Louisville Magazine

AUG 2016

Louisville Magazine is Louisville's city magazine, covering Louisville people, lifestyles, politics, sports, restaurants, entertainment and homes. Includes a monthly calendar of events.

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TOOL OF THE TRADE Photo by Chris Witzke "Wouldn't it be hilarious if we had a giant Roomba?" Danielle Blank wondered. Answer: yes. Since April, she and her team at LVL1, a so-called "hackerspace," have been building a Roomba-looking racer (inset photo) from scratch for a Power Wheel competition in Detroit. (By the time you read this, the results should be in. The "moxie" award goes to the most original design.) "The rules blatantly say that it must look like a Power Wheel, that it must start from a Power Wheel," Blank says, referring to the Barbie- or Hot Wheels-themed miniature cars of 1990s Christmas dreams. But there's an important loophole. "This clause — I think it's called 'I Ain't Even Mad.' If something is just so amazing that they have to stand back and go, 'Wow, that's pretty awesome,' then that trumps everything." In LVL1's industrial Butchertown warehouse on the last Thursday in June, the team is well past the PVC- mock-up phase. Somebody's using a welding torch (pictured). Others are attempting to decipher the Chinese labels on the steering controls — a twistable handle for speed, levers that move the steering wheel. "We have a history of procrastinating," Blank says. "We throw stuff together." — Jenny Kiefer

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