Maker Faire NYC 2012 (pictures)

Situated on the grounds of the 1964 World's Fair, the New York Hall of Science hosts Maker Faire both inside and out.

The event offers an eclectic mix of tech exhibits, hacker-style workshops, performance and static art, all bedecked in sideshow charm.

Pedal-powered butterflies provided by the Bike Zoo.

As much educational as entertaining, Maker Faire offers attendees plenty of hands-on opportunities.

One of the better-attended workshops, put on by TOOOL, the Open Organization of Lockpickers.

Brooklyn-based Llaves Designs hosted the Whack!!!! pinata-making workshop.

This hands-on demo taught saori, Zen Japanese weaving.

Components of the Life-Size Mousetrap, a 16-piece Goldbergian machine and Maker Faire staple since 2009.

Katy Perry, the fire-shooting unicorn, of course.

This Brewing as Art contraption made a decent pour.

MakerBot, Up, Ultimaker, and the other familiar RepRap-derived 3D printers all had a presence at Maker Faire. More interesting was the Form 1.

A product of a group from MIT, and subject of a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign, the Form 1 uses laser-drawn resin, as opposed to ABS or PLA plastic like the other 3D printers. The result, its inventors claim, is higher-resolution, more-professional-looking prints, for a similar price as the other desktop 3D printers.

SeeMe CNC's delta 3D printer design offers another alternative to standard low-cost 3D printers.

Perhaps the best 3D-printed object your correspondent has seen, designed by Sean Charlesworth.

And these articulated dolls are the creepiest 3D-printed objects I've seen.

Moving inside the museum building, this picture captures only a subset of the indoor exhibits.

Designer Dug North hand-carved these mechanical scenes.

Crowd-driven, Twitter-powered robot performance art.

This toothpick rendering of Gaudi's famous basilica is just one of the dozens of buildings in artist Stan Munro's Toothpick World.

Miguel Valenzuela's Lego Pancake Bot offers an inspired take on the CNC machine.

This unique take on an input device, from Jeff and Courtney Rowberg, uses touch and motion to let you interact with your PC.

Jack Zylkin has invented a 21st-century upgrade for an 18th-century technology.

Using colored lights and paper, artist collective Black Label Robot has created a convincing trick of the eye.

So there's a singer, a keyboard, a laptop, and 12 floating eye/head things...