Record number of visitors at Maker Faire Paris

An open-source 3D printed life-sized robot called InMoov waves to the crowd.

A young visitor to the faire controls an OpenROV underwater robot.

Kolja Kugler invites a young visitor to the faire up on stage to hand his robot Sir Elton Junk a glass of water between sets.

A giant Optimus Prime — illuminated by strips of flashing LEDs — looms over the crowd at Maker Faire Paris.

Joey Hudy (Right) talking to Robert Thomas (Left), co-founder of TechShop, about the Boosted Board longboard.

Axelle Lemarie (Left) — the French Deputy Ministry for Digital Affairs — being shown Sheldon, the host robot, a creation of maker Maxime Vallet (Right). Carine Préterre (Middle) — the Director of the Foire de Paris et Foire d’Automne — looks on.

A young visitor converses with Sheldon, a host robot, a creation of maker Maxime Vallet.

Joey Hudy riding a powered Boosted Boards longboard at Maker Faire Paris.

A giant Optimus Prime — illuminated by strips of flashing LEDs — looms over the crowd at Maker Faire Paris.

A maker adjusts his quadcopter drone ahead of flying it in the huge Drone Zone at Maker Faire Paris.

A young visitor to the faire is taught soldering.

A young maker looks out over the fly-zone of the Drone Area at Maker Faire Paris.

Kolja Kugler greets the crowd ahead of a performance of the One Love Machine Band.

Joey Hudy teaching soldering at Maker Faire Paris.

A visitor to the faire tries out some of the latest Augmented Reality (AR) gear.

The Stawbees team have fun with their construction kit during a lull.

This weekend there are four Maker Faires happening around the world. Two are in the United States the North Little Rock Mini Maker Faire in Arkansas and the Chicago Northside Mini Maker Faire in Illinois, however there is also the  Jinqiao Mini Maker Faire being held in Shanghai, China, and of course the biggest of the four, Maker Faire Paris which kicked off yesterday to record numbers of attendees at the Paris Expo Porte de Versailles in Paris, France.

This year’s faire is the second here in Paris. With 739 makers showing 220 projects, the faire saw over 16,000 visitors on its first day, more than double the number of attendees the faire drew last year — and there’s still a whole day to go.

But if you can’t make it to Maker Faire Paris this weekend, our biggest faire of the year is coming up in just two weeks time. Over the weekend of May 16th and 17th it is the 10th annual Maker Faire Bay Area, and there’s still time to get advanced tickets. Prices will go up on the door.

So roll up, roll up, for the greatest show (and tell) on Earth.