Recap: Hardware Freedom Day 2026
Monday, 27th April 2026
Sophie A
What a day. Hardware Freedom Day brought together makers, engineers, and tinkerers at Inspire9 Richmond for an afternoon of open hardware, robots, and real community energy. This was the first collaboration between Melbourne Tech Guilds and Linux Victoria, the first event of this kind at this venue, and the first Hardware Freedom Day event in Australia. A great mix of familiar faces and people either brand new to the community or returning after years away, and every single one of them made the room better for it.
The first half of the day had a wonderful buzz to it, with people moving between exhibits, poking at robots, asking questions, and getting deep into conversations with the people who built them. After a lunch break (with plenty of good spots nearby), we regrouped for the lightning talks, a mix of planned presentations and spontaneous ones that were just as good, if not better.
The Hardware on Show
The exhibition floor was the heart of the day. Six projects on display, each one a conversation starter:
- 🤖 Minimax - a multifunction wheeled robot with built-in machine learning capabilities
- 🐾 RoboKitty - an open-source four-legged platform with custom movement algorithms in development
- 🦾 Robot Arm - a commercial arm hacked for greater user control and programmability
- ✨ SparkNodes - ultra-low-cost robots that move and operate as an intelligent swarm
- 🏠 Smart Home - home automation with remote smart sensors and central management
- 💡 LightBox - a 64×32 LED unit displaying custom text, animations and a VU meter
A big thank you to everyone who brought hardware along to show. The variety and depth of what was on display made it a genuinely impressive exhibition.
Thank You
A huge thank you to everyone who made this day happen:
Melbourne Tech Guilds team and Mick - for bringing the hardware, the knowledge, and the energy that made the exhibition and talks so compelling.
Our presenters and exhibitors - you brought extraordinary projects and gave your time generously. The room lit up because of you.
Our lightning talk speakers - planned or impromptu, every talk was worth staying for.
Our volunteers on the day - Thank you Nick, Les, Fareed, and Robert for helping out on the day and who help leading up to the day. I'd also like to the many members and advisors for your constant and continuous support, we are very grateful to have such a supportive community. Thank you to Alexar as well for the hard work behind the scenes across both Linux Victoria and Electron Workshop, and for MC'ing and keeping the day running smoothly. It wouldn't have flowed the way it did without you.
Electron Workshop - thank you for supporting community groups with the infrastructure and sponsorship that makes events like this possible.
Inspire9 - Melbourne's original coworking space and a longstanding supporter of social enterprise and tech community.
Stay in the Loop
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Written by Sophie A. Grammatical issues fixed by Claude Sonnet 4.6.
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