Field Trip Friday Was a Blast at Maker Faire Bay Area

Friday at Maker Faire Bay Area was Field Trip day. There were performers and music, droids and drones. Our editors tried and failed to see everything, so here are some of our favorite exhibits so far. Don’t miss these (and much more) Saturday and Sunday.

Daniel Simu and his Acrobot perform on the Foundry Stage.

Come play Jordan Wolfe’s AP-1 Acoustic Drum Machine, with a drum pad connected to stepper motors to play real instruments! MIDI compatible too!

Connor Tan’s miniature animatronic Captain Rex performs the Star Tours ride just like the glory days at Disneyland! Connor designed and 3D printed the whole robot — without fasteners — and vibe-coded the animation using Claude Code. Amazing project!

3D printed robot hand by Kelvin Robotics, designed with the help of Chat-GPT, can sign all the letters of American Sign Language.

Animatronic full-size C-3PO looking sharp, with the R2 Builders Group in the Foundry. Lots more droids to see this weekend!

Geodesic playhouse built from laser-cut cardboard and velcro cable ties, by Design Laughter.  “Like giant cardboard Magna Tiles.” Get a kit!

Spacebar arcade is the only virtual arcade game that lets you battle your opponent from the inside!

Stroboscopic spin art with the Odyssey Board electronics kit — like Tinkertoys for making cool electromechanical gadgets, with clever connectors that fit standard servos, LEDs, and such. Nice!

Spyntonia lets you experience flowing beams of light — like light painting in real life!

See it all yourself at Maker Faire Bay Area!