Makerfaire 2010 – The Replicator Take

If you have any interest in building things, children that need a catalyst to get involved in science and engineering, or need a dose of inspiration, go to Maker Faire. The best description I can muster is that it is DisneyWorld for nerds. Built on the vision of Dale Dougherty, but spread into different “Worlds” from steampunk to tesla coil art and beyond. Highlights of the event follow:

PedalSense

One exciting thing about Maker Faire is the way it levels the playing field between individuals and corporations. Alex Gourley is an engineer at a famous web startup, but on his evenings and weekends has been building a video game controller that interfaces with exercise bikes. The faster you pedal, the faster your car moves in the game. He is currently taking preorders for the system via KickStarter.

Provocraft

For all the excitement about 3D printing technology, Provocraft’s CriCut personal paper cutting machine generates 3X the revenue of Stratasys with less R&D cost and with FAR better margins.

They also demonstrate how much room there is for improvement in marketing customization equipment. They did two things well.

1. Put popular licensed characters on the top of your booth. This ensured a massive crowd around their booth all day.

2. Giving away tchotchkes works. Be it with doctors and pens or faire attendees and tote bags. Cleverly, the Provocraft people set up their 3 or 4 customization machines in line, gave attendees a tote bag, then demonstrated how each machine could embellish the bag, sending them home with it as a souvenir/advertisement.

iFixit

The big booths with slick marketing aren’t just for companies with nine figure revenue lines. iFixit is what you would get if you merged Wikipedia with every instruction/repair manual. It is a great site with a compelling mission, solid revenue, and a rotating logo at the top of their booth. Sparkfun, the electronics supply wunderkind, had similar production values in their booth. Neither company has raised any venture capital, but had the largest crowds of the day, easily.

Instructables

Maker Faire features an amazing number of hands on demos. Instructables, the community powered tutorial site, had a really fun, kid height, “Lite Brite” to keep little ones occupied while their parents got pitched on the educational value of the site.

Atoms & Electrons

Chris Yerga, another Big Company guy hacking atoms by moonlight, exhibited a number of really interesting projects. My favorite was the needle in the lower left corner of this picture, which weighed the popularity of two terms at any given time on Twitter e.g. the names of the two American Idol finalists. His blog, Atoms & Electrons, is a must read.

Shapeways

Shapeways, the 3D Printing web service had a nice display. They are continuing to make 3D printing more affordable by aggregating demand and driving down prices as well as continuously releasing new materials to print with. Their glass modeling capabilities were on display and very cool, but I was SUPER impressed with their gold plating of stainless steel models. The color was gorgeous and the finish was very slick. I’m very excited to see where they are going to go next.

Ponoko

Ponoko, Shapeways’ 2D counterpart also had a well attended booth. Their promotion was the ability to construct a little toy out of pre cut plastic components. They were also highlighting their new service where you can cut a MakerBot chassis out of a variety of materials, including this one that has a nice anthropomorphic feel.

MakerBot

Speaking of MakerBot, their printers were in full effect eliciting oohs and ahhs from everyone who passed by. It was also surprising that so many people attending MakerFaire were floored by the very concept of 3D printing, never mind that one could now be had for <$1K.

The highlight of this display was The BreFormer, a Transformer like toy that can change from a model of a MakerBot to a robotic Bre Pettis, the company founder and front man. I’ve held off on buying a MakerBot to this point, but a few more fun projects like this and I may invest.

Kits

Continuing the DisneyWorld comparison, there was a well stocked gift shop where kits and books of all kinds were available. It seems like a cottage industry, but when you read about SparkFun’s explosive growth, it is inspiring to see how many people are buying them.

Fighting Robots

It wouldn’t be a Maker Faire recap without at least one fighting robot picture. I think BattleBots are due for a comeback. With all the excitement around arduino in the last 3-5 years and the increasing access to laser cutting, 3D printing, and PCB fabrication I feel like the market has caught up to the vision.

Hobby Product Design

Zillio is a toy/game used to teach mathematics principles. I’m not an educator so I don’t know how good a product it is objectively, but I was impressed by the story of its creator. She was a super bright engineer/mom frustrated by existing math teaching tools. She developed a prototype, learned enough about manufacturing to mass produce it, and many awards later she has a real product on her hands. Another example of atoms becoming as accessible as bits.

Evil Mad Scientists Labs

The good people at EMSL, makers of the CandyFab 4000 sugar 3D Printer, are back again applying math and engineering to weird/fun projects. In this case, drawing ornate geometric patterns on eggs.

See their latest creation, the EggBot, below. Their projects always seem to border between artistic statement and useful tool, but I can’t think of many quicker/more impressive/approachable ways to get a youngster inspired about electronics, parabolic geometry, physical hacking, art than one of these devices.

Artisans

I always like talking to individual artisans, in this case a guy who does glass lamp work which is like mini glass blowing. The best crafters are able to combine virtuoso technical skill with an easy manner and canned jokes that make the performance almost as impressive as the artifact.

BOOK YOUR TICKETS FOR 2011!

his overview is really just a fragment of what was at the Maker Faire. Hundreds of artisans, thousands of enthusiasts, and countless sights made for an exciting event. If you want more Maker Faire, check out this video and do yourself a favor and attend in person next year.

Tagged as: 3D printer, BattleBots, iFixit, laser cutter, Make:, Maker Faire, MakerBot Industries, Ponoko, Shapeways, Sparkfun