Maker Faire UK 2013

This weekend is the UK Maker Faire, held at the Centre for Life in Newcastle upon Tyne.  This is the second time I've been (I went to the last one, in 2011), and it's great!  There's loads to see and do, and what I've got to show here is just a fraction, but I hope will give you a flavour of the day.

Starting outside the building, there was the fire breathing robot dragon back again:

This time accompanied by a robot horse, complete with (living) jockey:

There was the Noisy Toys tent:

It may not look much, but it was LOUD!

Action painting (i.e. firing paint at a screen out of a small cannon):

Laser cut dinosaurs:

And I have no idea what this is or what it's meant to do as I missed the advertised shows:

Indoors, there were of course the Daleks:

It wouldn't seem right without them!

There was a lot of 3D printing this year, but this was a bit different - a 3D printer made from Lego and printing pancakes:

Neon artist Sarah Blood was demonstrating shaping glass tubes:

And alongside other works, had a neon tube baked in a cake:

There were a lot of robots this year too, including, rather dodgily, some robot pole dancers:

As my sister pointed out, this manages to demean women and robots simultaneously, which is quite a feat.

Moving on, textile crafts were represented too, with a quilting group present:

And another robot, this time knitting:

Knitted innards:

And more robots:

This is a musical instrument, the AlphaSphere:

I'd expected it to be a sort of drum machine but it isn't - it sounds like a synthesiser.  The chap giving the demonstration was playing some pretty impressive tunes with it.

This on the large National Museum of Computing stand took me back:

The BBC Micro.  Anyone in the UK of a certain age and of a geeky turn of mind (such as me) will remember the Beeb fondly.  In the real world I have a Masters degree in computer based information systems and job in web development and management, and it all started learning to code one of these in the 1980s.

With apologies for the blurry photo, the Raspberry Pi:

The hope is that this will inspire a new generation to learn to love computers, the way the BBC Micro did for so many of us.

Before I get too misty-eyed, a range of terrific 3D-printed bits and bobs from Shapeways:

If you're wondering, the thing at the front is a miniature Strandbeest; I want one!

Another robot, and despite the work that's clearly been put into it, I found it really creepy:

A big challenge for the makers of robots is going to be to get us to accept them, I think.

And finally, an overview of just part of the Faire:

It was enormously good fun, and I can thoroughly recommend going to any held in your area.  I'm looking forward to the next UK one already!

Maker Faire UK 2011

I took a day out from sewing today and went to the UK Maker Faire in Newcastle upon Tyne, and I was very glad I did - it was fantastic!

Held simultaneously at two venues, I started at the Centre for Life.  It was busier than I expected and I had to queue for a while for a ticket, but it was worth the wait.  As you might expect, there were a lot of people making things, mostly though not all electronic:

There were also a lot of stands with individuals and groups of makers, who were all very happy to talk, even though my first question was usually, 'What's that?'

Amongst a great deal of other stuff, there was a geodesic dome made out of estate agents' signs:

The Thing-O-Matic 3D printer, here printing out a key fob:

An intricate copper wire and ball bearing thingummy:

And a reel-to-reel-to-reel old fashioned tape setup, recording, overlaying and looping sounds, like an improv Radiophonic Workshop:

There was rather less steampunk than I'd expected, but a couple of heroic representatives:

And, I was very excited to see, Tesla coils!

I've never seen these for real before, so somehow it came as a surprise that the arcs are three-dimensional - they clearly occupy a volume, rather than being in a flat plane.  I don't know why I didn't expect that, but I didn't.

Outside, there was a marvellous scrap metal dragon:

He moved his head and neck, tail and wings (which don't show up at all here, sadly), and, thanks to the propane tanks in his chest, breathed fire:

He was impressive enough for a couple of Daleks to come along for a look!

Some token textiles - someone was yarn-bombing the area, with random knitting attached to trees, lamp-posts and street signs:

That was on the way to the second venue, the Discovery Museum.  It was absolute pandemonium - the numbers of people attending by this stage was huge - not helped by Titan the Robot doing a turn and completely blocking the entrance:

This is a terrific museum, with an emphasis on science and engineering, but which somehow has a good textile collection too.  This was not the ideal day for a proper look round, however, so I'll just settle for a peek at the Turbinia, the first vessel to be powered by a steam turbine:

And finally, the highlight of the day: Arc Attack.  Sadly, none of my photos turned out at all well, so this really doesn't do them justice, but what we have here is a man in a chainmail suit (a wearable Faraday cage), playing the Doctor Who theme tune with a million volts of electricity:

It might be hundred-year-old technology, but it was still one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

The Maker Faire is on tomorrow too, so if you're in the Newcastle area, go and have a look.