knits, notes, etc.

On Saturday afternoon, Adam and I joined the thousands (it seemed) of families who headed to San Mateo Expo Center for the Maker Faire. You might recall that we were there last year as well, with only a picture of cupcake cars to show for it.

This year, I think I did a little better with pictures... I didn't really spend too much time in the Make side of things. (I left that to Adam.) But, I do have robots, the Craft vendors, burning man art, and my purchases to show you.

the robots

I think seeing this familiar droid made my day. Adam and I were just doing a quick walkthrough as we waited for our friends who were still in line. At some point in the middle, we heard familiar clicking, squeeing, and popping:

A girl warily approaching R2D2.

As far as I was concerned, after seeing R2D2, I could happily leave the Make exhibits and head on to the Craft building.

Sometime later in the afternoon and after walking back and forth between buildings a few times to meet back up with Adam and friends, we came across this interesting rolling robot:

The kids really liked this one.

I don't really know anything about the Swarm project, and would not have even known its name if my coworker hadn't told me. This was an entertaining robot (though I guess it could be classified as burning man art, too) to watch... The kids alternated between flocking around it and tumbling away as it rolled around and around. Here, a brave girl ventures closer:

Swarm being harassed by kids...

burning man art

I can't say I'm that big a fan of burning man and its followers but I do appreciate the scope of some of the art produced for it. This giant man was crouched low as though he was about to pick someone up:

Giant man...

Later in the evening, when we were about to leave, I looked up at the other giant sculpture (?) and liked how she looked against the darkening sky and with the one lightpost behind her:

Giant woman...

Stayed tuned! Next up, all the crafty parts of my afternoon at Maker Faire 2008.