The maker movement hits prime time tonight with the premiere of Science Channel’s new series All-American Makers.
Starring Printrbot founder Brook Drumm, roboticist Brian Roe, and serial entrepreneur Marc Portney, the show highlights different inventors and engineers who have created and built their own piece of technology — anything from brain-controlled toy helicopters to electric roller-skates — and are looking for assistance on what next to do with it. Portney constantly assesses each maker’s needs and wants, looking at how far into the process they’ve come so far and where their product might lead. He then partners up with the inventors of the products he feels he is most capable of helping to bring to market.
The show has parallels to the ABC hit Shark Tank, but it is Drumm and Roe’s inclusion that makes it stand apart. The master-maker duo provide Portney with actual product expertise, providing hands-on testing and dissection of each product, examining construction and design while explaining the science and engineering that make them function.
“It has some resemblance to some of the competition shows out there but it’s not a head-to-head competition, which I think is more keeping to our approach to things,” explains Rita Mullin, Science Channel’s General Manager.
“There’s a large piece of each show where they’re putting whatever that invention is through its paces, whether they’re taking the top off to understand how it works — often there’s a great exchange between the makers and these two guys about ways they might improve it.”
This element in particular has helped win the new series the support of the White House, who names the show on their list of 2015 STEM education showcases.
Watch All-American Makers tonight at 10pm ET/PT.
4 thoughts on “All-American Makers Launches on Science Channel with White House Approval”
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This is great! I love that they are backing science and technology.
Just watched the show, never been pissed off more by false advertising in my life. Supposed to show maker culture and give makers chance to maybe get some funding. It feels exactly like Shark Tank with a twist. there was only 1 true maker their for the episode tonight. the other 3 were companies. The show was entirely focused on bringing new products to production and did not show the maker culture at all. For someone who has seen the maker culture first hand this show was intersting at first, but overall a disgrace to the culture it claims to be showing.
The show is crap. Their “focus groups” they use to evaluate products aren’t focused at all. They show a niche product to a general group of people off the street, most of which would have zero interest in the product from the get-go. Plus, the show broadcasts items that are already out there. Hmm, let’s see, I think he’s going to invest it product A… because I just saw it this morning being used on the Today Show. The “entrepreneur” is someone doesn’t understand even half of what he’s being shown. I wouldn’t dare put my ideas anywhere this guy. The two tech guys should have their own show (if Brian can get off his ass and finish his damned “Roy The Robot” kits),
The Rachet Helper as they are calling it, does the same thing as the tool that snap-on has been selling for decades called a Multiplier and here is ebay selling it.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/311528602044?ul_noapp=true&chn=ps&lpid=82