Maker Faire’s back, loaded with projects
The do- it- yourself Maker Faire Bay Area returns to San Mateo this weekend — featuring an 8,000pound robotic machine, workshops from Nintendo and more than 1,200 projects that touch on music, art, science, health and robotics.
At least 125,000 people are expected to attend the event, one of the largest “maker” events in the world, which is now in its 13th year. It kicked off Friday with sessions for students from 50 area schools, aimed at encouraging creativity. The Exploratorium in San Francisco also offered an early glimpse of the event’s exhibits Thursday evening.
One towering symbol of innovation: the Prosthesis, a 13- foot- tall, 4- ton, human- piloted machine that looks like a cross between a crab and a construction crane. “It’s an anti- robot, a big mechanical structure designed for racing,” said Maker Faire CEO and founder Dale Dougherty.
Nintendo, a main sponsor, will host free workshops on making toy pianos or fishing rods. Attendees can view an electronic safe and a gumball machine created by others who have used the kits, which are powered by Nintendo Switch portable game console components. Cardboard guitars, drums and a piano, also made from the company’s new DIY kits, appeared on “The Tonight Show” this week.
MIT Media Lab’s Mitchel Resnick will talk about his book “Lifelong Kindergarten,” while Craftivist Collective founder Sarah Corbett discusses “the role of creative culture in a time of political upheaval and change,” Dougherty said.
The fair, at the San Mateo County Event Center, is open from 10 a. m. to 7 p. m. Saturday and 10 a. m. to 6 p. m. Sunday. For more information, visit https:// maker faire. com.