WEBVTT - Maker Faire's Greatest Hits 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.400 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:15.200 Forward Thinking. Hey there, everyone in Welcome to Forward Thinking, 0:00:15.240 --> 0:00:17.759 the podcast that looks at the future and says from 0:00:17.800 --> 0:00:20.040 my heart and from my hands, why don't people understand 0:00:20.040 --> 0:00:24.079 my intentions? I'm Jonathan Strickland, I'm Laurenc and I'm Joe McCormick. 0:00:24.120 --> 0:00:26.480 And today we're going to talk a bit about maker 0:00:26.640 --> 0:00:29.440 fair and invention and d I Y and inventiveness. We 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:32.000 we talked about this in our last podcast that we're 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:34.040 really going to kind of concentrate on the fun, wacky 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:38.000 stuff that you can see. Um, sometimes stuff that doesn't 0:00:38.040 --> 0:00:43.560 have any practical application, but I should that matter who cares? Yeah. 0:00:44.240 --> 0:00:47.879 Maker affairs really all about the spirit of do it 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:51.720 yourself work, and it's also all about expression. So it 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:55.160 doesn't necessarily have to be Hey, I built this amazing 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:58.920 robot that can climb trees, and maybe one day it'll 0:00:58.960 --> 0:01:02.080 have this practical application. It's more about look at this 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:05.600 amazing idea I had and the implementation of it. Yeah, 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:08.639 And one point I wanted to make in the video 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:11.840 and I think we should make here also is that 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:14.920 it's sort of an artificial distinction that between the like 0:01:15.120 --> 0:01:18.640 just the fun inventions and the really practical inventions. On 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:22.000 one hand, yes, in the moment, like you're not going 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:24.880 to be able to use a fire breathing wolf for 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:30.880 anything all that useful, but the process speak for yourself, Joe, Well, yeah, 0:01:31.040 --> 0:01:36.240 I mean, for for Lauren's robotic reenactment of Game of Thrones, 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:40.200 a fire breathing dire wolf is key. I like that 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:42.240 you specify it's a dire wolf and not just like 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:46.560 a gray wolf. Well, yeah, very important. Uh what was 0:01:46.600 --> 0:01:51.520 I saying? You're saying that the practical it's the same spirit. 0:01:51.600 --> 0:01:54.680 And as we talked about in our previous podcast, the 0:01:55.120 --> 0:01:59.080 two modes of invention feed into each other. Yes, tinkering 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.360 around with stuff just for fun can can lead into 0:02:01.480 --> 0:02:05.600 some really terrific useful inventions, and the other way around. Yeah. 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:08.280 So Maker Fair usually ends up looking like a really 0:02:08.520 --> 0:02:15.760 kind of crazy art festival combined with like performance space 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:18.600 performance are There's a little bit of Burning Man kind 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:22.560 of going on there, and there really is. It's also 0:02:22.680 --> 0:02:24.720 very kid friendly. They also have a host a lot 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:27.560 of like at the out in San Francisco and that 0:02:27.680 --> 0:02:30.200 they had like a soldering tent that you could anyone 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:32.000 could line up and go in and learn how to 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:38.000 solder stuff. There's usually um a lot of of work 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:43.440 around specific emerging technologies, like three D printing really became 0:02:44.280 --> 0:02:48.480 something beyond what just the hobbyists knew about. Through maker Fair, 0:02:48.880 --> 0:02:51.600 you know, you would see maker Fair hosting these these 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:55.400 groups that we're making their own three D printers, which 0:02:55.639 --> 0:02:57.720 you know, I mean, I'm sure everyone who's listening to 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.240 this they're familiar with the idea. But just in ace, 0:03:00.600 --> 0:03:03.720 a three D printer uses plastic and very very very 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:08.600 thin layers to build objects from well the ground up 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:12.239 is kind of a way I'm saying. It's added manufacturing. 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:15.639 You're only putting in what you need for whatever the 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:19.000 final build is. And it's really useful for stuff like 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:23.359 in manufacturing. It's useful for prototyping. Right, So you come 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:25.800 up with a design, you design it on a computer. 0:03:26.240 --> 0:03:28.320 You don't know if this design actually is going to 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:30.680 work in the real world. You need to make a 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:32.720 prototype of it, so you send this three D model 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:34.560 to a three D printer. Yeah, if you do it 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:36.000 with a three D printer, then you can get a 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:37.920 model in a very short amount of time and you 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.560 don't have to worry about h an error in the 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:44.839 machining process. You know, it's engineering a sculptor or yeah. Yeah, 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.240 you don't have to sculpt it first, and then you know, 0:03:47.360 --> 0:03:50.680 it cuts out a lot of steps and it also 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:53.440 cuts down on waste, and then you can see if 0:03:53.440 --> 0:03:56.120 your prototype works well. In the d I Y sphere, 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.280 people are using three D printers to build parts for 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:01.880 all sorts of stuff. So we've seen some really cool 0:04:01.920 --> 0:04:04.640 applications of that. Not to mention, we've seen some really 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.400 interesting actual three D printers being built by people who 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:10.080 show up at maker Fair and they say, well, you know, 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:12.240 here's our three D printer. We designed it this way, 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:14.880 and uh. There are a lot of people who are 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.559 working on open source projects that with the goal being 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.320 that ultimately you have a printer that can more or 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:25.240 less print itself or at least most parts. Yeah, exactly. 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.240 It can't print itself assembled, but it can prints to 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.080 the point. You know, in most cases, what we're talking 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:32.920 about with three D printers is that you're printing out 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:36.719 pieces that you would then assemble into a final overall 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:39.960 piece moving parts. Yeah, or just as very inexpensive three 0:04:40.000 --> 0:04:42.800 D printers, some of them, you know, like around three 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:48.480 hundred dollars or under run around there. Yeah, that's crazy three. Yeah, 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:50.400 well we're talking about stuff that used to be in 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:54.320 the twenty thousand fifty dollar range. Yeah. Now, the ones 0:04:54.360 --> 0:04:56.920 I was looking at maker Fair that are three hundred dollars, 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.640 these are the really basic ones. So they're they're small, 0:04:59.720 --> 0:05:02.120 and they're not going to get the level of size 0:05:02.200 --> 0:05:05.280 or resolution you get with a bigger, more expensive printer. Right, 0:05:05.720 --> 0:05:09.000 the layers that you can do it for that amount 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:11.680 of money, that blows my mind, right, And there there 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:14.640 are a lot of different examples of stuff. Now I've 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.640 actually been to a maker Fair event, but it was 0:05:17.720 --> 0:05:20.279 one that was hosted here in Atlanta at Georgia Tech. 0:05:20.760 --> 0:05:23.280 It's a much smaller scale than the ones you see 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:26.320 in New York and San Francisco. There's even there's a 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.160 big one that happens in Detroit and around the world too. 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:31.760 They've got them globally now, right, yeah, so it's beyond 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:35.239 just uh, those those cities. The one here in Atlanta 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:37.400 was again a smaller scale, but it was and it 0:05:37.440 --> 0:05:40.600 was mostly dominated by robotics, which not a big surprise. 0:05:41.040 --> 0:05:45.039 Georgia Tech. Yeah, that's an engineering school, so there was 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:47.279 quite a bit from them, though, a lot of the 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:51.040 cool stuff I've seen from maker Fair has been robotics oriented, right, 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:55.440 the steel wolf that can blete fires, wireless control, robot giraffe, 0:05:55.680 --> 0:06:03.040 robotic bartender, mixed drinks for you. Yeah, there's the walking pod. 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:08.440 Did you see? This is the walking pod? Was? Uh? 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:13.320 It's it's a moving spider like device. It's essentially the 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:15.440 pod is large enough to camp in, because that's what 0:06:15.480 --> 0:06:19.240 the guy was sleeping in while he originally took it 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:21.120 to burning Man, but he also took it to make 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.760 it fair. Um. It has uh, I think twelve legs, 0:06:25.120 --> 0:06:27.800 so six in front, six in the back, and it 0:06:27.839 --> 0:06:30.880 moves fairly slowly, but it uses to ninety volt half 0:06:30.920 --> 0:06:34.800 horsepower electric motors to move its legs and it crawls 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:39.279 along and looks like it's the stuff out of Nightmares. 0:06:39.400 --> 0:06:43.159 But it's pretty interesting. Um. I've seen also a lot 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:47.600 of different sculptures and kinetic sculptures and flame producing sculptures. 0:06:47.720 --> 0:06:51.320 Flames are really popular and Mega Fair. Anything that can 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:55.240 shoot fire automatically gets a big response from the crowd. 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.360 Can I tell you one of my favorite things I've seen? Please? Oh? 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:02.000 I loved it the Architect act singing Tesla coil. I've 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:07.000 actually seen these in person. Architect has has traveled around, 0:07:07.320 --> 0:07:11.600 They've they appeared on one of those, um like America's 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:14.520 Got Talent type shows. I remember they were on one 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:16.840 of those as well. But Architect, Yeah, they used Tesla 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.560 coils to generate this high voltage electricity and then they 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:24.920 can create these audible frequencies of electricity and change the 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.640 pitch of that based upon the voltage. Music. Yeah, what 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:31.960 it seems like the key is that they're using solid 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.720 state Tesla coils, which you can manipulate digitally. Right. Um, 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:39.760 So if you can program a synthesizer or any kind 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:43.440 of digital music producer to communicate with that Tesla coil, 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.640 you can get it to spark a note, and so 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:49.040 you can program in any kind of song you want. 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:51.520 Really yeah, and when it sparks, you hear the sound. 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:54.000 Here in Atlanta, they appeared at a Dragon Con a 0:07:54.000 --> 0:07:57.960 few years ago, and uh, they quickly won over the 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:02.520 crowd by playing famous sign fiction themes like the Doctor Doctor, 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:05.960 Yeah there's and if you wanted you get in the cage. No, 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.840 they didn't have the cage that. They didn't do these 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:11.320 versions right. Yeah, they've got a they've got a fair 0:08:11.400 --> 0:08:13.320 day cage that they'll put in the center of this. 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:15.240 A fair day cage, of course, being something that will 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:19.360 that will conduct electricity around an object rather than frying 0:08:19.360 --> 0:08:23.240 it directly. Um, and that's an oversimplification, right, but yeah, 0:08:23.240 --> 0:08:25.520 that's the same sort of thing that people have suggested 0:08:25.640 --> 0:08:29.160 movie theaters installed so that you can't get any cell 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:32.880 phone reception within a movie theater. That just could put 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:34.920 the whole movie theater within a fair day cage and 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:36.800 then you don't have to worry about people checking their 0:08:36.800 --> 0:08:40.280 phones all the time. Actually, yeah, I would totally approve 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.160 of that, other than you know, in case of emergency. 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.080 But but yeah, so they'll have this fair day cage 0:08:44.160 --> 0:08:45.760 up on stage and they can let so let a 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:47.719 member of the audience go up and stand in it 0:08:47.840 --> 0:08:51.040 and and have all of the electricity sparks from the 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:53.800 Tesla coils going directly onto the surface of the case. 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.880 They've also created special suits that you can wear that 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:01.320 Now granted they don't let audience members volunteer and wear this, 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:05.320 that they have had a member of architect wearing this 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:09.280 suit where they it looks like they are shooting lightning 0:09:09.360 --> 0:09:11.679 from their hands. I've seen them use that in particular 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:16.240 for a moving rendition of the Imperial March from Star Wars. 0:09:16.280 --> 0:09:19.880 The Empiress tricks back, which makes sense, right, Yeah, I 0:09:19.880 --> 0:09:21.800 can show you the video after this. All this is 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:23.680 on YouTube, by the way, Just go on YouTube and 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:26.640 check out Architect. I'm sorry, I want musical Palpatine in 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.839 my life so much. That's so, that's at I'll send 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:32.880 you the link so you can at least move. Yeah, 0:09:32.960 --> 0:09:35.600 like the lightning, the force lightning, that's what we're talking about. 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:39.160 Joe's caught up. Uh yeah, No, you didn't mention before 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:41.400 you were talking about force lightning. No, you're right, I 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:43.760 didn't mention force lightning, but that was exactly what I 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:46.320 was thinking. Yeah, yeah, just like I was like thinking 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.559 about Palpatine. I was just thinking about the empire, right right, Yeah, 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.199 I was. I was thinking of the Emperor in particular. 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:54.880 But yes, that is that is the case. So but 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:57.760 they they and I'm one episode, are not one episode. 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:01.920 One performance that Architect was at the had one of 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:06.280 our distant colleagues join in, and uh and I remember 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.880 that there their um profile shot up after this because 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:13.720 grant Amhara of the MythBusters was on stage and he 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:15.640 was the one put in the Faraday cage during the 0:10:15.920 --> 0:10:20.840 architect performance. And actually grand Amahara, he's a good example 0:10:20.880 --> 0:10:23.439 of one of the people who often participates in these 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:26.040 kind of events. So does Adam Savage. He's actually done 0:10:26.080 --> 0:10:29.880 several like keynote addresses at maker Fairs to talk about 0:10:29.920 --> 0:10:34.800 the spirit of invention and making and this idea of inventing. Uh. 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:38.439 They both of them are known for their inventions. I mean, 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:41.120 Granda Mahara is probably better known for building robots for 0:10:41.240 --> 0:10:45.000 robot battle type things, but Adam Savage has done. If 0:10:45.040 --> 0:10:47.280 you do an Adam Savage search for Adam Savage and 0:10:47.280 --> 0:10:49.000 Maker Fair, you're gonna see a whole bunch of different 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.719 talks that he's given and are really inspiring about the 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:55.360 spirit of making, the spirit of going like, I want 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:57.120 to put this thing together. How does it do? Yeah, 0:10:57.120 --> 0:10:58.800 he says. He says, I want everyone to go out 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.800 there and fail big, fail better. The idea being that 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:04.440 don't let someone telling you that you know the thing 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:06.720 you want to do is impossible stop you from doing it, 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:10.720 because you know you don't really know it's impossible until 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.880 you've given it your absolute best, and even then, you 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.160 know you might you could prove it wrong. So um 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:20.240 cool stuff. Yeah. Yeah. For for the generalized record, the 0:11:20.320 --> 0:11:24.640 maker Fair debuted in two thousands six, I believe, and 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:27.120 in San Francisco, and and as we have said, has 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:30.120 gone global since then. It gets bigger every year. I 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:33.119 know a lot of our colleagues out in San Francisco 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.400 cover this every single year when when they three and 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:39.319 uh like Texilla and all those kids have some really great, 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:43.320 really great videos and coverage. One of my favorite things 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:45.960 that came out of it was not really it wasn't 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:50.640 even a huge head turning invention. You know. It wasn't 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:53.920 like a fire breathing wolf for a giant walking pod. 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:58.440 It was a concept that really just encourages that whole 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:03.000 sense of innovation and an invention, which is the nerdy Derby. 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:07.680 So they the nerdy Derby. So, uh, Joe, were you 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:10.400 ever a cub scout? Yeah? You do? You remember the 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.640 Pinewood Derby races. I did not participate in those, but 0:12:13.679 --> 0:12:16.560 I know what you're talking about. You make a box 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.640 car that has no engine, rolls down a hill. It's 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:22.800 a slot car race essentially, so, but it has very 0:12:22.800 --> 0:12:25.920 specific rules like your your your car has to fit 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.720 within a certain set of parameters. It can't be too small, 0:12:28.720 --> 0:12:30.720 it can't be too light, it has to fit within 0:12:30.760 --> 0:12:35.560 a certain nitro no nitro yeah yeah no no no 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:39.160 uh oil slicks or weird spy hunter technology, but no, 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:44.560 mostly it's turtle shells or stars. I think we've covered 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:47.600 all of the variations now. But it has. The point 0:12:47.679 --> 0:12:51.760 is it has rules. Nerdy Derby does not, So nerdy 0:12:51.800 --> 0:12:54.160 Derby's like twisted metal up in there. Well not really, 0:12:54.200 --> 0:12:57.200 because it's still it's still not although there's no rule 0:12:57.280 --> 0:12:59.360 about I mean, it's still a slot car race, right, 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:01.760 so it's still you're still putting it in a little, 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:06.040 uh predetermined track. So the goal is still to get 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:07.880 down to the end of that track faster than the 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:13.359 competing cars. But you can use heat seeking missiles technically, 0:13:13.440 --> 0:13:16.280 I suppose so um. I don't know how you would 0:13:16.280 --> 0:13:18.280 implement that in a way that would be safe. I 0:13:18.280 --> 0:13:22.280 think you can't do anything that would kill anybody. But anyway, 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:27.199 it's called no rules manage your car building, Mr Semantics. 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:30.040 So anyway, it's it's it's done out of n y 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:33.320 u H, it's out of their interactive telecommunications program. Actually 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:38.360 and UM, the you can either design and build your 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:40.000 car and then bring it there to race, or if 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:41.800 you really want to, you can just show up and 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.400 build your car while you're there and then race it. 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.720 I saw some really interesting designs in a video showing 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.720 it off, and uh and I like this idea because again, 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:54.040 it's not like a huge invention that captures everyone's imagination. 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:59.600 It's more like continuing to uh to to inspire this 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:05.480 innovative spirit and others. UM, probably the best invention I saw, 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:07.600 at least as far as I'm concerned. I mean, there 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:10.720 are lots of great ones, amazing inventions, but the one 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:12.520 that I saw where I thought I want to try 0:14:12.559 --> 0:14:14.880 this out was actually created by a bunch of high 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:18.400 school students, which already blew my mind. It was high 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:23.680 school students who built a flight simulator that has two 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:27.560 axes of movement and three sixty degrees of freedom within 0:14:27.600 --> 0:14:30.040 those two axes, meaning that you can rotate in essentially 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:33.040 every direction, so you can do barrel rolls, or you 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:35.840 can do loop the loops in this thing, and all 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:40.480 combinations thereof. And it's called the Viper. The reason it's 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:44.600 called the Viper is it's inspired by Bell Star Galactica, 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.680 so it's named after the ship, the vie, the type 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.400 of ship in the Bell Start Galactica, the Viper, and 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:55.960 so uh they developed everything about this flight simulator, including 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:58.880 you know, they used tools that already pre existed. They 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.880 used an open sore flight simulator to be the basis 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:04.760 of the flight simulator part, but they had to program 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.080 their own skin on top of it. In their own uh. 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.440 They had to to map the movements of this physical 0:15:11.480 --> 0:15:14.400 flight simulator to the game they have. Are all these 0:15:14.400 --> 0:15:18.440 are Dueno modules that are controlling basic elements of this, 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.440 including uh, set dressing. They created set dressing of all 0:15:21.480 --> 0:15:23.560 these blinky lights to give you more of a feeling 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.600 that you're inside the cockpit of a spaceship. And they 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:30.800 use three computer displays to be your your windows, so 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:33.520 they're you know, it's like you're looking out into space 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:36.200 and you have a joystick and a thruster that are 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:39.040 your your actual physical controls and a control panel that 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:41.440 lights up so it looks like again that you're inside 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.920 the cockpit of a space spaceship. And uh, and they're 0:15:44.960 --> 0:15:47.880 high school students, like the guy who was talking about 0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:52.840 the Um, the flight simulator was in eighth grade. You know, 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.280 high school students who have built something that when I 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:58.080 saw it, I thought I would pay good money to 0:15:58.240 --> 0:16:02.040 have a run in that point. I would love to 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:04.680 take that for a flight. But that's the kind of 0:16:04.720 --> 0:16:07.920 spirit we're talking about. Is this idea of you know, 0:16:08.760 --> 0:16:10.440 if I were back when I was in high school, 0:16:10.440 --> 0:16:12.320 if someone had told me that, you know, I could 0:16:12.360 --> 0:16:13.880 get with a bunch of my friends and build a 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:16.560 flight simulator that had all these degrees of movement and everything, 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:18.400 and I would have thought they were crazy. I would 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:21.040 have said, I'm really busy watching cartoon sushi. Can can 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:23.720 you get back to me later? Yeah, So my high 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:28.000 school experience was different because I was thinking tiny tunes. Anyway, 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:32.280 similar similar experience, just different different content. Uh. But there 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:33.880 were a lot of other projects that I looked at 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:35.960 that I like. I like the pancake Bought. Did you 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:39.800 guys see this? I think that familiar Pancake Bought was 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:42.080 made out of you guys know that. You know Lego 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:46.600 makes these kits where you can get robotics. Yeah, it's got. 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:51.320 It comes with a a programmable module that you can 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.920 you can use. It has a very simple computer programming 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:57.520 language that comes with it, or you can even use 0:16:57.560 --> 0:17:00.600 more complex languages. If you want to think what tiny 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:05.800 remote control planetary rover made from a Lego Mindstorms kit. 0:17:06.000 --> 0:17:09.600 That's pretty cool. We've we've actually saw some robot battles 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:12.560 here in the office during a Christmas party that were 0:17:12.640 --> 0:17:16.720 run by these these um these modules. Well, in this case, 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:23.240 Miguel Valezuela built a Lego robot that makes pancakes. And 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:25.600 what it does. What it does, there's a griddle that 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:28.760 it is built around, so there's a griddle in the center, 0:17:29.200 --> 0:17:31.680 and then you have a moving arm that holds a 0:17:31.720 --> 0:17:36.000 squeeze bottle of pancake batter, and the moving arm can 0:17:36.200 --> 0:17:40.200 squeeze the bottle, uh with just enough force to get 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:42.960 exactly the amount of pancake batter you need to make 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.120 whatever kind of pancake you want. And you can program 0:17:46.160 --> 0:17:49.600 different patterns in so you can make pancakes of different shapes. 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:52.120 So there was a video where he was making them 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:54.640 essentially in Mickey Mouse shapes, but then also in other 0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:59.240 more complex shapes, and it was really entertaining and that 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:03.200 was just a cute little project that was the you know, again, 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:05.760 no real practical use. You would be a way easier 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.880 for you to make a pancake just by putting batter 0:18:08.920 --> 0:18:10.840 directly on the griddle. In a way, we're kind of 0:18:10.880 --> 0:18:13.040 talking about the same sort of spirit that we see 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:16.480 in Rube Goldberg devices. Right well, I mean some of 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:18.880 these things though they seem kind of silly, but they 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:22.840 have a surprising functionality. Like um, I mentioned the robot 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:26.919 bartender earlier, So okay, you can make your own drinks whatever, 0:18:27.000 --> 0:18:28.600 you know. It seems like it's just for fun. But 0:18:28.680 --> 0:18:31.400 one thing that's cool I noticed about the robot bartender 0:18:31.520 --> 0:18:33.919 is it can make you a drink with the correct 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:38.479 proportions of everything in any size you want, right right, 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:40.320 So you can have a one ounce Manhattan or a 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:42.320 or a seven ounce Manhattan, and it's all the same 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:44.440 to the machine. It's just you know, you're saying, you're 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:47.960 it's plugging in mathematically the proportions of what it's serving 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:50.720 to you exactly, so you can make yourself an extremely 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:55.200 tiny or an extremely large cocktail. Uh. And it does 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:57.560 the same no matter what whereas people are using these 0:18:57.600 --> 0:18:59.720 like you know, oh and I have a shot glass, 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:02.320 and right right, I need one part of this to 0:19:02.520 --> 0:19:05.639 four parts of that to two parts of this other stuff, 0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:07.800 whereas this thing can do all the math and make it, 0:19:08.400 --> 0:19:11.760 make it like the mathematically perfect cocktail, right right, And 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:14.199 if you put that in say an industrial kitchen or 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:16.880 or in some kind of chemistry lab, then that could 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:21.800 have definite applications beyond getting people drank. Yeah, oh no, no, no, 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:23.679 I could see if people could even make a lot 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.080 of money getting people drank off of it. Right. They 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:28.360 put one of these in a t G I Fridays 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:30.560 and it's serving up drinks three times fast. Well, you 0:19:30.640 --> 0:19:32.560 think about it, it's it's kind of it's kind of 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:36.440 the alcoholic version of those crazy soft drink dispensers that 0:19:36.480 --> 0:19:38.600 you can get now, where you get the hundred different 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:44.520 flavors out of one soft drink dispenser. Um. Yeah, suicide machine, Yes, 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:47.399 that's exactly, by the way, suicide For those of you 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:49.880 who don't know, we're talking about the kind of drink 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:52.560 where you just mix everything together to get whatever it 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:57.879 was that the Yeah, but do they all because now 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.800 when I hear suicide machine, I think drama and I 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:06.720 think they're both joyful. Yeah, that's true. At least Binder 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.280 seemed to get a kick out of both. Um, yeah, 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.080 it's there. There are other great examples. Oh there's one 0:20:12.119 --> 0:20:14.439 that was more of on the artistic side than on 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:18.920 the them mechanical engineering side. And I wanted to get 0:20:19.000 --> 0:20:23.080 your your your reaction to this, although really to get 0:20:23.119 --> 0:20:25.240 a true reaction you have to watch the video to 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:28.840 see how disturbing this is. I don't know that I 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.320 can paint a picture of how creepy I found this 0:20:31.359 --> 0:20:35.040 particular exhibit to be. But it's called the I Want 0:20:35.160 --> 0:20:40.760 To Project by I Wu Kong who created this interactive exhibit. 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:45.240 And the exhibit what does is it pulls in Twitter Uh, well, 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:48.520 tweets I guess you would say, uh that have either 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:51.760 the phrase I want to or I have to included 0:20:51.880 --> 0:20:54.399 in them. So it just it doesn't search essentially on 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:57.919 Twitter every so often and pulls in tweets that have 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.879 these phrases in it. You get robotic voice that reads 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:03.879 this out. There's actually a monitor that shows this in 0:21:03.960 --> 0:21:07.640 really low resolution the actual tweets. So think of like 0:21:08.200 --> 0:21:12.159 a like nineteen eighties era computer where you get that 0:21:12.240 --> 0:21:18.480 really primitive looking text, you know, the low rest and 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:21.359 it's a robotic voice that kind of hearkens back to 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:24.600 that as well, and green text. No, it's actually light blue, 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:29.240 light blue text, um twit sure. But it also has 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:33.880 this little army of tiny little robots that all look 0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:37.680 identical that are are on uh there, each on a 0:21:38.119 --> 0:21:40.840 stationary little pedestal, so they don't walk around or anything, 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:43.040 but they all look kind of like, you know, kind 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:45.560 of like a puppet would if you just let go 0:21:45.600 --> 0:21:47.359 of the strings and it kind of slumps over. So 0:21:47.440 --> 0:21:51.879 imagine all these little slumped over figures. The machine reads 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:54.240 out the tweet and then all the figures slowly move 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:58.520 around for about ten seconds in kind of what looks 0:21:58.520 --> 0:22:00.840