Maker Faire comes to life (photos)
This weekend, about 80,000 people will flock to Maker Faire in San Mateo, Calif. Here's what it looks like before the crowds.
The new Electric Giraffe
The do-it-yourself festival will feature more than 600 exhibitors of all kinds of projects, from singing tesla coils to crafts to walking electric spiders and the Lifesize Mousetrap. Over the course of the weekend, about 80,000 people are expected to visit the event.
CNET News visited Maker Faire on Friday to see what the event is like before the tens of thousands of attendees show up, and to watch the makers setting up their goods.
One person who has been at all five Maker Faires is Lindsay Lawlor, creator of the Electric Giraffe Project, formerly known as the 'Rave Raff. This year, the giraffe has some hot new features, particularly new mechanical work that allows its head to move side to side and up and down, either autonomously or when controlled by a person. Here, Lawlor poses with the giraffe.
Motorized cupcake
Raygun Gothic Rocketship
The Raygun Gothic Rocketship may also be slated for installation on San Francisco's Embarcadero later this year.
The Electric Giraffe
Custom software for a giraffe
Pulling the mondo spider off a trailer
Backing up the spider
Prosthesis
Atari boxes
Hermes Space Shuttle
"We were all supposed to be Jetsons by now, but I got tired of waiting, so I decided to do it myself," said Jarvis, a lifelong fan of space travel.
Bringing fire to Soma
"Soma translates the anatomy of neurons into metal, fire, and light, magnifying the microscopic world to an epic scale," the Flaming Lotus Girls Web site reads. "In Soma, an elegant axon arch connects an earthbound neuron with its partner floating overhead."