This past weekend, I visited Maker Faire 2016. There was so much to see, including drone racing, robots, 3D printers, and so much more!!

Upon entering, I saw the gigantic drone racing track, where expert racers flew their drones. They were able to remotely control their drones very accurately, flying them in perfect curves around the twisted race.

Then came some remote-control boats, which were open to the public for piloting. I also got a look inside one of these boats, and saw the servo motors that controlled the rudder and fins.

Later, I went to the Startups Hall. Here, there were IoT products, which could control your lights, fans, and much more. Also, there were many 3D printers. One interesting accessory connected multiple filaments of multiple colors so that the 3D printed design would have a multicolor pattern. One interesting demonstration included a one robot that played a xylophone, and another that played a game on a tablet.

After that, I went to a demonstration which had many phones, and apps that showed the data from sensors. One part of this was to hit a phone with a soft mallet and see the accelerometer data. There was another part which graphed your voice’s volume. It was interesting to see all the different sensors being used.

Then, I walked to the Light Art Show, which was completely in the dark. However, there was still lots of light coming from the exhibits. There were some interesting demonstrations, including a spaceship that people sat inside and controlled. One exhibit had a light show synchronized to a song that was playing. Another had a light that could attach to your bike’s wheel and then display images as the wheel was spinning.

After that, I saw a First Robotics exhibit, where there were teams from First Lego League, First Tech Challenge, and First Robotics Competiton. There was a competition happening at that time, and the teams were even demonstrating their robots and the challenge.

Then, I went to a gigantic expo hall, where many companies were showing their products. It contained many more 3D printers, and lots of CNC machines. There were also a lot of IoT products there as well. Microsoft had a few interesting demos showing their Azure platform. One interesting product was a display that could shrink to the size of a book! Another interesting device was a smart toothbrush linked to a mobile game.

It was a long day, but I had seen so many interesting and new technologies. All in all, it was a very fun event, and I really enjoyed it.