Expect the Unexpected

What will you find at Maker Faire Bay Area this weekend?

Author

Dale Dougherty
October 17, 2024

CAL demo from UC Berkeley

We never really know what’s coming to Maker Faire Bay Area and what maker projects will standout until we see them ourselves. Last year, we were blown away by a radically new method of 3D printing called Computed Axial Lithography. (Our faces were like the people in the photo above). This year, I expect we might see some new AI-related developments.

Table of Contents

Computed Axial Lithography

Last year, UC Berkeley PhD student Taylor Waddell was at Maker Faire Bay Area demonstrating a radically different method of 3D printing called Computed Axial Lithography (CAL). As he explains in the Make video below, it’s not like a conventional 3D printer that builds up an object layer by layer. Waddell explained that this new method is “volumetric printing” and the object is created “all at once.” It was invented in 2019 at professors at UC Berkeley and the technology is related to CT (computed tomography) scanning.

Our editors were fascinated with this new layerless resin 3D printer machine that glowed like a Halloween decoration.

CAL 3D Printer

After Maker Faire Bay Area, the editors asked Taylor Waddell to write an article that introduced CAL for our Digital Fabrication issue (Vol 88). Here is the article online.

Computed Axial Lithography: 3D Printing in Seconds

Layerless, all-at-once resin printing is a reality with the astonishing CAL system

makezine.com/article/digital-fabrication/computed-axial-lithography-3d-printing-in-seconds

Maker Faire Bay Area has the added benefit for our editors (and therefore our readers) of being a place where we discover new technology and new projects for the magazine. We’re excited about what we might find at this year’s Maker Faire Bay Area. Make Editor in Chief, Keith Hammond, has already previewed the 3D printing projects coming to Maker Faire Bay Area.

Five 3D Printing Exhibits We're Excited to See at Maker Faire Bay Area

At Maker Faire you can always see the very latest in 3D printing technology in action, and what creative makers are doing with it. Here are five exhibits I’m super psyched to check out this weekend at Maker Faire Bay Area, Mare Island, October 18-20.

makezine.com/article/maker-news/maker-faire/five-3d-printing-exhibits-were-excited-to-see-at-maker-faire-bay-area

AI at Maker Faire

It will be interesting to see how many projects at Maker Faire are using Artificial Intelligence (AI). Here are a few.

KID Company - An AI Device for Kids

I’ve met the founder of KID Company, Rob LoCascio, several times as his product has been in development. It’s an AI device for kids. He thinks AI can “unlock the imagination of children” and engage them “as creators of games, music, images, educational content, and stories using the power of AI, rather than passive consumers of mindless content.” It’s consistent with my view that technology can be a creative tool rather than a mindless entertainment. Rob and his team have been working furiously to have this new device ready for Maker Faire, where KID.co will make its debut. You can find Kid.co in Coal Shed 3 and Rob will be speaking on the Make: Live Stage on Saturday at 3:30pm.

Jorvon Moss on Companion Bots and AI

Jorvon Moss always has a robot on his shoulder, what he calls a companion bot. Like almost anyone in robotics today, Jorvon is exploring how AI can power new kinds of interactions with humans. Jorvon will be speaking on the Make: Live Stage at 1:30pm on Saturday. I expect you’ll be able to see Jorvon and his companion bot wandering around Maker Faire.

Wear it AI

Dr. Kitty Yeung, a physicist, engineer and artist, is the Co-Founder CEO of Wear It and the Senior Director of AI at Browzwear. To drive integration between science and art, she also founded a sustainable and STEAM fashion brand Art by Physicist. At Maker Faire Bay Area, Kitty and her team “will walk around and take photos of cool wearable tech and maker-made outfits. They will be featured on Wear It's website and everyone will be able to wear them digitally. You get a photo of yourself wearing them, enabled by computer vision and generative AI.” Kitty will also present the results on the Make: Live Stage at 4pm on Sunday.

Additional AI projects and talks

How to Add AI to Almost Everything (workshop)

Hosted by Seeed Studio, this hands-on workshop is specifically tailored for AI beginners and Arduino fans. Dive into the transformative world of AI using our XIAO ESP32S3 Sense, a thumb-sized yet powerful MCU. This workshop will provide you with a practical, easy-to-understand introduction to machine learning while demystifying the world of AI. makerfaire.com/maker/entry/76951

Try AI with Raspberry Pi (exhibit)

Come meet the Raspberry Pi team and experiment with the new Raspberry Pi AI kit. Installed on a Raspberry Pi 5, the AI Kit allows you to rapidly build complex AI vision applications, running in real time, with low latency and low power requirements. State-of-the-art neural networks for object detection, semantic and instance segmentation, pose estimation, and facial landmarking (to name just a few) run entirely on the Hailo-8L co-processor, leaving the Raspberry Pi 5 CPU free to perform other tasks.

makerfaire.com/maker/entry/75923

Adam AI CAD Generator (exhibit)

Adam is a browser-based CAD (Computer-Aided Design) application that leverages AI to transform natural language descriptions into precise, manufacturable 3D models. This tool allows users to create complex CAD designs quickly and intuitively, without the need for extensive software knowledge or powerful hardware.

makerfaire.com/maker/entry/77318

Practical AI for Makers (Make:Live Stage at 3pm Saturday)

Sridhar Rajagopal answers the question how can makers take advantage of this burgeoning field of AI to incorporate cool new functionality into the things we make?

makerfaire.com/maker/entry/75883

Luke Iseman’s Balloon Launch

Luke Iseman described his geoengineering project in the current issue of Make: and I’ve mentioned him in this newsletter. Luke will be coming to Maker Faire Bay Area and he will launch a balloon on Saturday and Sunday at 1:30 pm near the Crane Stage.

Tinkering Workshop at Maker Faire Bay Area

Ryan Jenkins just published a new book called The Tinkering Workshop. He will be at Maker Faire Bay Area this weekend to talk about his book but also to do open, hands-on workshops. This week, I published a conversation with Ryan about tinkering. Ryan will present on the Make: Live Stage at 11 am on Saturday.

Talking about Tinkering with Ryan Jenkins

"Tinkering is a fun way to learn about the world around you," says Ryan in his new book "The Tinkering Workshop," which comes out this week.

makezine.com/article/education/talking-about-tinkering-with-ryan-jenkins

I hope to see you at Maker Faire Bay Area this weekend. Be sure to say hi if you see me.

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