A blog post by our member, Jeffrey Roe, on his trip to Edinburgh.
At the end of May, I headed off to Edinburgh for a long weekend full of hardware hacking, radio waves, refurbished tech, and just a little too much cake. The trip centred around the Open Hardware Summit 2025, which took place on the 30th and 31st of May in The Nucleus Building at The University of Edinburgh.
The last time I attended an Open Hardware Summit was way back in Maker Faire New York 2012, so it was a real treat to be back at such a key event in the open hardware calendar. The talks this year were fantastic, touching on everything from accessible design to space exploration.
One of the nice surprises of the summit was getting to meet up with others from Dublin who were also attending. I had a great chat with the team behind EIRSAT-1, Ireland’s first satellite, who were showcasing their testing equipment. It’s always refreshing to run into familiar faces and see Irish projects represented at international events, and we even had dinner together.
Saturday: Workshop Day
Saturday was all about rolling up my sleeves and getting stuck into workshops. I signed up for three sessions and left each one with a new creation in hand.
- Opencyclone – A Vacuum You Can Build Yourself
This workshop involved assembling a fully working vacuum cleaner using open source plans and a bit of elbow grease. Loud? Yes. Satisfying? Absolutely. More details on the project here: Opencyclone Project
- Shortwave Collective – Open Wave Receiver
A beautiful, social workshop where we built a basic but effective radio receiver that can tune into the shortwave bands. There’s something magical about hearing signals bounce around the world using only passive components and a wire for an antenna.
- Ribbit Network – CO₂ Sensor Workshop
Frogs and sensors—what’s not to love? This community science project helps build a distributed network of open hardware CO₂ sensors. I now have my own Ribbit sensor ready to go!
The evening ended with the Open Source Open Mic, where makers shared stories, sang songs, and showcased their creative projects in a welcoming atmosphere. It was a lovely way to wind down after a busy day of building.
Sunday: Art, Nature & Hacking Spaces
On Sunday, I took some time to explore more of what Edinburgh had to offer beyond the summit. I started the morning with a peaceful stroll through the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, soaking up some greenery and grabbing a moment to reflect after two busy days of hardware excitement.
I made a return visit to Summerhall (Last visited in 2017 for Maker Faire), this time exploring more of its galleries and installations. It’s an inspiring venue for both art and tech events, with a real sense of creative energy running through its halls.
Later, I visited Edinburgh Hackspace, a highlight of the day. Tucked away but buzzing with activity, the space was full of tools, interesting projects, and most importantly, very welcoming people. We chatted about how their space operates, community challenges, and shared experiences around running public workshops and events. It reminded me a lot of Tog, and I left with a few ideas we might borrow!
Monday: From Cake to Circular Tech
After all the indulgences of the weekend (I’ll link to my full vegan cake round-up below!), I kicked off Monday with a workout at a local health club before taking a short walk to the Scottish Parliament and Palace of Holyroodhouse for a tour.
That afternoon, I headed out to Leith to visit the Edinburgh Remakery. The team there were incredibly generous with their time. We talked about their work in tech refurbishment, sustainability education, and their Repair Café events. There are a lot of parallels between their mission and the work we do at Tog, especially around community-led repair and reuse. It’s always great to meet people tackling e-waste in practical, inclusive ways.
Wrapping Up
All in all, it was a brilliant weekend packed with tech, community, creativity, and inspiration. Edinburgh has a lot to offer, both for hackers and visitors alike. If you’re curious about the non-maker side of the trip, including my deep dive into Edinburgh’s vegan cafés and cake scene, check out my Mastodon account.
More photos
https://www.tog.ie/gallery/nggallery/album/2025-open-hardware-summit
https://www.tog.ie/gallery/nggallery/album/edinburgh-hackspace-2025
https://www.tog.ie/gallery/nggallery/album/edinburgh-remakery-2025
Until next time, OHS!