2011-05-22 San Mateo Maker Faire Robot California Trip
I was asked to present the EZ-Robot Project at Maker Faire in San Mateo Bay Area on Sunday. I took the opprotunity to turn the trip into a 3 week roadtrip. Packed up my robots into the car and off I went. On the drive back up, I'll be attending the Wuste Car Show in Las Vegas. So I phoned up my friend Mark and said "Come for the drive". He jumped in his M3 and off we went.
Oh yeah! I also broke my pinky finger the day before I left. That hasn't been a very nice feeling. It's funny because my other pinky finger was also broken a few years ago, so I have matching crooked fingers now. I'm slowly running out of fingers.
On the way down, my shifter linkage broke! Took a few hour delay to have it repaired, but cost me a day at the faire. I had the car towed to a fantastic custom Hot Rod shop and they welded the linkage together for me. Did a great job! Super friendly people, I wish them the best.
The presentation at Maker Faire went well I think. At least, that is what I was told.  I presented how to make a robot follow a ball. And a little about my Omnibot and his magical awesomeness. I met some amazing people at the faire! Some really great questions were asked also. Even the Arduino community welcomed the EZ Robot project, which made me quite happy.
In the picture of the Digger Robot with a screw and a peice of plastic is a funny story. I did not pack a proper screw driver long enough to reach the screw head to remove it. I modified a plastic fork with a pair of nail clippers and turned it into a screw driver. Worked!
Uhm, what else? Maybe I'll add some more pictures in this folder for the trip as the days go on. I'll be down in the US until June 5th or 6th... EAK!
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