Showcase Innovators 2012

2012 Bay Area Event – Innovation Showcase

A Hardware Startup “Show and Tell”

25 makers—designers, builders, inventors, and hackers—will demo their products, devices and projects at Tuesday’s Hardware Innovation Showcase.

Air Guitar

The easiest way to experience rock stardom, without the hangovers and other bad habits of real rock stars. Suitable for epic rockers and demi-rockers.

Website: http://www.airguitarmove.com

Twitter: @iphoneairguitar

Asthmapolis

Asthmapolis provides healthcare organizations with a data-driven approach to the control and management of asthma and COPD. Small sensors capture information about where and when patients use inhaled medications, and allow for continuous, objective assessment, together with personalized guidance and education. Similar interfaces help healthcare providers remotely monitor patients and identify those who need more attention, and provide public health agencies with the first real time view of disease in their communities.

Website: http://asthmapolis.com/

Twitter: @asthmapolis

Autodesk

Autodesk, Inc., is a leader in 3D design, engineering and entertainment software. Customers across the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, and media and entertainment industries use Autodesk software to design, visualize, and simulate their ideas before they’re ever built or created. Through apps for iPhone, iPad, iPod, and Android, Autodesk is taking technology originally built for movie studios, automakers, and architectural firms, and making it available to anyone who wants to create and share their ideas with the world.

Website: http://usa.autodesk.com

Twitter: @autodesk

Babilim Light Industries

Connecting iOS to the open source world with Arduino: ­ntil recently, restrictions placed on developers by Apple's MFi program meant that you probably couldn't get access to the things you needed to connect your iPhone to external hardware, and there has been very little innovation in the accessory space as a result. However the arrival of Redpark's serial cable has changed that. For the first time it's easy to connect proprietary Apple hardware to the Open Source world.

Website: http://www.babilim.co.uk/

Twitter: @babilim

Blue Screen Labs

Blue Screen Labs is demoing their Interactive Robotic Racetrack! Compete head to head against three other drivers in an action-packed race, featuring Sphero, the Amazing Robotic Ball. Founded at TechShop San Francisco, Blue Screen Labs is a team of lifelong makers, developing creative and compelling uses for existing products. Want to get the word out on your innovative hardware platform? Come talk to us!

Facebook: http://facebook.com/8bitlit

Twitter: @8BitLit

eChanter.com by Malcolm Bagpipes

eChanter …an electronic bagpipe chanter anyone can build. eChanter is: open source, easy to build, costs between $20 and $50, based on Arduino, and easy to hack. eChanter will always be open source, open design, and free, because making electronics to make music is fun!

Website: http://www.echanter.com

How to Build: http://www.echanter.com/home/howto-build

Video: http://www.echanter.com/home/video-build

Hurricane Laser

Hurricane Lasers was founded with the simple ethic of supplying quality laser systems like G.Weike with excellent customer service based right here in the ­nited States. We feature online build configurations and fast response to support inquires. We understand the needs behind large businesses and the small hobbyist. Our goal is to bring the best customer service at the lowest price to the laser community.

Website: http://www.HurricaneLasers.com

littleBits

littleBits is a system of electronic modules that snap together with magnets. Called by Bloomberg TV “LEGO™ for the iPad generation”, and winner of “Best of ToyFair 2012” by Popular Science, littleBits make playing with sophisticated electronics a matter of snapping small magnets together. Just as LEGOs™ allow you to create complex structures with very little engineering knowledge, littleBits are simple blocks that put the power of engineers in the hands of artists, designers and kids.

Website: http://littleBits.cc

Twitter: @littleBits

See projects at: https://community.littleBits.cc

Video: http://vimeo.com/23705713; http://vimeo.com/37676136

Lockitron

Lockitron is an Internet connected door lock that replaces your keys with your phone. With Lockitron, you can unlock your doors from anywhere in the world using an app or text message. This week, Lockitron is announcing an API that lets makers and startups control their doors with an Arduino, Xbox Kinect, or web service.

Website: https://lockitron.com

Video demonstration: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQCJgx_kofo

Additional photos: https://lockitron.com/help/media#media

Twitter: @lockitron

Make Magazine

MAKE is the first magazine and media brand devoted entirely to makers and the maker movement and the powerful combination of open source hardware + personal fabrication tools + connected makers to generate sweeping changes from the classroom to the boardroom. MAKE media properties enable the use of technology to create fun, inspired, and innovative projects, from the wildly popular MAKE website (makezine.com); to Maker Shed, the online store featuring MAKE branded kits (makershed.com); to Maker Faire, the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth (makerfaire.com). MAKE is a division of O'Reilly Media and based in Sebastopol, CA. "The maker movement has brought the pre-1970s world of basement workshops and amateur tinkering into the digital age." — The New York Times

Website: https://makezine.com/

Twitter: @make

Makerbot Industries

The MakerBot Replicator™ is an affordable, open source 3D printer that is compact enough to sit on your desktop. It is ideal for personalized manufacturing, providing a new way to make the things you want and need. MakerBot Industries is dedicated to putting the tools of creativity into the hands of those brilliant and bold enough to bring their imagination into the physical world.

Website: http://www.makerbot.com/

Twitter: @makerbot

MaKey MaKey

Make anything into a computer interface. Imagine the world becomes a gamepad: Instead of pushing the red plastic button to make Mario jump, you can sculpt your own button out of Play-Doh. Make a piano out of bananas. Send an email on Alphabet Soup. MaKey MaKey is the magic wand that lets you use anything in your world to talk to your computer. You are the magician, a.k.a. maker.

Website: http://makeymakey.com/

Monkeys & Robots

Since 2006, Eric Gradman of Monkeys & Robots has been building hardware prototypes that make others see technology as magic. Haptic input devices designed for individuals' unique physiology and psychology; RFID scavenger hunt sensors; a camera that means you will never forget a face ever again; a charm bracelet that connects to the internet; a baseball pitching machine made for a quadriplegic. Eric has brought an assortment of prototypes – some practical and some bizarre – that will challenge your ideas of what's possible with open hardware.

Motrr

Motrr founders Josh Guyot and JoeBen Bevirt are fanatics for good design, robots, and photography. The guys behind Joby and the Gorillapod™ line of flexible camera tripods, they delight in introducing creativity-inspiring and life-improving consumer products.

Website: http://www.motrr.com/

Twitter: @motrrmotrr

OpenROV

Open source underwater robots for exploration and education

Website: http://openrov.com/

Twitter: @OpenROV

Oru Kayak

Oru is the world’s first origami kayak. It folds from a suitcase-sized box into a high-performance watercraft. You can pack it in a trunk, check it on a plane, or hike it in to remote waters. It’s super light (20 lbs), fast to assemble (5 min), and price competitive with the cheapest molded kayaks. www.vimeo.com/20047767

Website: http://www.orukayak.com/

Printrbot

Printrbot makes inexpensive, expandable 3D printer kits that can be assembled in a few hours. Printrbot, arguably, has the smallest, most approachable printers on the market. Launching from an explosive start on kickstarter.com, they seek to change the world of 3D printing with the vision of a 3D printer in every school and every home.

Website: http://printrbot.com/

Twitter: @printrbot

Romotive

Romotive was started by Phu, Peter, and Keller, three childhood friends with a lifelong passion for building cool things. One day, Phu had an idea to build a robot that used a smartphone as its brain. Peter built that robot, and then Keller helped them figure out how to market the robot. Today, Romotive is building a flexible and open robotic platform will allow people to create their own fun and useful robots.

Website: http://romotive.com/

Twitter: @Romotive

ShopBot

The affordable ShopBot Desktop “fabber” helps anyone make almost anything at their desk. It’s got plenty of power and even more precision than ShopBot's full-size digital fabrication tools. It will empower you to creatively accomplish a wide range of workbench, prototyping and production projects, in wood, plastic, foam, soft metals and more. It’s a platform that allows specialized add-ons such as a drag knife, rotary indexing head and diamond engraving bit. Coming soon: 3D printing and laser cutting capability!

VIDEO & More Product Details: http://www.shopbottools.com/mProducts/desktop.htm

Twitter: @ShopBot

Special Projects

3D PRINTING: A NEW ALCHEMY FOR DESIGN AND INNOVATION – Special Projects develops and licenses original inventions and concepts for consumer and aerospace applications. We make extensive use of 3D Printing for testing concepts, building prototypes and even delivering final products to our customers. 3D Printing allows us quickly realize the form and function of a product, make iterative changes and refine product ID. 3D Printed Products take advantage of the unique fabrication and tolerances eliminating screws, glues and tapes.

sugru

sugru is the exciting new self-setting rubber that bonds to most other materials. Form it by hand into any shape and overnight it turns into a strong, flexible silicone rubber. It's been embraced by a growing community of over 100,000 gadget lovers, outdoor types, designer-makers, car enthusiasts, photographers and home-improvers all over the world to improve and repair their stuff and help them build their projects.

Website: http://sugru.com

Facebook: http://facebook.sugru.com/

Twitter: @sugru

Meet sugru video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXXcq6-3y8g

Sticky video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82_mFqRlE6g

sugru gurus community: http://sugru.com/gurus

Tinkercad

With Tinkercad you can design in 3D what you've always dreamed of, but never thought was possible. Create your first real thing in just a few minutes through ""Lessons,"" and discover what other cool creations our community is coming up with! Tinkercad's demo will cover learning the basics on our easy-to-use browser-based platform to user-created replacement parts. Actual printed pieces will also be on display!

Website: http://tinkercad.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Tinkercad

Twitter: @tinkercad

Blog: http://blog.tinkercad.com/

Tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCaenAGeK_Q

Kai’s Google Tech Talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aY4a9QnLhw

Tricorder Project

One of the most beautiful aspects of science is that while there is so much we can see and smell and feel around us, there's an inconceivably large universe around us full of things we can't directly observe. The Tricorder project develops open source handheld devices that can sense a diverse array of phenomena that we can't normally see, and intuitively visualize them so we might see temperature or magnetism or pressure as naturally as we see colour.

Website: http://www.tricorderproject.org

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3sHTKrGdKI (“about the Tricorder project”)

Type A Machines

The Type A Series One is the very best of Open Source 3D printing technology, going bigger, faster and better. Don't limit your imagination, get creating.

Website: http://www.typeamachines.com/

When You Wish

When You Wish is the internet’s most flexible and inexpensive platform for raising money online. Causes, creative projects, startups — whatever your thing is — we've created a marketplace for human aspiration where people can give, get, and connect with each other's dreams. So don't just wish it, fund it.

Website: http://www.whenyouwish.com/

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