 teams participated in 201...
Charting a Course to the Future
August 12, 2017 23:35 - 38 minutes - 52.4 MBAutonomous vehicles will soon become an everyday reality. And Michigan Applied Robotics Group co-founder Rourke Pattullo is--quite literally--involved in the mechanics of getting them there. Rourke is an undergraduate in Electrical Engineering and Electronics at the University of Michigan--one of the nation's top schools, in the field of robotics. He's also the vice-president of UM:: Autonomy, the university's autonomous boat team. Every year, UM: Autonomy constructs an autonomous boat, a...
Making…Everyday Life Easier
August 04, 2017 23:00 - 30 minutes - 41.3 MBJim Ryan demonstrates the use of the LipSync device. (Photo courtesy of Chad Leaman, of Neil Squire Society, and used with permission. Makers Making Change wants to involve you in a creative collaboration. By connecting makers to people with disabilities, Makers Making Change starts the process of creating new, affordable assistive technologies. Designs become open-source, so makers can easily evolve new devices. (Here's a link to one of their inventions: the LipSync, a mouth-controlled...
Art + Science = Exciting
August 02, 2017 23:22 - 1 hour - 97.6 MBAn Over Coffee® special-edition podcast One fact, at the core of the maker movement, can come as a surprise. "Art and science are inseparable," says electrical engineer, educational advocate, author and speaker Sylvia Libow Martinez (l) That's both a statement from her book, and a principle which artists like Audrey Lee Love (r) are proving on a daily basis. And on Saturday, July 29th, Over Coffee® had the honor of live-hosting a discussion panel: "The Intersection of Art and Science", wi...
ScareLA™: New Facets of Fear–and Fun
July 22, 2017 18:31 - 17 minutes - 24.1 MBScareLA founder Lora Ivanova. (photograph courtesy of ScareLA™, and used with permission.) Halloween is just two weeks away, and counting--courtesy of ScareLA™ founder Lora Ivanova. And the 2017 edition of the world's first summertime Halloween convention is going to be dark, spooky,futuristic, and fun. This year's "monsters" get to creep, crawl and scream through an immersive environment, with AR and VR-enhanced haunt experiences. For 2017, ScareLA™: the Los Angeles Summer Halloween Conv...
Earny: An App for Keeping Your Money
July 15, 2017 18:16 - 22 minutes - 31 MB. Earny founder and serial entrepreneur Dori Yona has a lot of shopping savvy. And he's putting it to use for your benefit, with his "Earny" app. This is an app that serves as a virtual watchdog, when you buy something. If the price on an item drops after a purchase, "Earny" automatically seeks a rebate for its user. Dori, who launched his Earny, Inc. startup in 2015, recently shared the story of his successful funding and launch at Ideas Immersion™ California's "The Funding Lifecycle o...
In Search of the Human Element
July 09, 2017 03:48 - 33 minutes - 46 MB(Photograph courtesy of Wayne Lawrence, and used with permission.) Max Aguilera-Hellweg's new book, Humanoid, is all about robots. And the themes: what is our connection to them, as humans? Where are we headed, with robots? And, what does it mean to be human, anyway? In Humanoid, Max, who is a physician as well as an award-winning National Geographic photojournalist and filmmaker, incorporates his expertise and a sense of wonder. He explores not only different types of robots from all o...
Ray Zinn: “Tough” Equals Success
July 05, 2017 04:14 - 21 minutes - 29.7 MBAs the 2017 Sensors Expo and Conference has just concluded, we're rebroadcasting a popular episode, featuring one of their 2016 keynote speakers. Over Coffee® will publish a new episode next Friday, July 7th. Getting the "tough things" out of the way is a crucial leadership skill for any business owner, says tech entrepreneur Ray Zinn. Ray, who is Silicon Valley's longest-serving CEO, is the author of the book Tough Things First. In 1978, he founded his independent semiconductor com...
Putting Her Heart into “Hacktivism”
June 24, 2017 01:56 - 28 minutes - 39.5 MB"Technology is a game-changer," says Humanistic Technologies founder and CEO Ruby Guillen. And she's continuing to prove that, by innovating the social work field--digitally. Ruby, whose professional honors include "Outstanding Social Worker", has been working in Child Welfare in Los Angeles since 1996. But over time, she became frustrated with the ways she saw the system failing to meet clients' needs. So she drew on an interest that had awakened during her time in the Air Force: her co...
Cutting-Edge, Compelling and Life-Saving
June 17, 2017 04:15 - 32 minutes - 45.2 MBThe Hidden Tears Project is producing virtual-reality films, among its upcoming projects. And the results will almost certainly haunt you. That's because Hidden Tears' mission is to create media that raise mainstream awareness of an almost-hidden social problem: human trafficking in the United States. Entertainment professionals Jordan Marinov and Jason Gurvitz co-founded their nonprofit in in 2015. Drawing on their backgrounds in dance and filmmaking, respectively, Jordan and Jason coll...
A Space Retrospective – to the Future
June 11, 2017 01:50 - 20 minutes - 28.5 MBDue to unforeseen circumstances, we're running a backup show this week. Over Coffee® will be back with a new episode next Friday, June 16th. Meanwhile, in honor of the 2017 NASA astronaut candidates, here is one of our most popular interviews from Space Apps Pasadena 2016, starring NASA JPL IT Chief Technology Officer Tom Soderstrom. If you're running a startup, you have a lot of the skills required for planning a space flight. At least, that's NASA JPL IT Chief Technology Officer Tom Sod...
Her Technology Says, “Do You Mean It?”
June 03, 2017 18:19 - 13 minutes - 18.4 MBWhat if there were a way to detect emotions, technologically? That's exactly what Dr. Yael Hanein and her research team have been exploring. Dr. Hanein is the Director of Tel Aviv University's Center for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology--the first such facility in Israel. Among the cutting-edge research projects which Dr. Hanein, who is also a professor of Electrical Engineering, has conducted, is one in which she and her team have been tracking emotions by monitoring the ways subjects' fac...
Virtually Revolutionizing Science Studies
May 28, 2017 00:53 - 20 minutes - 28.3 MBFor many of us, "biology class" and "fun" never used to be synonymous. Enter Labster: an award-winning virtual-reality science lab. Labster combines scientific expertise with computer-gaming scenarios. And the result? Students enjoying science class and seeing, first-hand, how scientific principles apply to the "real world". They're also learning at an exciting rate, where they "tuned out" before. This virtual-reality lab is currently part of the curriculum in more thatn 150 colleges a...