maker faire

Gadgets

MAKE Makes Call for Makers for October Austin Faire

Posted by Kit Eaton at 9:01 PM on July 18, 2008

We love the whacky creativity of the Maker Faire here at Giz, and all you DIY gadget enthusiasts out there will be pleased to hear MAKE has just put out a call for Makers for the upcoming Austin Faire. You've got until September 4th to get your application in, and the faire itself will be happening October 18th and 19th at the Travis County Expo Centre. [MakerFaire via LaughingSquid]


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Design

Wiimote Wheelchair Helps Disabled People Paint (Roughly Speaking)

Posted by Benny Goldman at 1:30 PM on June 6, 2008

Digital Wheel Art, a wheelchair painting program to help disabled people make art was on display at the Maker Faire event in NYC tonight. Creator YoungHyun Chung was inspired to create the device after seeing children with cerebral palsy whose limited movement stifled their artistic expression. Here's how it works, plus a video of the system in action.


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Robots

DIY R2-D2 Is Even Better than the Real Thing

Posted by Jesus Diaz at 11:20 PM on May 7, 2008

Chris James' R2-D2 won four Make Magazine editors' choice ribbons at Maker Faire and it's easy to see why: not only does it have every detail from the original—except having a little person inside—but this one is even more charming, capable of singing the Star Wars theme, and Indiana Jones sound bites. It only needs to have a built-in projector to be absolutely perfect. We asked Chris about the obvious next step: installing sensory inputs and artificial intelligence to make it truly autonomous. His take—and another video of R2 dancing with kids at Maker Faire—after the jump.

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Gadgets

Modded Violin adds Steampunk-esque Styling, One Extra String

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 9:22 PM on May 6, 2008

Steampunk modding, love it or hate it, has caught on and led to everything from LCD monitors to Nerf rifles getting the treatment. And now we have this steampunk-ish modded violin, that's seriously cut-down and gutted, and packs in tubes and wires and faux valves. Plus one extra string.

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Robots

Video: A Robot Drawing Beautiful Stars In The Sand

Posted by Brian Lam at 11:32 PM on May 5, 2008

Here's a video of Sisyphus V drawing shapes in the sand using a magnetic arm on a 2-axis plotter. [Maker Faire]


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Gadgets

Remote Plant Watering Via iPhone

Posted by Brian Lam at 4:33 PM on May 5, 2008

Peter set up a robotic watering can to take directions from an iPhone. When Safari's screen state goes from horizontal to vertical, it sends a status update to a webserver via javascript that sets the watering can up or down. Pretty simple but clever setup. [Maker Faire]


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Entertainment

Quote: Would a Modern Day MacGyver Still Use a Swiss Army Knife?

Posted by Matt Buchanan at 9:35 AM on May 5, 2008

While yesterday's revelation at Maker Faire by MacGyver creator and real-life inspiration Lee D. Zlotoff that a MacGyver blockbuster was in the works was a pretty sweet surprise, today we asked him the most pressing MacGyver question of all: Would a modern day MacGyver still use a Swiss Army knife? [Maker Faire on Giz]

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Toys

Wall-E Robot Toy In Action

Posted by Brian Lam at 4:38 AM on May 5, 2008

We just saw the Wall-E toy in action, and its a pretty interesting toy (Although not US$190 worth of interesting.) The best features include fully articulating tank treads, 10 motors, audio and vision sensors, remote control by both joystick and touchpad, individual shutters on each eye, and collision detection. Wall E also has a "follow me" mode that'll allow a Wall-E to stick to a kid or dog and track it around the house. (We would have tried it out, but it was far to noisy and crowded at Maker Faire for Wall-E to track anything or anyone reliably.) [Maker Faire and Wall-E]

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Computers

Build Your Own Multitouch Table With The Cubit

Posted by Gizmodo US Edition at 4:30 AM on May 5, 2008

Engineers at Eyebeam, a New York arts and technology centre, are drastically reducing the cost of ownership for multitouch tables by taking them open-source. Schematics for the Cubit, a multitouch tabletop display, are available online for people who want to make a scaled-down Microsoft Surface for one tenth the Surface's price.


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Toys

Maker Faire: Remote Controlled Battleships Fighting With BB Gun Cannons

Posted by Brian Lam at 8:40 AM on May 4, 2008

Why do I need goggles to watch R/C ships sailing in a pond? Because these replicas of WWII battleships fire C02-powered projectiles. In the video above, you can see munitions bounce off the plexi shields protecting the crowd and make splashes as they ricochet off enemy hulls. The Western Warship Combat Club is recreating Axis vs. Allies fights where each side tries to sink the other. At 1/144 scale. [Western Warship Combat Club Maker Faire]


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