Emad’s Maker Faire Top 5

There was an incredible amount of engineering of all sorts on display at the Maker Faire – biohacking, 3D printing, dancing robots and even traditional computer hacking. I was amazed by it all. There was even a man who had programmed a 1987 plotter (printer) to produce colourful spirographs! (Yes, THOSE spirographs!)

Here are the top 5 picks which caught my eyes throughout the weekend event:

1. Sculpteo – 3D Printing

The 3D printing boom continues, with the technology becoming more advanced and cheaper, this could be something which revolutionises printing as we currently know it. Sculpteo, based in both France and the tech hub of San Francisco, California, offers cloud-printing services directly to consumers. Customers just have to upload a 3D image file, receive an instant quote, have their object printed and wait for it to be delivered straight to their door.

2. Genspace

Genspace is a non-profit organisation which has started a community lab in New York City, allowing wider public access to biotechnology labs. This will be covered in a longer article on the {react} website, so keep your eyes open.

3. Roslin Institute

The famous Roslin Institute, part of the University of Edinburgh, were showing off a new genome sequencing system. With advances similar in significance to those in the 3D printing industry, faster computer horsepower and wider availability is resulting in cheaper and more rapid DNA-based services being offered by private companies today. The demo included a small sensor pad which detects a sample, and is processed by proprietary software displaying significant proteins/parts of the DNA sequence. Their ambitions lie in creating an easy, fast “home sequencing kit” which everyone could use in the near future. Scary?

4. Knitic

Knitic’s stall was the one which surprised me the most. Using an Arduino microcontroller as the hub, Knitic have created open-source software which allows for particular models of old Brother knitting machines to be connected to a computer via USB, bringing knitting straight into the 21st century. This method allows for longer patterns to be designed with higher precision.

5. Paper Heart

Croat Gjino Sutic (aka Biotweaker) was able to produce a paper heart using bacteria. Weird! By using a paper-like product from bacterial growth, Gjino was able to then construct a model heart which can even carry out pumping functions. This was by far the most impressive biohack witnessed on the show floor.