Todd & Jessica's droid blog: 2013

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Don't break my art my ache breaky maker's faire art.....

"More than 2500 people attended the Orlando Mini Maker Faire at the Central Florida Fairgrounds on Saturday, May 26, 2012." - Orlando Sentinel

I wish I had my photos from Last years Orlando's Mini Maker's faire. I stole a couple from friends to post here. Last year was the first one in Orlando and it was a huge hit. I've always been a fan of the things people make and those that know my husband know he's always making something. So naturally this place was like coming home. Palm Beach LED describes the Maker's faire the best, "Celebrating Central Florida’s Innovation, Invention, and DIY spirit! This Mini Maker Faire is a community-organized celebration featuring local DIY science and technology, rockets, robots, arts, crafts, and music."

This year the faire is being held at the Orlando Science Center on October 5th. You can get your tickets here or at the door. This year they've been holding mini maker's faires for the past couple of months building up to the main event. One of these events was Robot Days. This was really a lot of fun. Although everything that was most impressive I was really quite surprised by the kids who built robots and made them run. These brilliant kids were enthusiastic to show & explain what their robots could do.

So what to expect from the main event? Well last year I wasn't sure what to expect. I'd seen tons of photos about the maker faires on the west coast, but being a new event here in Orlando my largest fear was it would be a flop. Never have I been happier that my biggest fear didn't occur. With over 100 exhibits and 2500 attendees, it was a major success.

One of the things I really enjoyed was FamiLab's table. No one ever taught me how to solder but I had done it before. (Mostly cause I'm cheap & decided to fix electronics instead of tossing it.) They had this table set up where you bought a simple light up kit and they walked you through the steps on how to solder it. Although no one has really stated what they are planning to do for this year's main event I can only imagine. I know I'll it'll be difficult going between my own duties at the event and checking out all the following cool things listed on the Maker's site. (To see the full list of maker exhibits click here.)

While looking over the site's list I can't wait to see the rockets, learn what a theremin is, learn about the Dark Sky Festival, what hacker spaces are used for, Special effects make-up workshop, Lock pick Village, Steampunk creations and assorted 3D printers, just to name a few.

By the way fellow makers I plan to bring a box of misc stuff for other makers to have that I don't want or need. Can't wait to see what people make.

Here are a few articles from last year's faire
Orlando Mini Maker Faire - Orlando Weekly
Orlando Mini Maker Faire - Gabotronics

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Here comes the automatons!

Last year we attended the first Orlando Maker’s faire. It was a real blast. You had all kinds of electronics, art, music, projects.... I could go on & on over the things I saw.

This year Maker’s Faire will be at the Orlando Science Center on October 5th. The faire is included with the regular Science Center’s admission ticket. As a lead up to the main event the Science Center has been hosting Mini Maker Days. This weekend August 10th is Robot Days. So of course there will be several R2D2’s and other Astromechs there.

So in anticipation of the event I felt like focusing on robots. They are so fascinating on so many levels. I love how people express this interest in robots such as art work. In art it’s limitless like artists Robot Envy, Rusty Robots and Robots are Awesome. Each Artist is unique. Robot Envy’s artwork has such a variety as the real robots of today. Some look retro while others look new age or even charismatic. Rusty Robots by Space Cow Smith are nightly. Robots are Awesome, is fun loving, quirky and brings a smile to your face. It’s funny how something mechanical almost feels human.

But the obsession with robots doesn't stop there. It’s hard to believe that the fascination with robots goes back to the 1700’s. These first early robots were called automatons. Some of these early creations are intricate that the engineering involved with some of them have been lost over the years. It’s hard to believe that their creation is due to watchmakers trying to show off their skills. Some are so intricate they could not only right & draw they could perform and juggle. It’s amazing to believe that such creations existed so long ago. At the time of their creation these early robots were a status symbol of high society. I’ll include a couple of links to these early robots. Some are so life like.

Today’s robots are nothing like what we pictured but they are coming along. Sure we have robots that can do a sketch of someone but it’s amazing what we are able to do with the robots of today. Just recently in the news this past week has been about robots to assist astronauts, Surgeons and even explore for us in areas we can’t go.

All in all I think what most people find fascinating is that they work and how. Many of us don’t think we are capable of building a robot till we actually meet someone who has built one. Sure it can be as simple as a Rolling MP3 player with arms or a childs toy that can talk think and move on it’s own. The possibilities are endless. I think of all the things robots have inspired I hope to see what people create & bring to Robot Days and what inspirations will occur from this event.