By: Amaya

Robot fans certainly got their fill of excitement this  year at the 2008 Maker Faire, held in San Mateo, CA this past weekend (May 3-4).  Shane and Amaya of Robo101.com were there checking the scene, talking to robotics makers, and promoting the site to fans big and small, including handing out flyers with a robotic cypher.  The winner will receive a custom-made Robo101 Arduino Bot.

Behind the Scenes at BattleBots
Shane and I charmed our way into the backstage area of the BattleBots competition at the Maker Faire.  There we were able to watch competitors assembling robots for battle, and rehabilitating bots who'd seen a bit too much action out in the BattleBot Arena.  We also were introduced to Trey Roski, one of the founders of BattleBots, and got to shoot the breeze with him a bit.  While backstage, we watched low-profile 'Come to Momma' take down 'Devil's Advocate,' a flying saucer looking robot with a glowing green skull on top.  Of course, we were plenty safe, watching behind the row of judges who were seated just outside the arena (or BattleBox, the bulletproof, hazard-filled arena in which the metal bouts take place). 

The Electric Giraffe, with Russell!
Next, we stopped by to see our friend Lindz Lawlor, creator of the Electric Giraffe, www.electricgiraffe.com.  The life-sized robotic giraffe is always a favorite, especially because virtually every time we see her out and about, Lindz has added or tweaked a great new feature.  This time was no different - the ol' girl now peered at us with realistic looking webcam eyeballs.  According to Lindz, whatever the giraffe 'sees' is being streamed on his webpage.  Another exciting moment came when we got to meet Lindz's power-coder, Russell Pinnington, imported all the way from the UK.  He showed Shane his eye-popping programming interface.  To me, it resembled a patchwork of techno-rainbow-fabulousness (which frankly is what the giraffe's 'skin' often looks like too!).

Chumby Gets a Pet
We also swung by the Chumby booth to say 'boo' to the fellow San Diegans who'd made the trip north.  We schmoozed, got another set of adorable Chumby charms, and Shane checked out the demo they'd set up with a Chumby connected to an R.C. robot.  Shane can't wait to get his Chumby hooked up to a robot in the near future, hopefully using it to do some sophisticated controlling using Chumby's nifty sensor technology.  Keep checking the site for an upcoming article!

All in all, a great, inspiring day to the Maker Faire.  Next year, perhaps we'll have our own booth!  It's great to see the DIY movement steadily growing in strength as more and more folks discover the joys of making, customizing, disassembling, and reconfiguring.  And with the networking capability of the Interweb allowing us to find each other and collaborate, the robotics community has unlimited potential!  Go, make, do!

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