Today I went up to San Mateo County Expo for the first-ever Bay Area Maker Faire. For a $20 weekend pass I already got two shirts, several programming kits from Microsoft (Visual Studio Express, Visual Web Developer Express, and Computer Gaming Resource Kit for Teaching and Research), an O'Reilly tote bag and a ton of kewl ideas!
One of the great exhibits that I saw was the 3D manufacturing/printing geometric art of Bathsheba Grossman. Bathsheba goes over the process in creating her 3D art, first she designs a model using CAD software such as Blender and emails the the design as a STL format file to a service bureau for it to be printed. One of my favorite pieces from Bathsheba was the Quin Scone lamp that looks like interlocking starfish.
Also on display where a plug-in hybrid that is said to get more than 100 miles per gallon! If you wanted to see something even more eco-friendly then you should have seen the Bio Ninja, a machine that turns Waste Vegetable Oil (whatever that is) to diesel fuel. Also along the same lines some guy was showing off a $800 Do It Yourself (DIY) Veggie Construction Kit. This guy had a VW Vanagon running on veggie power. What could have been more appropriate on Earth Day?
One of my favorite exhibits was the Giant Painting machine which a crude made aparatus that moves from left to right on a wire while a pen moves up and down on a clear plastic sheet to create abstract art not all to dissimilar to that of Jackson Pollock. Another great art project was that of the Graffiti Research Lab. GRL produces what they call LED Throwies which are inexpensive LEDs taped together with a small battery and magnet which they use to create electro-graf. Talk about the evolution of graffiti technology, I started tagging with a crayon.. GRL brought along some video of how they bombed Astor Place in NYC.
Other interesting projects at the Maker Faire where Sun Microsystems Sun Spot project, Bruce Shapiro's 'Eggbot' egg plotter and ribbon dancer, and the music of Thimbletron. I walked out of the Maker Faire with a part catalogue ready to order some sensors and microcontrollers to hack together.
If you plan to attend the Maker Faire make sure to watch out for small children and small robots.