KANSAS CITY, Mo. — More than 300 of the metro’s most creative minds are together in one place this weekend. Inventors,hackers, crafters, and scientists have set up shot inside Union Station for Kansas City’s Maker Faire.
Ever seen a robot dressed as Superman kick a soccer ball?
“It started out of a kit. I have highly modified it,” said Michael Overstreet, the robot’s maker.
It’s called a humanoid and its just one of the many wonders of robotics on display at the Kansas City Maker Faire this weekend.
These are your type of folks if you want to talk about benches that expand like accordians or prototypes for coolers that look like your favorite NASCAR car.
Telephones capable of texting a quad copter into action.
“You can text it a msg with your location. It will fly to you delivering you freshed baked cookies,” said Andrew Viny of Motorola Mobility.
Maker’s are in a class by themselves.
“I’m going to try to set a powerwheels record this weekend by driving the most cars in a single race,” said Karen Corbeill.
Racing souped up power wheel cars. At 41 miles-per-hour, it’s not your five-year-olds roadster anymore.
Now that your mental motor is running, imagine an electric guitar produced by a 3D printer. It’s enough to make generations of droids in galaxies far far away pretty proud.
“People come and bring their inspirational ideas and show them off. There is no competition here. We call it, “The Greatest Show and Tell on Earth.” We hope people get inspired by what they see in others and collaborate on future things,” said Luis Rodriguez, the producer of the faire.
The 15,000 people who toured the faire on Saturday got in on the creativity by learning to soder their own mini robot or crafting in Michael’s huge mobile truck.
Inside Union Station, high school robotics teams from around the metro faced off. Their robots were designed to fling frisbees and teach kids that electronics goes far beyond video games.
The ingenuity introduced here could become the wave of the future.
The Maker Faire continues Sunday at Union Station. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for children.
