maker faire 2008
Robots
DIY R2-D2 Is Even Better than the Real Thing
11:20PM Jesus Diaz | 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.
Gadgets
Modded Violin adds Steampunk-esque Styling, One Extra String
9:22PM Gizmodo US Edition | 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. More »
Robots
Video: A Robot Drawing Beautiful Stars In The Sand
11:32PM Brian Lam | Here’s a video of Sisyphus V drawing shapes in the sand using a magnetic arm on a 2-axis plotter. [Maker Faire] More »
Gadgets
Remote Plant Watering Via iPhone
4:33PM Brian Lam | 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] More »
Entertainment
Quote: Would a Modern Day MacGyver Still Use a Swiss Army Knife?
9:35AM Matt Buchanan | 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] More »
Toys
Wall-E Robot Toy In Action
4:38AM Brian Lam | 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]
Computers
Build Your Own Multitouch Table With The Cubit
4:30AM Gizmodo US Edition | 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. More »
Toys
Maker Faire: Remote Controlled Battleships Fighting With BB Gun Cannons
8:40AM Brian Lam | 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] More »
Robots
Sisyphus V: A Robot Making a Zen Garden
7:18AM Brian Lam | This isn’t a sandbox with a marble in it. Sysyphus V, a kinetic sculpture by Bruce Shapiro looks like a Zen Garden. But instead of a buddhist monk carefully raking gravel, it’s an autonomous steel sphere carefully crawling over and over, making polar geometric shapes that can best be described as iterative lillies or stars. A magnet on an arm on a two axis plotter sites underneath the half-ton set up, and Sisyphus is making its first appearance here, at Maker Faire 2008. An unrelated but cool Interview with Bruce, by Cool Hunting\, after the jump. [TaoMC at Makers] More »
Entertainment
