RASPBERRY PI

FeatureIN FOCUSMAKERS ALLThe crafters area was also home to this very cool Adana printing pressSpread out among the bookshelves of the ground floor, either side of theroute to the workshops, were crafters working with older technologiesranging from clay dragons (make and paint your own), via woodworking,to sewing with recycled materials, as old T-shirts were transformed intobags. Fabric-inspired tech was on display elsewhere, as Gemma Latham’sMinecrafting with Textiles featured a punchcard reader – like those usedwith Jacquard looms, which morphed into program storage for earlycomputers – for transferring textile patterns into Minecraft builds. Try thework-in‐progress Python code, developed with David Whale, on your Pi:github.com/whaleygeek/punchcard_readerAs well as putting the electronic and computing activities in a broadercontext of centuries of makers (in other words, geeks aren’t on their own),the crafters enabled visitors to participate with traditional skills they alreadyhad – or to learn those they lacked – and added in more craft activities for ageneration who will grow up seeing making a Pi-based robot as somethingin the same category as baking a pie.Bots and cyberpunksOne corner of the room was setaside for “the bots”, includingthe open-source 3D-printedCannybots, set up here ina Scalextric formation, butprogrammable from your Pi(or other boards) to solve mazechallenges or take part in ajousting tournament. Ohbot isa face, a creative robot systemwere found throughout the event:the maker community may havedistinctive personalities, but herewe’re talking about fancy dress, asattendees were invited to dress upin cyberpunk or other costumes,as you can see from the pictures.Our favourite was the girl in theRaspberry Pi logo dress who waswith the Edge Hill University’sPGCE course, “Geek Squad”.Liverpool Libraries was on handwith its business advice service, aswas Liverpool SOUP, an organisationthat brings together new businessesto give pitches for their ideas. Thebest of these will receive a fewhundred pounds to help them ontheir way. Every inventor needsto have access to a laser cutternowadays, and demonstrating thedevices used in many makerspacesLJMU drew crowds with its strawberry drumkit, banana keyboard, and other Makey Makeyorchestra vegetable-based fun...One of thescary masks!that is modelled on the childrenthat will use it in primaryschool classrooms. The kit iseasy to assemble, can beprogrammed in Scratch,and comes with a rangeof learning-throughmakingprojects thatteach programmingin a fun way, but arecompatible with thenew UK schools’Curriculum forComputing. BigLesPbrought alongseveral wonderfulLinux bots to inspireand amaze.Colourful charactersDown to businessUp on the first floor, a salmagundiof maker businesses and servicesincluded Ironbird and its “remotelyoperated aircraft and the stabilisedcamera technology”, or dronesas they’re inevitably called.RepublicIoT [see “Internet ofThings That Spy On You” boxout]demonstrated its low-cost shieldsfor connecting your sensor deviceto the internet. At the next table,local Android app company Novodashowed the early result of its moveinto connected devices, as well asdemonstrating Google Cardboard,and calling for ideas for newdevices, with a Nexus 9 as a prizefor the team’s favourite.was Dominic Morrow ofNottingHack, with his new companyJust Add Sharks and its line-upof impressively powerful cutters.ScraperWiki was also there to talkopen data, and Liverpool Girl Geekswere putting everyone in the framewith a frame to be photographedin, and promoting their excellentcoding workshops: the latest detailscan be found @lpoolgirlgeeks.The optimism of the makermovement was reflected inconversations at the MakeFest,which ranged from Hyperlooptransport to teaching of codecoming back to UK schools. Therevamped Central Library also drewa lot of praise, with visitors enjoying14 August 2015raspberrypi.org/magpi