My three favorite projects at Maker Faire:
#1: Untitled
This was my favorite piece at the fair. The artist told me that he doesn’t not have a name for his creation but he will think of one. What he did is record audio from random radio shows. He removed the tape from the encasement and wrapped it around a bicycle wheel. He placed a needle at the bottom of the wheel so when it’s rotated the audio is played. The wheel works like a turn table but I find the interface more compelling.
This was inspiring to me because I had the idea for the 4th project for the 7×7 assignment in my head (Sylospoon–see earlier posting). I was a little apprehensive about making my Xylospoon instrument thinking that perhaps it was too silly, but seeing this project gave me more confidence to proceed with my project.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu_D-Gq9Sz4
#2: Thermochromic Ink
Thermochromic Ink was used in two different ways here. First way was painting a little paper house with the ink and when the ink detected heat, the light in the house, that is powered by a battery, turns on. The other way was painting a lightbulb on a surface of the table using the ink. When someone touched the painted image an actual light bulb lit up.
This was very interesting to me because my Fashionable Technology class is creating an installation at the BMW Gugghenheim Lab using thermocrhromatic ink. It was interesting to see how this ink can be used in other context besides fabrics and wearables.
#3: Sensing Touch
This is a car powered by Arduino that has a wire sensor in the front. The car backs up when the sensor touches the wall.
Although this little car is very simple and doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles, I found it to be very inspiring because I am so excited to learn Arduino and finally start making things move! I would love finally have the skills and knowledge to create an actual machine, robot or whatever else comes to my mind.
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