Goodbye, Maker Faire UK 2013!

Posted on May 1, 2013 by | 2 Comments

Last Saturday and Sunday, the Centre for Life at Newcastle played host to the biggest Maker Faire outside of the States – Maker Faire UK 2013! Over 10,000 people flocked through the doors over the weekend, making it the busiest Faire we’ve had so far.

On Friday, we were rather excited to get our hands on these great laser-cut ‘Maker’ badges, crafted for all Makers by the talented Stuart Childs. Nobel-Prize winning scientist and discoverer of DNA structure James Watson also walked around whilst we setting up to see what was going on. Understandably, he was particularly taken by the biohacking section.

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Maker Faire favourite Mitch Altman was also on hand throughout the weekend: running soldering workshops, giving jam-packed talks on how to make a living ‘doing the things you love’ – and he bought along his amazing Trip Glasses to try and buy! During setting up on Friday, Mitch took a break from the hard work to play on Phenoptix’s stylophone. He’s a real virtuoso!

We had a really wonderful and diverse range of Makers this year, making it one of the most exciting years yet. Once visitors made it past Paka’s amazing fire-breathing robodragon, there was lots to see and do. Madlab’s DIY Biolab could tell whether you are a ‘super-taster’ or not, Sarah Blood taught you how to create your own neon art, Makies let you create your own customisable 3D-printed doll   - and lots more!

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Also, a big thanks to the folk at Rebel Legion UK, who took some time off from storm-trooping around the fair to pose for our Vine post!

Dale Dougherty, CEO of Maker Media and one of President Obama’s ‘Champions of Change’, flew in especially from the States to wax lyrical on the rise of the maker movement to a full auditorium. Science-fiction author and blogger Cory Doctorow gave fascinating and politically-charged talks on copyright laws, which drew lots of listeners. In between talks, Cory traced his daughter with one of Nick Sayers’ brilliant drawing machines. The Centre for Life team will be putting all the talks online for viewing soon, and we’ll let you know when they’re up.

These are just a handful of the people who made Maker Faire 2013 a very special event indeed. For a more thorough overview, check out BetaRocket’s fantastic and thoroughly comprehensive Storify article.

To finish, we’d just like to say a big thank you to everybody involved: the visitors, the inspiring Makers, the tweeters (we loved reading all your tweets), the bloggers, the photographers, and the artists. Lastly, the Centre for Life team, and their small army of 100 volunteers (including the ring-masters) – you did a fantastic job! If you’d like to provide feedback and help make next year’s even better, then here’s how.

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On a slightly different note, we’ve now drawn a winner for our Facebook prize-draw, and we’ll be sending you all an email shortly. The box of goodies will be winding it’s merry way to the lucky recipient by the end of today.

Thanks everyone – Maker Faire UK 2013, signing off!

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Make Things Do Stuff

Posted on April 25, 2013 by | 1 Comment

To encourage young people to get involved in digital making across the UK, seven projects are receiving a share of a £260,000 fund run by Nesta and Nominet Trust, in partnership with Mozilla, to encourage and stimulate learning through making.

The fund was set-up to help inspire a generation of digital makers – young people with the skills, confidence and motivation to make, not just consume digital technologies.MTDSlogoThe seven successful projects will become part of a wider campaign and consortium of organisations – led by Nesta, Nominet Trust and Mozilla – which will work together to promote and stimulate digital skills on a national scale. As part of the campaign, a free online platform – www.makethingsdostuff.co.uk – that will give young people the tools and support to make and share digital things will be launched at the end of May.

Make Things Do Stuff is a platform that gives young people the tools and support to make and share digital things. It’s been created by a group of like-minded organisations that want to inspire young people to be creators, not just consumers of digital technologies.

There has been a growing movement in the UK dedicated to helping young people make their own games, apps, websites, animations and inventions using programming and other technology-led creative skills. Make Things Do Stuff want to amplify that movement so that every young person sees technology as a way to make new things and solve real problems.

This is an open movement, and if you share our values we’d love to work with you. The platform will be launching at the end of May but in the meantime, take a look at the site so far and find out more.

Annika Small, CEO of Nominet Trust, explained, “Aside from the great deal of fun and learning that digital making offers young people, there is a more serious and economic imperative. The UK and global job markets are crying out for digital skills and we need to make sure that the next generation can meet this need.”

The seven projects to be backed by the fund are:

• Code Club – a nationwide network of volunteer-led after school coding clubs for children aged between 9-11, funds will be used to grow the 500 strong network of clubs across the UK and provide curriculum materials for volunteers
• Glasgow Science Centre – promotes science and technology experiences that engage, challenge and inspire. Funds will be used to help establish, run and co-ordinate a network of CoderDojos, providing free and open computer programming clubs to young people across Scotland.
• Printcraft – a free online Computer Aided Design (CAD) tool to introduce young people to 3D printing. Funds will be used to develop and scale the project by interactively designing the platform with young people
• Our Lady’s Catholic High School – Alan O’Donohoe, is the principal teacher of ICT at the school and is passionate about teaching computing. Funds will be used to extend the reach of his events, Hack to the Future and, family-focused Raspberry Jam around the UK.
• Technocamps – a programme to get young people (aged 11-19) in Wales excited about Computer Science. Funds will be used to extend the offer to primary school children by designing a series of workshops and resources to be delivered to over 3000 primary school children across Wales.
• Technology Will Save Us – a haberdashery for technology and education, who deliver workshops and design and sell technology kits such as ‘DIY Synth’ or ‘DIY Speakers’ online and through in-store kiosks – e.g. a partnership with the Science Museum. Funds will be used to work with young people to design and test up to 5 DIY technology kits ready for launch in the autumn.
• Imagication – a project aimed at inspiring 10-11 year olds to recognise the implications and value of next generation technologies through the use of hands on workshops and online materials. Funds will be used to develop free online resources which enable young people to experiment with digital making and will be available for families, groups and schools.

Some of the projects already backed by the fund will be at Maker Faire UK this weekend, as well as some consortium members.  Do drop by the Make Things Do Stuff area to try some hands on fun digital making tools and to find out more about the movement.

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Posted in 3D Printing, arduino, DIY, Education, Make, Maker Faire, Raspberry Pi, Science, web

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Hear Cory Doctorow and Others this Weekend!

Posted on April 23, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Not only will there be lots of exciting exhibitors over the weekend, we’ll also have a jam-packed schedule of interesting talks for you to attend. Centre for Life’s Science Theatre will be hosting lectures and presentations on subjects as varied as the rise of the maker movement, to DIY biotechnology and  the Raspberry Pi. Here are just a few:

 

Dale Dougherty

Dale Dougherty

Dale is publisher of MAKE: magazine, and CEO and President of Maker Media Inc. He also developed and published the world’s first commercial website (GNN) in 1993, sold it to AOL in 1995, co-founded O’Reilly Media with Tim O’Reilly, and has been instrumental in many of O’Reilly’s most important efforts since. Be sure not to miss his talk at 11am.

 

Mitch Altman

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If you follow us on Twitter, or have liked us on Facebook, you’ll already be acquainted with Mitch Altman’s work – he invented the famous Trip glasses! The San-Francisco-based hacker and inventor Mitch Altman is a pioneer of Virtual Reality, and will be giving a talk on Saturday only at 12pm. He’ll be advising you on how to ‘make a living doing what you love’ – making!

 

Rob Bishop (Raspberry Pi)

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(Image source: Charlotte Spencer)

Rob Bishop, an engineer and evangelist with the Raspberry Pi Foundation, will be giving a talk at 11.30am on hacking with the Raspberry Pi, the  credit-card-sized computer which is taking the tech world by storm. It can play 1080p HD video files and 3d games, and comes bundled with every programming language and tool that a child might need to become an expert programmer. He’ll also be opening the floor to questions.

 

Genspace

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Genspace, the world’s first community biolab, are one of the many DIY biohackers who’ll be attending Maker Faire UK this year. DIY biology is a movement which aims to bring the tools of biotechnology into homes, garages and new spaces called ‘community labs.’  At 1pm, Daniel Grushkin & Dr. Oliver Medvedik, cofounders of Genspace, will be discussing the great opportunities and potential risks this growing movement poses to society and the future of biotechnology.

 

Cory Doctorow

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(Image source: Weblogsky)

Cory is a journalist, science-fiction author, and writes for the successful blog BoingBoing (which we’ve lost many an hour perusing!). His talk, which he’ll be giving at 4pm, is titled ‘The Internet Is Not a Waffle Iron Connected to a Fax Machine’. On his talk, he says:

Parliament treats the internet like it’s telephone 2.0, the Second Coming of Video on Demand, or the World’s Number One Porn Distribution Service, but it’s really the nervous system of the 21st Century. Unless we stop the trend toward depraved indifference in Internet law, making – and freedom – will die.

 

These are just a few of the talks and presentations which we’ll be hosting over the weekend. For a fuller schedule, including  dance from Unraveled which utilizes manipulated body date, and Alice Taylor presenting her fun customisable, 3D-printed dolls ‘Makies‘, click here.

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Maker Faire Goodies Up For Grabs!

Posted on April 19, 2013 by | Leave a comment

–Prize Draw is now closed – It’s almost a week to go until 2013′s Maker Faire UK! To celebrate, we’re giving away some great Maker goodies. You could be in with a chance of winning our special prize-pack, which consists of…

  • ‘Getting Started with Arduino’ kit
  • Make an Arduino-Controlled Robot’
  • ‘Making Things Talk’
  • ‘Making Things See’
  • ‘Getting Started with the Internet of Things’
  • ‘Getting Started with Raspberry Pi’
  • ‘Getting Started with .NET Gadgeteer’
  • ‘Make: Electronics’
  • ‘Illustrated Guide to Home Forensic Science Experiments’ 
  • Latest issue of MAKE: magazine

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We’ve also made our very first Vine post on it – check it out for a closer look at the goodies up for grabs. All you need to do is like us on Facebook (if you haven’t already), and enter your email address and name into this form. The deadline is midnight on Friday 26th, and we’ll announce the winner shortly early next week.

Best of luck!

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3D printing with Minecraft

Posted on April 12, 2013 by | 1 Comment

Printcraft lets you easily build models for printing on a 3D printer, using Minecraft.  Visitors to Maker Faire UK will be able to have a go themselves.

There are several building areas in Printcraft’s online world where you can build with Minecraft’s blocks. Players from anywhere in the world can work collaboratively together, and when the model is finished, with the press of a button, Printcraft will email back an STL 3D model file that can be printed on most 3D printers.

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Paul Harter, the creator of Printcraft said, “Printcraft started as a project with my children. I have a share in a Thing-O-Matic 3D printer and they wanted to build things to print on it, but most CAD applications are quite hard to learn at eleven or eight years old. However they are both adept at Minecraft. So I wrote a script to create printable 3D models from within Minecraft. It worked well so I have put it online in an easy to use web service. Several groups around the world now regularly use Printcraft to build and play.”

If you have access to a 3D printer and children who play Minecraft, they can use Printcraft to help them build and print their own creations. It is very simple to use, first you need a Minecraft account, then login to Printcraft’s server at mc.printcraft.org

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Win 1 of 5 Family Tickets to Maker Faire UK!

Posted on April 9, 2013 by | Leave a comment

It’s only two and a half weeks to  this year’s Maker Faire UK!

Thanks to the kind folks over at Newcastle Gateshead, you could be in with the chance of winning one of five family tickets to Maker Faire!

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All you need to do is fill in the form on their website, and answer the question: What form of transport was invented by Englishman Christopher Cockerel in the 1950s?

The competition closes on 21st April, so you’ve got plenty of time. Best of luck to all participants, and we’ll see you at the Centre for Life on Saturday 27th!

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Solderers, Paint-splatterers and Smilers Needed

Posted on April 3, 2013 by | 2 Comments

Like to solder?  Reckon you could look after a robot, fire a paint canon, make a racket with some Noisy Toys or are you simply great at meeting and greeting?

We are seeking volunteers to help deliver Maker Faire UK.

Linda Conlon, Chief Executive of Life, said: “Volunteers at Maker Faire have the chance to take part in a very exciting and world-renowned festival as well as gaining a fantastic addition to their C.V.  We’re looking for people who will go that extra mile in the name of science whether that’s by befriending a knitting robot, riding a Bubble Bike or helping visitors to solder their own pin badges!

“As well as the more unusual volunteer roles, there are plenty of opportunities to gain experience in event management, science communication and marketing, as well as making new friends and having fun.”

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Volunteers will receive lunch along with a Maker Faire Crew T-shirt.  Apply Here.

Deadline for applicants is 13 April 2013.

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Crafters at Maker Faire UK 2013

Posted on March 20, 2013 by | 2 Comments

This year’s Maker Faire UK will be nothing if not diverse.  Not only will the weekend play host to techies, biotechies, hackspaces, robo-makers and 3D printers; there’ll be a very strong arts and crafts contingent too! Here’s a selection of some of the crafty creatives you can look forward to meeting at Maker Faire UK 2013.

 Japanese Braiding

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Japan Crafts is bringing the Land of the Rising Sun straight to Newcastle! They’ll be hosting hands-on workshops, where you can learn the ancient art of Kumihimo. For those not in the know, Kumihimo is a style of braiding which dates back thousands of years! You’ll be able to make your own Kumihimo keychains for the small sum of £1.

Knitic

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The folks behind Knitic felt that the domestic knitting-machine has been “totally overlooked in the age of digital fabrication”, and so set about changing that. Hooking up an electronic knitting machine to Arduino, they’re able to create amazing designs which can be modified on the fly. You’ll be able to check out the hardware, as well as give Knitic a hands-on try!

Make Your Own Bunting

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Ever wanted to learn how to sew? Well, Love Me Sew can teach you, and you’ll have fun in the process! At Maker Faire UK this year, they’ll be holding interactive workshops where you’ll get to create your own bunting to take away with you.

Fun with Pen Plotters

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Pen plotters were everywhere once upon a time, but then ink-jet and laser printers came along and plotters were left by the wayside. No longer! John Honniball will present his Roland DXY-990 Pen-Plotter, which will draw amazing prints and patterns right in front of you. The perfect blend of technology, art and nostalgia!

DIY Make Your Own Book

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We don’t know about you but we’re confessed bibliophiles here at Maker Faire HQ, and we’re pretty excited about Theresa Easton‘s DIY book kits! The kits are stuffed with original prints and handmade paper, and will be available to purchase. You’ll also be able to assemble it under Theresa’s guidance, and upload your creation onto a digital archive!

Dabble Dabble – Make Do Printmaking

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Looking through their Tumblr, it soon becomes evident that Newcastle-based illustrators and printmakers Dabble Dabble are pretty darn good at what they do. At the Faire this year, you can learn how printing for art and textiles has changed through the ages, get the chance to observe the artists at work, and even have a go making your own relief print!

Action Painting

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Pif-Paf present ‘Action Painting’! Team up with post-Futurist artists Barbara Hipflask and Jackson de Haddock to create your own ‘psychic portrait’. Load the Pneumatic Paint Cannon, chose your colour, and press the Big Red Button to take away your very own Action Painting.

Tickets for Maker Faire UK 2013 are now available to purchase! A full list of this year’s exhibitors can be found here.

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Raspberry Jamboree

Posted on March 8, 2013 by | Leave a comment

As I’m sure you all know, we at Maker Faire UK are big fans of the Raspberry Pi, having published an article a while back on some of our favourite Pi projects. Not only that, but we’ve also confirmed that RP’s own Rob Bishop will be giving a talk at this year’s Maker Faire UK! So, without further ado, we just had to tell you about Raspberry Jamboree – a very special event being held by the RP folks.

Alan O’Donohoe is the organiser of the first ever Raspberry Jamboree, taking place in Manchester this weekend.

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The event has completely sold out, but the organisers are streaming a live webcast of the proceedings  for a nominal charge of £2 plus eventbrite fees of 70p.  Alan explained the reason for the charge to the Raspberry Pi Foundation.

Frankly, we’ve had a peek and the programme looks absolutely fantastic.  Confirmed speakers include the following:

Prof Steve Furber (Designer of BBC Micro), Pete Lomas (RPi Co-Founder), Rob Bishop (RPi Evangelist), Genevieve Smith-Nunes (Teacher), Alan O’Donohoe (Teacher & Jambassador), Dr Andrew Robinson (Pi Face), CarrieAnne Philbin (Teacher & Geek Gurl Diaries), Paul Hallett (Django Pi), Mike Cook (Raspberry Punnet), William H. Bell (CERN&MagPi Magazine).

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The Robots of Maker Faire UK 2013

Posted on March 5, 2013 by | Leave a comment

The machines are rising, and the robots are coming to Maker Faire UK 2013! We told you about Pancake Bot’s attendance last month, so we thought we’d run down some more mechanical marvels you can look forward to meeting at this year’s event. A robotic version of presenter Jason? Check. A fire-breathing dragon? Check. Robo pole-dancers? Check, and check. Whether you like your robots weird, wonderful or a combination of the two, there’ll be something for everybody this year!

RoboJase

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Seeing double! Image from Jason Bradbury’s Twitter.

Ever wanted to meet Jason, presenter of Channel 5′s ‘The Gadget Show’? Well, now you can… sort of.  RoboJase is a robotic version of the TV star, and he’ll be at Maker Faire UK this year! This celebrity robot is made by Robo Challenge, who will also be hosting an ‘arrive and drive’ arena, where you can take control of their mini ‘bots and wage mechanical war with friends and family.

Alfonso Milano’s Mechanical Marvels

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Roll up, roll up! Alfonso Milano’s Mechanical Marvels, a travelling circus of mechanical oddities, is coming to town. Legend has it that Alfonso Milano has been touring since time forgotten, and that his skeletal remains continue to wander the land, driving on his circus of freaks. Marvel at his magical circus acts, like the kitchen implement orchestra, and the ‘Bikes of Bubbleon’; pedal-powered bubble machines for the little scientist. Seeing is believing, my friends!

Roboknit

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Roboknit is a life-sized humanoid knitting robot. She can knit by hand using a knitting loom, which is an alternative way of knitting to using knitting-needles. Armed with her loom, she can knit you woolly hats, scarves, and other items, so you’ll never be cold again! She took  creator Andy Noyes a year to make, and and is fashioned from many commonly available parts including electric motors recycled from printers and CD drives.

Paka

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El Grando at 2010′s faire, outside Newcastle’s Centre for Life.

Fan-favourite Paka will once again be at the Faire this year, bringing along Rusty, the robotic horse, and El Grando, his very own, fire-breathing dragon. This amazing dragon – measuring eight meters in length – premiered at Maker Faire UK back in 2010, and we’re thrilled to see it return for 2013. We’ve been told that El Grando is a benevolent creature, so no need to have Saint George on speed-dial!

PEEPSHOW

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Giles Walker’s veritable menagerie of robots blur the line between machines and art. The stylised robotic pole-dancers, whose heads are eerily fashioned from CCTV cameras,  are straight out of a science-fiction flick, and will be attending the Faire this year. If you have a spare moment, Giles’ other projects are definitely worth a look – we particularly like his atmospheric and very creepy ‘The Last Supper’.

We’ll have plenty more information on Maker Faire UK 2013 very soon. For the latest Maker news, keep checking our ‘Meet the Makers‘ page, follow us on Twitter and find us on Facebook. We’ll see you there!

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