A bit more about… Garry Bulmer.

One of our hackers is Garry Bulmer.

Garry has been using technology professionally since the late 70’s. He was teaching computing, software engineering and computer graphics since the early 80’s. He was part of the team teaching the first MA in electronic graphics at Coventry. There he also collaborated on a range of graphic art & design projects, including developing software for early DIY non-linear video editing, image effects, as well as computer animation.

During the 90’s he was a director of a leading-edge technology company who developed genuinely innovative systems for a range of companies; the best known clients included house-hold names like UK car manufacturers. They also developed some of the earliest commercial UK web sites and Java applications. One of their major strengths was ‘imagineering’, helping their clients to evolve novel solutions that not only satisfied their needs, but also reflected their vision for better ways to interact with their customers.

In the late 90’s and noughties, he lived and worked in the USA, working with a range of clients. Again the clients included many manufacturers, for example one made most of the worlds pigment for white paint. These were typically big, ‘mission critical’ projects; again really understanding the purpose was fascinating and often delightful (like seeing a piece of art and ‘getting it’).

Garry started using Arduino in 2007 to make a ‘robot’ for a friend’s grandson. Since then, he’s been leading workshops on programming and electronics. Garry has been helping people progress from ‘newbie’ on to materialise their ideas into unique, working, technology-artefacts; atoms, not just bits. He has lead public Arduino workshops around the country. For people ranging in age from 13 to 83, from school children to school teachers, from Amateur Radio ‘Hams’ to Linux Users, University developers to fizzPop hackspace and recently Tekwizz. He has used club meetings or public events like fizzPop Howduino, DEV8D,  Birmingham Science Week; with goals as modest as blinking an LED, to ‘building a (real) robot in a day’.

Garry was lucky enough to be part of the team that developed the Open University’s SenseBoard, which is part of the introduction to programming TU100 board (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tgn4Ln47lM8 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kY_VX0UVfw) which gives almost anyone the ability to explore physical computing using a simple graphical programming language.

Summary: Garry likes helping people make things, and helping people understand they can make amazing things.