NYC Maker Faire for the Uninitiated

No longer the sole territory of basement hackers and tinkerers, Maker Faire – and maker culture – is becoming mainstream.  Nothing proves that more than the crowds of first-time visitors who, like me, were blown away by the outpouring of creative energy.

The star was clearly 3D printing.  Many booths at least offered something that had been 3D printed in addition to the use of other technologies, and it’s no wonder – quite frankly, the printed result just looks smooth and pretty. I had to resist rubbing my cheek on all printed plastic I came upon.

It was definitely encouraging to see so many young children there, excitedly partaking in making their own tech products, learning to solder, and doing more in an hour than what I was able to do in the whole day I once devoted to pimping out my MySpace page (shout out to HTML!).

Some things I viewed that caught my interest were the Inmoov Humanoid Robot, an Open Source 3D printable robot that was animatronic and had integrated eye tracking, Kinect, and Leap Motion control. A 16 year old worked very hard on this, which blew my mind.

Another standout to me was the Wearable Wayfinder, a watch, compass, and a game system all in one developed by Lucid Tronix.  Children of all ages were crowded around the booth enjoying their tutorials (also available on their website).

As a consumer, I went to the fair expecting polished finished products but instead Maker Faire was all about the process of creation. We are making things differently now. Age-old philosophies are being not just challenged, but smashed. The real star is how, not what.

One last thing: can anyone explain why new technologies have to be named such delicious things? Yes I’m aware that it is the mathematical denotation of pi, but Raspberry Pi is something I would surely like to eat, and makes it hard to think of much else once dessert is offered.