Hi everyone, I just wanted to drop a note to let you know about the new hackerspace we will be opening in October in Tampa, FL. SOFWERX is a public hackerspace sponsored by US Special Operations Command to provide a place for hackers, makers, biohackers and DIYers to come out and demo their concepts, team up on wicked challenges and help make a difference globally. This space is open to everyone regardless of whether you are a U.S. citizen or one of our global partners and will focus on creating unique drone, robotic, autonomous operations, AI and big data innovations that can help with logistics, mapping, autonomy, disaster recovery, search and rescue, austere medical support, mine detection and battlefield operations. As the lead innovation officer there, my superpowers consist of being able to support rapid prototyping out to 90 days on projects of interest to the command, connecting hackers and makers with solutions to help global government entities with wicked problems, paying travel, food and lodging (at govt rates) for individual or small groups of hackers/makers (non-corporate) to come out and team with us on specific solutions, and hosting hackathons to help develop much needed innovations for the warfighter. To learn more about us www.sofwerx.org or look me up on LinkedIn or Twitter. The new facility will have a 7000 sq ft fabrication center, an indoor drone range to test out flyers and rollers, a robotics and autonomy space, and a big data and AI space totaling 27000 sq ft when completed. We also want to add a test tank for underwater drone testing and we have access to test in and around the USS Victory at the harbor. We are also working to have onsite FCC and FAA reps so that the space is able to do a variety of research and development functions for both signals and frequency work as well as specialized flight operations. I will post any upcoming hackathons, prize challenges, etc here as well as on twitter and LinkedIn. The first challenge is to come up with a cool name and logo for the new space. My boss is offering to buy beer of choice for the winning name and for the winning logo so drop me a line if interested! Thanks for the warm welcome and I'm excited to learn more about some of the cool projects ongoing on the site! Best, JJ