Buenos días from Santiago, Chile where preparations are well under way for the second Santiago Mini Maker Faire. The event starts this weekend at Parque Quinta Normal and we’ve been lucky enough to get a backstage tour and sneak preview of the work being prepared for the Faire. Our guide Claudia introduced us to a few makers who are hard at work putting the final touches on their projects at Stgo MakerSpace.
Leandro Nuñez from Argentina is creating a large LED matrix with each LED activated by its own relay. A camera connected to the system starts a pattern in the matrix and then the patterns move according to the rules of Conway’s Game of Life.
The relays and the LEDs create a fantastic sound and light show that needs to be experienced in person to get the full effect.
We also ran into Sebastian Muhr working in a staging space nearby Stgo MakerSpace. He’s putting the finishing touches on a kinetic sculpture for the Mini Maker Faire. The sculpture is made of old bicycle parts and resembles a tree. A motor drives chains and ropes to move the branches up and down.
Sebastian still had his work cut out for him before this weekend, so we left him to his work and we made our way back to the MakerSpace. There, even the co-founder of the Mini Maker Faire was working on a project:
Tiburcio de la Carcova not only leads the team that produces the Mini Maker Faire, but is also creating a rain cloud complete with blinking LEDs and thunder sound effects, which will be a certain contrast to the sunny and warm weather we’re expecting for this weekend’s event. Fair goers can cool off by standing under the cloud—or protect themselves with an umbrella.
More info on the makers and schedule for the free to attend, two-day Santiago Mini Maker Faire at the website.
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