A lot of people adored Pixar Animation Studios' 2008 dystopian robots-in-love story, "Wall-E." But one loosely connected organization can probably lay claim to being the biggest, or at least the most dedicated, group of fans.
These are the 16,000 members of the Wall-E Builders Group, an Internet-organized collection of do-it-yourselfers who have each set out to create a live version of one of the Academy Award-winning film's fictional robots.
"There (are) tons of builders who are very interested in building Wall-E," said Matt Ebisu, the 18-year-old Cupertino, Calif., college student who is the public representative of the group. "So far, we've had several different versions completed. They vary in design, but pretty much everyone (in the group) is dedicated to building their own Wall-E, or at least finding out how to build their own Wall-E."
Most Wall-E builders, located around the world, have not met in person. Some of them, however, will be coming together to show off their work and spread the gospel of Wall-E building at this weekend's Maker Faire festival in San Mateo, Calif.
Among the DIY robotics set, they'll hardly be alone in showcasing their wares to the 80,000-plus people expected to crowd into the San Mateo Fairgrounds for the fourth annual festival. According to Maker Faire organizer Sherry Huss, robots and rockets will be the most represented category of DIY creations, and there will be a robotics pavilion where teenage boys of all ages, young girls, real grown-ups, and everyone in between can get their robot on.
"In general, everything DIY is exploding right now," Huss said. With a variety of robotics kits available, "people are dabbling a lot more in it. A robot doesn't have to be a representation of a human, but I think there (are) a lot of things happening in this field right now."
Indeed, at Maker Faire alone, there are expected to be no fewer than 24 robotics DIYers, both individuals and groups, whose projects range from Wall-E builders, to a giant LED-studded giraffe that walks, to a set of semiautonomous spherical orbs, to fire-belching machines, to a solar-powered electric chariot.
Make magazine, from which Maker Faire manifested, is devoting its August issue to DIY robotics. On the cover, according to Huss and Gareth Branwyn, an editor overseeing the issue, will be Chris Anderson, Wired magazine editor in chief (and DIY robotics megafan), proudly showing off his autonomously navigating flying drone.
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