Maker Faire 2007: Robots, fire, music & more

Who doesn't enjoy fire-shooting cannons?

(Credit: Donald Bell)

Sparkfun Electronics designed a monstrous vintage NES controller.

(Credit: Donald Bell)

I've just returned from an amazing weekend at the second annual Maker Faire held in San Mateo, CA. The event is packed with booths featuring hundreds of inventors and crafters showing off their latest and greatest projects. We're still collecting our notes and getting our photos together, but here are a few projects we really enjoyed.

Jeremy Boyle constructed an amazing MIDI-controlled music kit called the Trio1 that used dozens of pneumatic pistons to play a drum kit and electric guitar.

Roboticist Crabfu had his steam-powered R2S2 robot on display. I've seen his robots on video before, but seeing them up-close I was amazed at all the intricate details he puts into his work.

The folks at Sparkfun brought out both their full-size picture frame Tetris and my favorite item of the whole day--a gigantic (working) vintage Nintendo controller that requires at least two people to play. Not only did using the controller give you a great workout, but it made even basic games like Super Mario Bros. infinitely more challenging.

More photos and videos to come...