Above: Plenty of visitors all weekend long came by the LMR booth to check out our robots.
The robots and their makers are all safely home, and it is time to tell the tale of World Maker Faire 2016. Francisco put together a nice video that give you a feel for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze53W1AW6nM
Despite rainy weather on Friday, which made setup a bit soggy, the rain pretty much held off all Saturday and Sunday.
Despite rainy weather on Friday, which made setup a bit soggy, the rain pretty much held off all Saturday and Sunday.
If you are looking for Rick's post about organizing for World Maker Faire 2016, you'll find it here.
Setup
Above: The Robotics tent where we initially set up.
The team traveled to New York from our various homes, with the intension of dropping off all our supplies at the New York Hall of Science, were World Maker Faire is held each year.
The grounds were a mess, and the Maker Faire crew were doing everything they could to deal with wet tables and soggy ground. Our crew was told to leave our stuff under the big white Robotics tent in Zone 4. The plan was to drop everything off and set up in the morning before the fair opened.
I was delayed until after 7:30pm, and by the time I arrived the organizers were no longer letting makers in to set up. So I headed back to my hotel.
I arrived early on Saturday since I had to unload my robots and equipment, and found a place to unload right near the Robotics tent. I found a table labeled with LMR's group number, and dropped off all my stuff. John (robotgoldfish) and Barbara arrived not long afterwards. Once unloaded, I left my kids with them to go find parking. By the time I returned, I found we had been told to move to a booth across the roadway from the Robotics tent. Though it was a bit of a hassle to move, the new location worked out very well, and we were all set up and ready to go before showtime.
Coleman (Cbenson) and Vickie from RobotShop stopped by to offer help with setup. The two new vertical LMR banners that RobotShop donated looked great and really added to the look of our booth.
Saturday
Above: Unbeknownst to him (but beknownst to Coleman, who took this picture) John models our cool LMR bowling style shirt.
Saturday Crew:
- Andrew Terranova (ignoblegnome)
- William Terranova (Andrew's son)
- John Olsen (robotgoldfish)
- Barbara Olsen (John's wife)
- Rick Winscot (rwinscot)
- Marty Marino (Andrew's Brother-in-Law)
- Francisco Dominguez Roman (Franciscodr - remote social media support)
- Veronica Uribe (A Stonybrook student who volunteered
Once the gate of Maker Faire opened to the public, we were pretty much busy all day. The front table hosted our gaggle of robots.
Of course John brought the eponymous Robot Goldfish, and his line following "brother" RG2. The sunlight is no friend to infrared sensors, so RG2 did't do so well with line following. However he was still popular due to his cuteness and of course his unique mode of motion with only one motor.
Above: Our front table with its gaggle of robots.
I wanted to focus on interactive robots this year, so I brought my Hydraulic Robot Arm and econoSpazzi. I also brought Piranha Tank, since he is just so engaging with kids.
Above: Piranha Tank with my Hydraulic Robot Arm in the background.
Rick brought his 3D printed Red Rover, which you can find plans for at Adafruit. He also brought a masterpiece of 3D printing design and construction, his amazing full sized BB-8 from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Above: Rick's impressive BB-8 drew constant attention from the crowd.
We also had a DFRobot Insectbot Hexa, left over from last year's workshop, and Rick brought an Otto Bot, programmed to dance to Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal.
Above: Otto and Insectbot Hexa
Sunday
The fun continued on Sunday. It remained overcast but without rain, and though I suspect this year did not break any records for Maker Faire attendence, we were quite busy all day.
Above: Undeterred by threat of rain, the Maker Fair crowd enjoyed a great show.
Above: Plenty of visitors came by on Sunday!
Sunday Crew
- Andrew Terranova
- William Terranova (Andrew's son)
- John Olsen
- Barbara Olsen
- Rick Winscot
- Paige Winscot (Rick's daughter)
- Parker Winscot (Rick's son)
- Marty Marino (Andrew's Brother-in-Law)
- Francisco Dominguez Roman (remote social media support)
MakerFaire can be tough on robots, and this year was not exception.
Robot Goldfish took a suicide dive off the table late in the day Saturday. "He was pushed!" John insisted. In any case, John had to take him home that night to repair him, but he was back to work for Sunday.
Something seemed to have gone amiss with my NiMH battery charger, so econoSpazzi ran out of power pretty early in the day and had to be retired.
The Hydraulic Robot Arm had some mechanical difficulties all Saturday, so I globbed on extra heaps of hot glue to hold the linear actuators in place and hoped for the best. It did behave much better, though I still had an occational problem with the power connection not making good contact. Despite that, the Arm saw continuous use all day and was very popular with kids. Many adults had questions about how it worked.
Poor Otto Bot had danced his feet off on Saturday, but after a change of batteries he was rockin' like a Smooth Criminal. We think a sound module should be added so he can accompany himself with music.
We were pleased that Ray from Ray's Robots stopped by with his awesome companion robot Volt. We babysat Volt for a bit while
Ray took a break. Volt is an amazing piece of work! Ray is a kid who loves robots. In additon to Volt, Ray was displaying an emotional robot "emot-i-bot", a mini R2-D2, and a Kossel mini delta 3D printer (his first robot) at his own table in the Young Makers area.
Above: Ray's robot Volt is pretty slick.
I also want to give some attention to our two neighbors at Maker Faire.
The ZeGoBeast team was demonstrating their big wooden walking robots, powered by hefty window wiper motors and made from lasercut plywood and steel threaded rods and hardware. They were giving away catapult accessory kits that fit their walking robots, and were kind enough to give one to me. I can't wait to try it out.
Above: The folks at the ZeGoBeast table were great neighbors.
On the other side of our booth, the Livingston Robotics Club had a couple of young makers who created the Artificial Intelligence Recycler (AIR). AIR had a LEGO block frame with a conveyor belt that moved trash past a camera. AIR analyzes the images from the camera to determine if the objects below it are recyclable bottle or can. If so, they are dropped into a mechanism that punctures holes in it, so any liquids can be drained out. Their project won a Maker Faire Editor's Choice Blue Ribbon! Nice work, guys!
Above: Livingston Robotics Club Artificial Intelligence Recycler.
Wrap-Up
With a very busy, but fun show behind us, the team packed up and headed home. It's really a treat to see LMR member in person at Maker Faire, and I hope we'll see more of you next year.
you have a Maker Faire or other event coming to you soon, I encourage you to try to find some local LMRians to join you!
I almost forgot to mention that RobotShop provided a raffle for our booth for a $100, $50, and a $25 gift certificate. We had about 143 people participate. Thanks again to Coleman and Vickie and everyone at RobotShop who supported us this year!
Francisco put together a nice collection of our social media interactions of Storify. Check it out! I believe he's working on a video too, which I'll add once it is posted.
Please feel free to comment below with any suggestions for next year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxMzjgXqjbw
