I made it out for the second year of the Maker Faire. Stacy and June couldn't make it with me, so I made the trip by myself, arranging to meet up with some friends when I got there.

The Maker Faire is held in San Mateo, California. It is kind of a festival of Do-it-yourself tools and toys. 

I was excited to be there. This promised to be a great place to meet people who build things and to get ideas for my own future projects.

The parking lot had a lot of hybrid cars. 

Even before I got to the front gate, I saw Mark Pauline from SRL talking to his wife through the fence.

The scene in one of the main halls.

Some robot fighting.

A cycle to capture human energy, crafted from a round table.  This rig had a bunch of electronics plugged into it, and the cycling became harder as more appliances were turned on.

His maximum power output was about 200 watts, which is pretty impressive. I think if this bike was used to illustrate the different energy requirements of fluorescent bulbs and incandescent bulbs, you could sell a lot more fluorescent bulbs.

While I was talking to him, a guy came by and told us about bike-powered X-ray machines and bike-powered heart defibrillators that he had seen in India.

The robotic chariot.