Arduino Projects to Save the World (PDF)

Emery Premeaux (a.k.a. MRE ) had been raised on electronics and hamburgers. The need to dissemble mechanical and electronic devices is probably caused by a genetic disorder passed on by his father. Soldering skills definitely came before table manners. MRE spent his formative years putting model rockets into microwaves, searching for treasure with hand-wound electro-magnets, and building various Rube Goldberg contraptions to catch the monsters. An underlying theme of life in those early days was that technology was not only fascinating, but that nerdism could actually make one a hero. Goonies, Tron, and Revenge of the Nerds were huge influences. Eventually, so-called adult reality stepped in. So MRE started out on the success quest. A series of jobs left him with a diverse set of skills, including, but not limited to the following: He learned how to cheat arcade and slot machines, build and maintain incredibly complex robots that manufacture incredibly simple things, determine just what it would take to destroy a three-story, 200-ton piece of construction equipment, and answer the question Can we measure that? After 10 years and nearly as many jobs, MRE decided that somehow, having an actual degree might do some good, so he went ahead and did that. It could have done him some good, but it's just that by the time he finished his bachelor's degree in electronics engineering, he was actually ready for something completely different. MRE now lives in Japan. He teaches technical English to Japanese engineers, and normal English to normal Japanese kids. He is a founding member of Tokyo HackerSpace, where he teaches electronics, Arduino, urban gardening, leather and metalwork to anyone willing to try something new.