Maker Faire is a festival that gives all “makers” a place to show off their products, designs, inventions, gadgets, knickknacks, and more! This interactive playground attracts people of all ages to come and “chat one-on-one with makers, try prototypes, ask questions, give input, and even cuddle-up with technology,” says Remco Volmer, Maker Faire Ottawa 2015 Organizer.
The first Maker Faire came to life in San Francisco almost a decade ago and has grown to become a worldwide festival that celebrates tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, hobbyists, engineers, science clubs and commercial exhibitors. Now, after four years of hosting annual Mini-Maker Faire’s, Ottawa will host the largest one in Canada.
Maker’s to check out on November 7th and 8th are:
Team SONIA
Team SONIA, from Montreal, is an undergraduate student association that builds an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to perform at the annual Robosub competition held in San Diego, California. The team has been building underwater vehicles since 1999.
The R2 Builders Club
The club is an international community who build their own replica robots from the Star Wars universe. They use their own money but share ideas and skills through on-line to help each other. There are no full kits here, just Makers.
RoVa3D
The RoVa3D is more than another 3D printer. It’s the world’s first and only 5 Extruder, liquid cooled, high speed, high resolution, multi-material, multi-color 3D printing system! It’s easy to use, more sophisticated and has more verified modes of operation than any other 3-D printer on the market right now.
AirBear
A teddy bear you can text when away from home. Your words, emoji, voice, and hugs bring to life Airbear with color, movement, and sound, in the arms of your loved ones.
Effortlessly connect with your favorite web services and groups. #iot #maker #startup #arduino pic.twitter.com/PFhcOavIgg
— AirBear (@loveairbear) June 3, 2015
There’s also a self-mowing lawn, companion robots, tiny weatherproof cameras that run infinitely, a giant kaleidoscope and much, much more.
This year the Fair will be held at Lansdowne Park in the Aberdeen Pavilion on November 7th and 8th from 10am-5pm. Tickets are $10 for adults; $5 for seniors, students and youth; $20 for a family; and free for 12 years and under!
Have your tickets printed on hand for free public transit and OC Transpo routes 1 and 7 will take you to Lansdowne. Not to mention this Faire is sponsored by Google! The first 500 people to claim their tickets will be gifted a pair of Google glasses, and the latest edition of Make: Magazine.