Bay Area, CA - Maker Faire! [ May 30-31, 2009 ]

[mehtank]

I got a request from an organizer of the Maker Faire to try and find a robotics event that they could host May 30-31, 2009 at the San Mateo County Expo Center. For those that don't know, it's a giant expo for people who build stuff to show off and meet others. It is way cool.

Are teams interested in having some sort of FIRST event there? They'll have a large room and power, but that's about it. Someone would need to provide the field and everyone else would bring robots. Actually, I bet they'd be happy with just robots even if no field was there.

If there is a quorum, I can let the organizer know to start making the relevant preparations.

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From http://www.makerfaire.com/ :

The World's Largest DIY Festival

A two-day, family-friendly event to MAKE, create, learn, invent, CRAFT, recycle, think, play and be inspired by celebrating arts, crafts, engineering, food, music, science and technology.

[JeffChan]

From the list of makers, I see that the Space Cookies (1868) are attending.
http://makerfaire.com/pub/e/2700

Maybe you want to arrange something with them?

[NickE]

I can talk to our team about going. If we attend, we should be able to provide a full set of trailers.

[=Martin=Taylor=]

We went last year and had tons of fun.

Maker Faire 2008 was probably one of my fondest memories of robotics

However, it did require a tremendous team effort. We had to man our booth from 9 am to 6 or 8 pm at night for two days. At least 25 people were on shifts talking to people and driving the robots.

With finals coming up at Woodside and Carlmont the decision was made not to go to maker faire . We simply do not have enough people to pull off another demo that size.

We contacted 604 about a joint demo but never really heard much back.

If the time comitment is smaller (4 hours each day) I can probably get team 100 to go. Let me know!

I'll be going no matter what!

Some great pics from last year:

Photo-op with our sponsor!

Robot "petting"/"feeding" zoo!!!

We hung out with SRL! They gave us a manikin head! WITH BLOOD ON IT!

[Eugene Fang]

Originally Posted by =Martin=Taylor=

We contacted 604 about a joint demo but never really heard much back.

We replied to you guys, but didn't hear back either. There must have been a hole in our communication with each other. We'd still love to demo, though.

[NickE]

I just talked to our VEX lead and he said that we'd probably be able to bring at least one of our five vex robots.

[RoboMom]

Have you contacted FIRST staff on the ground in your area yet? If not, I would encourage you to.
Regional Directors:
http://www.usfirst.org/regionalcontact.aspx
Senior Mentors:
http://www.usfirst.org/community/vol...t.aspx?id=3310

They can help with handouts, displays, and getting in touch with teams. It sounds like a fun event.

[NickE]

Originally Posted by RoboMom

Have you contacted FIRST staff on the ground in your area yet? If not, I would encourage you to.
Regional Directors:
http://www.usfirst.org/regionalcontact.aspx
Senior Mentors:
http://www.usfirst.org/community/vol...t.aspx?id=3310

They can help with handouts, displays, and getting in touch with teams. It sounds like a fun event.

It also may be worthwile to contact the wrrf.

[=Martin=Taylor=]

Originally Posted by Pikat

We replied to you guys, but didn't hear back either. There must have been a hole in our communication with each other. We'd still love to demo, though.

Oops! Srsly! Silly us!

I'll talk it over with the team more after finals are over.

Originally Posted by NickE

It also may be worthwile to contact the wrrf.

I believe the wrrf pilfered some of the game elements from Davis. I think they got a bunch of FRP?

Too bad there aren't any teams in the Bay Area with a full set of trailers they could bring. Shux. What a bummer