The bustling metropolis of Beijing, the most populous capital city in the world, is home to more than 21 million people and millennia of tradition blended with cutting-edge technologies. This week, for the fourth year in a row, it’s also home to Maker Faire Beijing, the largest and fastest-growing gathering of makers in the region. Last year’s Maker Faire Beijing was wildly popular, attracting roughly 50,000 attendees, more than five times the number of visitors who attended the first iteration in 2015. There were 289 maker exhibits, 14% of which were from international makers from the United States, Japan, France, and Chile, while about 4% were from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other regions.
This year’s Maker Faire Beijing, which spans from October 17–23 at the Beijing Olympic Park Central District, focuses on innovation and features about 300 maker exhibits, including individual maker of all stripes, robot competition teams, maker education exhibits, many different forms of art, and large-scale devices, to name just a few.
The organizing team has outlined the larger goals of the event to be:
- Serve the national “mass entrepreneurship, mass innovation” development strategy.
- Promote the inheritance and development of the craftsman spirit.
- Enrich the spiritual and cultural life of people of the region.
- Set up a maker display, communication, and learning platform to assist maker innovation and entrepreneurship.
- Strengthen the practice of personnel training and exchange.
- Explore new models for the exchange of cultural and artistic creative talents.
Among the array of maker projects, there’s a healthy sampling of robots, big and small. Here is just a small sampling.
VEX China Robot Championship
The VEX China Robot Championship aims to promote robotics education to young students in China. It nurtures their interest in STEM by providing an interactive competition platform with customizable and programmable robots. It also reinforces students’ problem-solving skills and teamwork spirit by providing a hands-on experience and idea-sharing community. VEX strives to engage and challenge the youth in the realm of robotics.
Astro-Space Robot Display
While literacy of astronomy has the power to expand a child’s vision and cultivate imagination, robotics can help develop children’s hands-on and logical thinking skills. The combination of the two has powerful potential to give children the skills to turn their dreams into reality.
Robot Soccer Game
Roborobo makes creative educational robots and has been designated as a technology device by more than 1,200 primary and secondary schools and kindergartens. Every year, 120,000 children learn Roborobo robotics courses. At the Faire, come see and play with their soccer-playing robots!
RFC Robot Fighting
King of Bots (KOB) is the first large-scale robot competition television show in China, and they’re sure to have an exciting presence at Maker Faire Beijing. Let the battles begin!
Shiqian Sun ‘s Large-Scale Transformers
Chinese artist Shiqian Sun makes jaw-dropping large-scale artwork, and has a series of incredible Transformers he’s fashioned. His work is not to be missed at the Faire and certainly won’t be easily forgotten.
All the information you need to join the fun this week is on the Maker Faire Beijing website!
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