Just because we moved out of NYC doesn’t mean that we would miss one of our favorite events of the year: World Maker Faire<\/a>! How do we explain Maker Faire? It’s an\u00a0exhibition,\u00a0festival, and celebration of technology, crafts, engineering, robotics, \u00a0and everything DIY. It’s a gathering of inventors, tinkerers, scientists, artists, builders – all of whom are makers in their own domain. Held at the New York Hall of Science, the World Maker Faire is the largest of the international series;\u00a0October 1-2, 2016 was the 7th annual event.<\/p>\n

This year, we were thrilled to explore Maker Faire\u00a0with Jon, Lily, and Jen! We chatted with creative minds of all ages and sizes and types.\u00a0We learned about the latest machines, gadgets, and doodads. We heard about projects that others are pursuing and picked up ideas and tips\u00a0for our own. We even made some things right then and there during the faire.\u00a0Most of all, we had lots of fun!<\/p>\n

This is the first year we’ve participated in one of the most popular Maker Faire activities: learning to solder<\/a>. Donned with Google safety glasses, we soldered a battery holder, pin, and LED to a printed circuit board in the shape of the Makey Robot. So easy and fun!<\/p>\n

\nIn the Maker Shed, we saw a vast array of innovative\u00a0projects. One of our favorites was the circuits-in-a-bottle<\/a> project by Kimio Kosaka. Incredibly, all the parts are soldered together inside the bottle. Unfortunately, this picture does not do this creative project justice! We were too busy marveling and asking questions. See more details on Kimio’s DIY video!<\/a><\/p>\n

Maker projects spanned from fun at-home endeavors to commercial ventures. For example, we loved the\u00a0MATRIX Creator<\/a>, which is basically a Raspberry Pi add-on pre-built with a number of sensors and microcontrollers, powered by a proprietary (secret algorithm) operating system. Its capabilities are endless and\u00a0clearly largely unexplored! Watch our video below to see one potential functionality: Face detection, tracking, and interpretation (also featured: our silly facial expressions :-P).<\/p>\n

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