A Fun Night at Google’s Boulder Campus

Last week, a few of us from r36 visited Google’s Boulder campus for an AI Builders meetup, and it turned out to be a night full of interesting projects and friendly faces. We’d seen big meetups before, but this one took it to another level—there were people from all sorts of backgrounds, and everyone seemed excited to share what they knew.

Welcoming Vibes

As soon as we walked in, we noticed how laid-back the atmosphere was. Folks were chatting in small groups about AI, coding, and random side projects they’d been tinkering with. It was nice to see both beginners and pros swapping tips without any air of competition. We introduced ourselves to a few people, and before we knew it, we were trading stories about everything from debugging nightmares to the coolest new features in Google Labs.

Presenters Who Stole the Show

A handful of demos really stood out:

• Jane Fine & Jules (Google Labs):
  This duo showed off coding agents within Colab. They gave a quick walk-through of how these agents handle repetitive tasks, which made us think about how we could streamline some of our own workflows back at r36.

• Joey McDonald (Core Dispatch):
  If you love mixing hardware and software, Joey’s setup was a treat. He patched together Raspberry Pis, radio gear, and walkie-talkies into one coherent project. It was refreshing to see something that wasn’t just software-based.

• Danielle Dannenberg (Atlassian):
  Danielle introduced fresh features for Rovo AI, a tool that aims to make life easier for teams juggling multiple projects. We were impressed by how smoothly it integrated with existing Atlassian products.

• Kevin Walkup (Roam):
  Kevin touched on new ideas coming to Roam, hinting that they’re expanding beyond basic note-taking features. It sounds like they have a lot in store for anyone who relies on their platform to manage complex research.

• Gabe Monroy (Google Cloud):
  Gabe wrapped up the evening by showing off Cloud Run with on-demand GPUs, boasting just a few seconds of startup time. Hearing that definitely grabbed everyone’s attention—performance is a big deal when you’re running heavy computations.

Why We Enjoyed It

Beyond the demos, the real highlight was simply meeting good people who share our curiosity about new tools and techniques. We chatted with hardware hobbyists, product managers, and coders of every skill level. Everyone had something to add, whether it was a fresh perspective on AI ethics or a new GitHub repo we should check out.

Bringing It Back to r36

By the end of the night, we felt energized and a bit more confident about what’s possible in the AI realm. We left with a few ideas for potential collaborations and some insights that could shape our own upcoming projects at r36. If you ever get the chance to attend an event at Google’s Boulder campus—or any meetup in your area—give it a try. You might leave with a renewed sense of what’s next in technology and a handful of new friendships too.

We’re already looking forward to the next meetup. Until then, we’ll be back at the drawing board, brainstorming ways to adapt everything we learned into what we do at r36!