Mini Maker Faire

By Emma Butler

Robotics, woodwork, pottery, art and much more were available for area residents to view and try on Sunday. More than 400 attendees visited The University of Windsor School of Creative Arts as it hosted its second Mini Maker Faire.

A Maker Faire is a gathering of curious people who enjoy learning and who love sharing what they can do. From engineers to artists to scientists to crafters, Maker Faire is a venue for these “makers” to show hobbies, experiments and projects, according to windsoressex.makerfaire.com.

The fair was held in the former armouries building in downtown Windsor. This was the second Mini Maker Faire the school has hosted and more than 30 vendors were eager to sign up and showcase their creativity.

Ankit Bhat, a student at the University of Windsor in mechanical engineering was there showcasing his newest robot.

“Today, I have an obstacle avoiding robot, it’s based off an arduino microcontroller and a 3D printed base,” said Bhat. “The way it works is the robot moves forward until it reaches a certain point away from an object, the ultrasonic sensor will detect the object and the robot will move back, pivot and move forward.”

Bhat was not the only one there showcasing his invention. Ben Arquette, the co-founder of Printable Canada, was there. His business offers a combination of manufacturing methods, which includes 3D printed, 3D scanning, CAD design and more. Arquette brought his business to the Mini Maker Faire to get people’s attention.

“These fairs are extremely important to us, people want to see a face and close local communication for a lot of the stuff they are making,” said Arquette. “Finding people here at a networking event is great because we get to meet them, tell them what we are about, show them in person and they get to play with some of our things. So far there are several people who want to work with us, so we will see how that plays out.”

Attendees seemed to enjoy interacting with the vendors. Joshua Tilley, a robotics enthusiast was thrilled to try out new things at this event.

“I participated in the impossible bike by Bike Kitchen, which is really neat it’s taking the steering out of the bike and completely changing it in the opposite way,” said Tilley. “It was really cool to try and ride this bike, something that I’ve done a lot of times and I thought I was pretty good at it but when you change a simple mechanic how impossible it actually is.”

The Mini Maker Faire allows anyone to showcase their talents at their fairs and encourage people to see what it is all about. For more information and how to sign up for next year, visit their website at https://windsoressex.makerfaire.com/.