Gallery: 10 Insanely Cool Things We Saw at Maker Faire (Plus 5 Videos)
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Now in its seventh year, the Woodstock of DIY continues to blow minds (and flames), with exhibits and presentations that range from silk screening to autonomous aerial vehicles to biofuels. We went to the [Bay Area Maker Faire](http://makerfaire.com/) on Saturday in search of standout projects. Here's the best of what we found. __Bonus:__ Don't miss Wired Design's five videos at the end, hosted by the Science Channel’s *[*Catch It Keep It*](http://science.discovery.com/tv/catch-it-keep-it/catch-it-keep-it.html)* host [Mike Senese!](http://www.mikesenese.com/DOIT/)
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__Wall-E Builder's Club__ What happens when the world's most recognizable droid has been completely analyzed, documented and rebuilt by hobbyists? In the case of two key members of the R2D2 Builder's Club, they went out in search of a new robot to sink their fab-tech skills into. [Formed in 2007](http://wallebuilders.com/) after seeing a preview of the then-upcoming film *Wall-E*, biometric programmer Mike Senna and citrus farmer Michael McMaster spent two years collecting as much data about the expressive, tracked robot as possible, and another two years constructing their replicas. Unlike the full availability of parts to make a complete R2D2, all of Wall-E's components had been made from hand, including the molds used to pour the treads -- and only using commonly available tools, no CNC or machined parts. They plan to eventually post full blueprints on the site -- costs should range from a few hundred dollars for a simple wood replica to thousands for an automated electronic unit. And for the *Star Wars* fans who fear that Wall-E will be the face of the next generation of friendly robots, McMaster reassures "R2's always going to be popular."
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__MaKey MaKey__ A small credit-card-sized USB interface that lets you turn just about anything into a computer input, by creating a simple circuit. [MaKey MaKey](http://makeymakey.com), created by MIT Media Lab Ph.D.s Jay Silver and Eric Rosenbaum, can be used to make a piano out of bananas, a joystick out of Play-Doh, an iSight camera trigger from a bowl of water, or whatever other crazy interface combination you can think of -- it even works with pencil drawings. It also has built-in Arduino, natch, so you can use program it to control devices on a far more advanced level. Another [Kickstarter](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/joylabs/makey-makey-an-invention-kit-for-everyone), MaKey MaKey blasted past its funding goal within days, and will be finished on June 12. Silver and Rosenbaum hope to have them ready for distribution shortly afterward -- they'll be working with Sparkfun for manufacturing.
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__The Viper__ After seeing the flight simulator at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, high school students John Boyer, Alex Jacobson, Sam Frank, and Sam and Joseph DeRose decided they needed to build a 360º rolling and pitching flight sim of their own -- based on the Viper Mark VII from Battlestar Galactica. [Team Viper](https://sites.google.com/site/mf2012theviper/) started their designs in September 2011, and by October had acquired the fuselage of a Piper PA-28 airplane to house the simulator. An $11,000 Kickstarter campaign helped offset costs estimated between $20,000 and $25,000 -- some of the more expensive pieces include 1-hp motors and special speed controllers that convert standard 110v electricity to industrial-strength 3-phase, 220v juice. The team wrapped up construction just in time for Maker Faire, and are now looking to send it to a high school program or aviation museum. They even got an offer from Riply's Believe It or Not to purchase it. Not bad for a side project built in a garage.
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__Exploratorium Tinkering Studio__ Started in 2000 with an NSF grant, the [Tinkering Studio](http://tinkering.exploratorium.edu/) is an interactive space at the Exploratorium that allows visitors to interact with electronics and traditional craft and craft-making techniques -- from building simple circuits and robots, to learning the concepts of balance and leverage, to orchestrating lengthy marble runs. Scientific Content Developer Luigi Anzinino says that unlike the 45 seconds kids spend at a typical exhibit, engagement in the space often stretches for 45 minutes or longer -- and sometimes all day. Beginning as a resource for educators and museum workers, it evolved into a hands-on, public forum in 2009 with a 900-square-foot home on the Exploratorium's exhibition floor. When the museum moves into a new home at San Francisco's Pier 15/17 next year, the Tinkering Studio will have a larger, dedicated space within a new maker-focused gallery.
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__Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE)__ After watching the Marine Technology Society's ocean-based engineering scholarships go unapplied for year after year, Deidre Sullivan, Jill Zande and Drew Michel started [MATE](http://www.marinetech.org/), an initiative to get students interested in the marine technology industry through the competition of self-built underwater remote-operated vehicles (ROVs). MATE helps faculty bring underwater ROVs of varying complexity to the classroom -- ranging from models made from PVC pipe to highly advanced designs loaded with arrays of sensors and controls. Student teams are guided on the design, construction, and operation of their ROVs to learn the concepts of marine exploration, culminating with national competitions requiring the completion of various underwater challenges. Splashing around with their submarines isn't just for laughs; MATE director Sullivan indicates that high school participants in the MATE competition have been admitted to MIT, UCLA, Berkeley, and other top engineering schools -- even beating out non-MATE students with higher GPAs. MATE also sponsors an internship program that places community college students on University-National Oceanographic Labratory System (UNOLS) vessels, including that of Titanic explorer Bob Ballard. Former students are now starting to enter the marine technology industry, controlling the ROVs for large organizations like the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
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__Animatronic Roy__ Sure, everyone has a microcontroller nowadays. (Hello, Arduino.) But mechanical designer Brian Roe realized that the devices available for these boards to control weren't exciting enough -- so he designed an animatronic robot framework, called [Roy](http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1647660643/meet-roy-an-experiment-in-animatronics-part-one). Using his background in design and creature creation, he spent a year and a half prototyping his laser-cut wooden character before deciding to offer it to the public in pieces. Selling the first component, Roy's arm, for $180 via Kickstarter, Roe states that the unit offers the same functionality as robotic arms that cost $900 or more. And after the arm? Hang tight for a complete robot. "The plan is to continue building until I have a life-size character, elbows, shoulders, neck, waist and all."
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__The Sticker Boyz__ Normally, making custom stickers is neither fast nor cheap -- but a group of students from Palo Alto High School found the gear and software to create a small vinyl [sticker business](http://stickerboyz.com) that lets them make one-offs on a moment's notice. Using affordably sourced computer-controlled vinyl cutters that look like inkjet printers, and a $50 software package, the guys have drawn a huge crowd at the Maker Faire two years in a row, by giving away thousands of stickers designed by attendees on the spot. And they're using their operation for charitable purposes, too -- they're bringing their "sticker magic" to the Ronald McDonald House to help bring smiles to those receiving specialized treatment at the Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital. Bruce, father of one of the team members, has said that the project has given the students more than a small business -- it's showing them some valuable real-life skills. Before their first Maker Faire, some team members complained that this sounded like hard work -- but once the event began, their excitement became apparent -- some of the team ended up helping all weekend instead of their initial four-hour slot.
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__Soft Circuit Saturdays__ Crafter Angela Sheehan creates and shares wearable projects that combine crafts and electronics. For her current project, ["Soft Circuit Hula Hoop Experiments,"](http://softcircuitsaturdays.com/) Sheehan wondered what would happen if you took the hooping community's current fascination with LED-lit hoops and made it fully interactive. The result? Prototype hoops that are lined with conductive material that activates the conductive-fabric circuits on her specially made shirts. Depending on the location of the hoop, certain lights will flash, or various musical notes will sound from an embedded speaker. As for Sheehan's favorite project, that came for a show in college, where she rewired stepper motors from a printer to act as small generators, and connected them to roller skates in order to light up the LEDs embedded in the skates, skirt and shirt of the skater.
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__Tapigami__ The brainchild of artist Danny Scheible, [Tapigami](http://tapigami.com/) is an "ever expanding, self generating social sculpture" made from common but carefully crafted masking tape. Displeased with not being allowed to touch things at traditional galleries, he sought to make art that people to participate with. The incredible Tapigami tape city has formed over seven years of construction and events -- most of the small, tan buildings are his, but attendees are taught how to use his technique to add pieces and help the city grow. Scheible prefers masking tape over more standard sculpting mediums because it can be cheaply and quickly manipulated, something he can teach and encourage others to do. Similarly, his 43-foot-long piece "Leviathan" was created through the participation of various artists using wire hangers and fabric.
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__Caine's Arcade & Joe Hudy__ Caine Monroy and Joe Hudy embody the spirit of the future of the maker community. With weekends and summers to kill at his dad's used auto parts business, nine year old Monroy took his fascination with arcades and built his own out of scrap cardboard and packing tape, replicating favorites like skee-ball and the prize-picking claw. Despite his entrepreneurial mindset (creating a "Fun Pass" was truly genius), his cardboard arcade -- tucked away in an industrial part of Los Angeles -- didn't attract many customers until discovered and profiled by Nirvan Mullick in a [short film](http://cainesarcade.com/) that went viral. His creation has now been featured at the Exploratorium in San Francisco and universities in southern California. [Hudy](http://lwjm.us) captured the attention of the country this past February, when President Obama [excitedly](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/07/obama-marshmallow-cannon-joey-hudy_n_1260850.html) fired his bright orange marshmallow cannon -- much to the chagrin of the secret service -- during the 2012 White House science fair. A regular contributor to *Make* magazine and Instructables, 15-year-old Hudy has also designed and sells his own [Arduino shield](http://makeprojects.com/Project/3x3x3-LED-Cube-Arduino-Shield/2021/1) (an add-on hardware board), a 3x3x3 LED cube that can be programmed for a variety of visual effects. He fundraises to finance his participation in Maker Faires, and plans to study Electrical Engineering in college.
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__Shawn Thorsson and Associates__ Working out of an abandoned chicken barn in Petaluma, California, [Shawn Thorsson](http://protagonist4hire.blogspot.com/ ) has taken his hobby of putting replica movie and videogame gear into overdrive. Starting 10 years ago with a set of Storm Trooper armor, he now has a team of friends helping crank out weapons, outfits, and oversized robots from *Halo*, *Predator*, and the tabletop miniatures game Warhammer 40,000. His builds require a full range of modeling techniques, including vacuum forming, fiberglassing, and silicone mold making -- and he's able to crank out duplicates for a variety of tweaks and modifications. Going full-time two years ago, he's already provided pieces for a *Halo* fan film, and is looking for more film projects. Meanwhile, his website details how to build your own awesome gear. The life-size chain sword was a crowd favorite.
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__Autodesk - 123D Catch__ Creating a 3-D file of a real-life object has typically required a specialized rotating laser scanner that captures size and shape data, slice by tedious slice. [123D Catch](http://www.123dapp.com/) is a cloud-based, 3-D-capturing wormhole that lets designers skip the special gear, by generating a 3-D model from simple photos. With a single camera held at specific positions, multiple images of an item are are taken and uploaded, then processed by 123D Catch remotely. Of course, you can go high-tech with this too; Autodesk used a 56-camera, USB-controlled photobooth for instant captures of the busts of Maker Faire attendees -- advanced users, feel free to build something similar. A 3-D object file is returned in about five minutes and can be manipulated in any way, or then sent to 123D's 3-D printing service. Finally, we can all have our very own action figures.
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__The 3-D printing era has arrived. These plastic-shaping machines and their highly detailed output were featured at every other booth at this year's Faire.__
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__I confess I was a little bit start-struck by meeting the founder of Arduino, [Massimo Banzi](http://arduino.cc/en/Profiles/MassimoBanzi).__
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__San Francisco Center for the Book (SFCB)__ Printing has gone almost completely digital, but the [San Francisco Center for the Book](http://sfcb.org/) is helping preserve traditional bookmaking techniques like letterpress and book binding. Its exhibit shows wannabe Gutenbergs how to use a tabletop platen press to manually print a letterpress image on cardstock, and then create a small book using a simple binding method. Letterpress has remained a popular form of printing for cards, envelopes, and other formal pieces of correspondence, but hasn't fully escaped the digital revolution either. Current presses use plates created from design files (Adobe Illustrator, etc.) to make digital "negatives" on light-sensitive photopolymer plastic. Once exposed, the image area hardens, allowing the unexposed plastic to be washed away -- leaving a raised image that can be used to press tasteful, inked impressions into paper and card. That part, however, still requires old-fashioned elbow grease.
