Crowdfunding campaign kicks off for Marty the Robot

Remember the little blue robot from the 2016 Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire poster?

Marty wowed audiences at the Faire with demonstrations of his ability to dance, walk and even play football. He is a low cost, fully programmable and customisable walking robot, created by Edinburgh University PhD graduate Alexander Enoch and the company he founded, Robotical.

The company has now launched a crowdfunding campaign, aiming to create hundreds of Martys to inspire future generations of programmers and engineers. The robots are designed be used by kids, educators and makers, to help people learn about programming, electronics, mechanical design, 3D printing and robotics.

Find out more about Marty and the campaign on Robotical’s website.

Some pictures from the 2016 Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire

We had a fantastic time at this year’s Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire on Sunday 10 April and were delighted to be joined by a marvellous mix of makers and over 1,500 visitors.

Here are a few photos from the event:

Want to see more? Check out our online media gallery to view more photos from the day.

4 days to go…

We continue our Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire countdown with our take on another iconic magazine cover.

6 days to go…

It’s the final countdown to Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire 2016!

We’ll be counting down the days with our maker take on iconic magazine covers.

Only 6 days to go…

Meet Wee Replicators

Wee Replicators introduce themselves! You can meet them at the Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire on Sunday 10 April. Tickets are available now.

Wee Replicators is a small business offering digital making experiences for kids and adults alike. We run weekly 3D printing clubs for kids 6+ where the children can experiment with 3D printers, 3D printing pens as well as 3D modeling software. The aim of these clubs is to give children the creative freedom to use these tools. Through research we have discovered that the few schools that have 3D printers rarely allow the children to make and create what they want. Logistically it just isn’t feasible to give everyone access in a school environment at the moment. We are hoping to conduct research to inform the way that schools can roll out the technology to ensure that it is exploited to its full potential in an educational context.

Additionally, over the school summer holidays in 2016 we will be holding a number of half day, week long courses to give kids the opportunity to learn different digital skills. These include Android app design and development, designing for 3D printing, electronics using Arduino, and more. By giving kids the opportunity to learn these skills at a young age we can be sure that they have a greater chance of success by not only consuming our digital culture but contributing to it in a way that they have a say in the design of their future.

Since starting the business in 2015 we have introduced over 200 kids and countless adults to developing technologies. We hope to significantly increase our reach throughout 2016.

Visit our website for more information.

Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire countdown

The countdown is already on for Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire 2016! Tickets are on sale and creative makers up and down the country are preparing to join us in Summerhall on Sunday 10 April.

For the past two years our talented design guru Joshua has produced amazing Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire countdown images for the 4 days before the Faire. We’ve had classic album covers and film posters – all with a Mini Maker Faire twist!

We’ve dug out these beautiful pieces of design for you to feast your eyes upon here and we want you to get thinking about what we could customise for our countdown images this year! Could it be classic book covers? Famous adverts? Vintage posters?

Let us know your thoughts at marketing@scifest.co.uk by Friday 11 March and you could win a pair of tickets to our Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Calling all innovators, crafters, tinkerers, tailors and geeks – We’ve launched our call for makers for 2016!

The 2016 Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire will take place on Sunday 10 April 2016 and we’re looking for people who love to make things to take part in this amazing annual celebration of creativity in all its forms.

    

Are you a dedicated maker, or maker club, and want to get involved with our celebration of creativity, invention and resourcefulness? Or perhaps you know someone who spends their time tinkering on something incredible? This year we’re making it our mission to find the most talented, undiscovered makers.

We’d like to see homemade robots, Arduino and Raspberry Pi projects, 3D printing, taxidermy,  inventions, science experiments,  Minecraft , gadgets, hardware, software, craft and food. Whatever you make we’re interested in and this is the perfect opportunity to share your work with a huge variety of people, generate new ideas and make new connections.

The 2016 Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire will be the fourth time Edinburgh International Science Festival has hosted the event and we’re planning to make it the biggest and best one yet. Each year we welcome over 2,000 people through the doors of Summerhall who are curious to find out more about the maker movement and be inspired by the amazing work you do.

Register your interest in taking part on our form here.
Applications close 5pm Friday 15 January 2016.

Missed our 2015 Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire? Click here to see a list of 2015’s Makers. You can also check out our highlights video below.

A giant robot puppet for Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire

Glasgow based visual artist and maker Fergus Dunnet has created a giant version of the Edinburgh Mini Maker robot which will be stepping out around Summerhall this Sunday for the 2015 Faire.

You can track the puppets progress on Fergus’ blog as he has posted regular updates throughout the robots creation, from creating a prototype to a first look at the big puppet and getting it fully assembled for a test run.

Here are some pictures of the robots first outing at The Meadows earlier today for the Mini Maker Faire press call:

Fergus will be attending the 2015 Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire to show off the puppet and talk about his work. The event runs from 10am-5pm on Sunday 19 April and tickets are available now.

The Re-make | Re-do | Re-wear project by Kalopsia Collective

Appearing at the 2015 Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire, Re-make | Re-do | Re-wear is a project that gives clothing and textiles a new life through embellishment, re-design and re-construction. It will feature a mini production line formed of designers and makers from Kalopsia Collective.

You can get involved too! Simply bring a long something old (a garment, bag, or other textile item) that’s looking a bit unloved and could do with a makeover. Then had over your item for a ‘service’, you get a receipt to take away while it’s being processed and you can then come back to claim your newly transformed item later in the day!

The project aims to breathe new life into and add new value to peoples unwanted textiles and promote ideas about circular economy and closed loop textiles design.

The 2015 Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire runs from 10am-5pm on Sunday 19 April – tickets are available now.

Harmonograph by Tim Vincent-Smith

Harmonographic machines use pendular motion to make sounds and shapes.

Tim Vinvent-Smith will present some of his most recent machines at the 2015 Edinburgh Mini Maker Faire. This will include a sub bass generatorgraph made from computer hard drives, amplifier and oscilloscope, (spin the disks) a singer-sewing-machine-table pedal-powered, mechano pantograph (pedal the singer) and a prototype app which will eventually create 3d harmonographic images from the sound input of your mobile phone (sing and marvel).

See Tim speak about his recent work in an interview with Summerhall tv below: