Maker Faire Yearbook 2023
Projects
Found 65 Results
Otto Cardy robot
Faire: Rome
Maker: Claudio Gasparini
Otto Cardy, a low-cost walking cardboard robot that can be built and programmed using the videos and manual instructions. The instructions are designed to be easy to follow and do not require any special knowledge of electronics. Otto Cardy is a remake of the international Open Source project OttoDIY, using Google's Blockly for the Arduino. With micro:bit, Otto Cardy uses Microsoft MakeCode.
The project aims to introduce primary and secondary school students to the world of coding and robot programming in a fun way, while also serving as an example of creative robotics. It's great to see initiatives like this that make technology more accessible and engaging for young learners.
Otto Cardy can be built using both Arduino Nano and micro:bit.
FishAI&EcoEater
Faire: Rome
Maker: ITI Galileo Ferraris Scampia Napoli
Automa, eco-sustainable and ecological that aims to combat the pollution of marine ecosystems through the use of artificial intelligence and a cutting-edge telecommunications network.
Volta pagine automatico per scanner
Faire: Rome
Maker: Sapienza Università di Roma
In recent times, electronic books have become more popular than physical books due to their ease of portability, searchability, and quick access to a vast number of titles. This has led to a growing preference for e-books among researchers, scientists, and students. Additionally, the creation of e-books makes it easy to preserve the physical copies of old, valuable books while still using them as much as needed.
To create an e-book from a hard copy of a book, a common scanner found in libraries or universities is the desktop scanner. The book is placed under the scanner, and the pages are manually turned by the person scanning the text after each scan. However, when dealing with a large number of books, the bottleneck in the scanning process is the need to turn each page manually after each scan.
To address this challenge, we have designed a system that includes a 3-bar mechanism, a stepper motor, and an Arduino board. The system is connected to the scanner and flips the pages automatically after each scan. The primary and core component of this system is the 3-link mechanism that flips every page using two actions: detaching and flipping. The stepper motor rotates and transfers the necessary torque to the connected gears, which in turn, transfers the rotational motion of the motor to the reciprocating angular motion of the detaching link. This causes the detaching link to move from the outside of the book to the middle of the target page, detaching the upper page from the others. Another link connected to the detaching link turns immediately afterward to completely flip the detached page.
This system offers several advantages, including adjustability to accommodate book dimensions and the table or desk on which scanning is done. Before starting to scan, the system can be positioned and fixed according to the book's size and clamped on the table. In this way, the system can help users scan large volumes of pages quickly and efficiently without wasting time and energy turning pages manually.
In conclusion, this automated scanning system is a cost-effective solution, with all the required parts readily available in the market. It can help users rapidly scan documents with minimal effort and save valuable time, especially when dealing with a high number of pages.
Robot umanoide Uranus
Faire: Rome
Maker: Elettra Robotics Lab
Uranus is a humanoid robot with 24 degrees of freedom (DOF) developed by ERL with the goal of reaching a height of 80 cm, surpassing the limit of previous projects. Uranus was conceived as a project to exceed the height limit of 60 cm set by previous endeavors. In addition to its size, the control electronics are based on two levels of intelligence:
- The lower level is based on an 8-bit microcontroller that manages and interpolates the movements of the servos. This is the Poldino Servo Board with a PIC18F4550 processor.
- A Raspberry Pi Zero board handles high-level tasks.
On the mechanical side, Uranus has 24 degrees of freedom. The joints, excluding the neck (2 DOF) and hands, are controlled by 60 kgcm servomotors. The neck and hands have smaller servos with 20 or 40 kgcm torque. Apart from the two degrees of freedom in the hips, the torso is also noteworthy as it features two additional degrees of freedom: inclination and rotation.
InnovationGym con Fondazione Mondo Digitale
Faire: Rome
Maker: Fondazione Mondo Digitale
Fondazione Mondo Digitale ETS (FMD) works for an inclusive knowledge society by combining innovation, education, inclusion and core values. We have opened several Innovation Gyms in Italy: a physical-virtual environment for innovation and education for life. It is a gym for experiential learning and the practice of innovation in all its expressions: technological, social and civic innovation. At the booth we will show the main activities aimed at young people and their families: robotics, coding, digital making, media art, VR-AR.
Lidar a basso costo
Faire: Rome
Maker: Giorgio Liberini
This is a simple LiDAR with a TF-LUNA proximity sensor. The sensor accurately measures distances up to 5 meters using TOF technology and rotates thanks to a stepper motor. The NodeMCU coordinates calibration, rotation, and the collection of the point cloud, which is then processed by a computer. Initially, the project was intended for a different purpose and was commissioned by the recently deceased Professor Luigi Pagliarini, a pioneer in integrating robotics into art. All mechanical components were 3D printed.
Embodied AI Agent with a real robotic platform
Faire: Rome
Maker: Machine Learning Reply
The talk will focus on a real implementation of Embodied AI agent. We will start with an overview of the Machine Learning models covered within Reply R&D, therefore DinoV2 for Object Detection (https://dinov2.metademolab.com/), PALM (https://palm-e.github.io/ ) as a starting point for VLMs (Visual Language Models) and be able to generalize a large number of tasks that require multimodal input (both with images and text). We will then move on to a focus on a robotic agent such as SPOT by Boston Dynamics, therefore its architecture, the potential of this agent and the sensors present in stock. From here we will have the basis to move on to an implementation of Embodied AI Agents controlled completely with voice in natural language. We will show an orchestrator who, by receiving voice commands in natural language as input, will be able to control a robotic agent such as SPOT by Boston Dynamics and use the Machine Learning models necessary to complete the individual tasks within the episode initiated by the user. We will then show current developments in the way related to the use of Visual Language Models, such as RT-2(https://robotics-transformer2.github.io/) for robotic agents and LINGO-1(https://wayve.ai/ ) for autonomous driving.
WoodyMaker
Faire: Rome
Maker: Manuela Quaglietti
WoodyMaker produces objects that we have baptized original, special, beautiful "things" to give on different occasions, something that remains, can be worn or exhibited, capable of communicating data, messages and emotions.
The project is based on the creativity of a craftsman who works wood with new generation tools such as lasercut to produce "things" engraved with a "code" that communicates with a software platform created to give the customer the possibility to customize that "thing" and communicate something to third parties.
We went further… creating “things” that contain electronic boards and sensors able to communicate with the surrounding environment!
Our project aims to demonstrate how creativity and old crafts can merge with new technologies to create "things" that are pleasant to look at, made with natural materials, a new profession is born, the technological craftsman.
WoodyMaker aims to bring craftsmanship to the fore in a new form!
You will be able to see and touch surprising "things" at the fair that will be exhibited in preview, discover details and have all kinds of information, for the little ones we have created educational courses to learn the basic techniques for creating 2D/3D models.
Arlok – Simple Arduino 3D Printed Robot
Faire: Rome
Maker: Pizza Robotics
Arlok is a simple educational (STEM) Robot based on Arduino Uno with parts printed in 3D and all easy-available components. 3D-printed parts are big, easy to manipulate and can be printed even by cheap 3D-printers. Arlok is highly customizable: there are a lot of printable parts allowing you to make your unique robot. There are some programming examples that will make this robot moving around avoiding obstacles, following a line on the floor or let you control it using your cellphone with Android app. All source codes, STLs and instructions are provided on the Github repository.
e-Nable Italia – Experiments
Faire: Rome
Maker: Energy Family Project APS (e-Nable Italia)
Our community is dedicated to developing and providing free assistive devices for children and adults with limb difference problems.
All of our projects are either open source derivatives or released by us (when original creations from our community) as open source.
After SwimAble (the device for swimming, 2021) and the Bike Adapter (the device for cycling, 2022), this year we present the new ideas developed by our volunteers: the low-cost robotic hand prototypes and the devices that can help children to practice sports and in their free time, including an evolution of the bike adapters to be able to practice archery, a device that allows children with limb difference problems to play the drums and a tool for makers without 3d engineering skills that dynamically generates custom STL models of assistive devices adapted to the physical and anatomical characteristics of the recipients, to broaden accessibility to these devices.
Gli alimenti del futuro: tra biodiversità, economia circolare e agritech
Faire: Rome
Maker: Benedetta Pizziconi
Foods of the future: between biodiversity, circular economy and agritech:
An accurate nutritional regimen stands as a pivotal health determinant among all life-ages.
Within this context, promoting nutritional biodiversity and foods capable of guaranteeing both productivity and high nutritional value as well as in the context of climate change, represent one of the main challenges of our millennium.
Environmental sustainability and waste reduction in the food supply chain are issues consumers are becoming increasingly sensitive to. For years UCBM has been working on those subjects, in particular:
i) Identifying better resistant crop varieties to adverse environmental conditions or varieties with peculiar nutritional characteristics.
ii) Refining green methods to extract bioactive molecules with high-added value for their potential employment in nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, etc., from secondary raw materials that so far only assumed a low or negative economic value within the supply chain
iii) Developing sensor-based and robotic systems to identify the health status of the plant to allow an intervention of greater precision in the various agricultural processes, to optimize the production and the harvesting of the edible parts.
At the Maker Faire, some projects, and experimental tools by the research groups in Food and Nutrition Science will be exposed, biomedical measurements and instruments and advanced robotics.
The sustainability through the student Teams of the Politecnico of Turin
Faire: Rome
Maker: Politecnico di Torino
The Politecnico di Torino presents the most important students Teams involved in sustainability, ecological aspect, low consumption, mobility, recycle, reducing environmental impact and promoting circular economy.
The Politecnico of Torino involves the students in Teams with a mission: “learning by doing” with the goal to grow up a new generation of engineers able to accept challenges and solve problems.
The main goal of the teams is a practical training of the future engineer: to design means to compromise between an idea and what is actually buildable.
The Politecnico would like to present 10 teams that from 15 years make innovation participating to international competitions and events.
The Politecnico would like to have a big space to expose theire prototype; cars, bicycle, motorcycle, boats, mobile robot, scaled airplane, recycling computer and more other.
RoadRunner rover – an autonomous car-like rover based on ROS 2 & AI
Faire: Rome
Maker: Pizza Robotics
This project is a platform to learn, develop and test autonomous mobile car on a little scale.
The idea is to build an ecosystem based on ROS 2, microROS and PX4, which allows to create an autonomous rover based on a car-like robot.
It is capable of creating maps of the environment, detect objects in real-time and understand the surrounding environment.
RoadRunner rover software can be used for simulation and also to discover how autonomous cars are built.
Hiroshi Ishiguro And The Robot In His Likeness At Maker Faire Rome
Faire: Rome
Maker: Hiroshi Ishiguro
Home: Osaka, Japan
Geminoid HI-1 is an exact robotic replica of Hiroshi Ishiguro himself. It shares the same hairstyle, clothing, face, and demeanor. A star of conferences, presentations, and talks, Geminoid HI-1 is made of silicone rubber, has facial muscles, the actual hair of the Japanese professor, and can engage in articulate conversations in all languages. Ishiguro remotely controls his robot through a computer, a microphone, and a camera. Geminoid HI-1 is designed to replicate his gestures: speaking, blinking, and mimicking expressions.
“Hello, everyone, and welcome to this conference. Actually, I am a copy of Professor Ishiguro; I am an android. I am made of silicone, and inside me, there’s a computer. If I wanted, I could present this conference myself. Unfortunately, today he is here, so I will let him speak.”
These were the words of Geminoid HI-1 introducing its creator during one of its visits to Italy at the “Humanlike Robots And Future Society” conference held at the MACRO in Rome. However, despite its brilliance, Geminoid HI-1 cannot emulate all human behaviors. It is essential to remember why it was created, to explore the interaction between humans and machines, particularly understanding how our brains respond to the visual stimulus of a robot identical to a human being.
MusicHArt – L’esperienza nella musica visiva
Faire: Rome
Maker: B.P.S. Business Performance Services S.r.l.
The MusicHArt project was started in 2018 by the innovative start-up B.P.S. and its evolved version was launched in 2022 after years of experimentation. In the team Gianmarco Merlini represents the creator. It is inspired by research carried out in the field of synesthesia between music and color to allow artists and composers to transform their musical works into forms of abstract art through software that analyzes the melody and reproduces its relative abstract design. The result is a digital abstract canvas as well as the audio-video recording of the creation of the work.
SMART MAINTENANCE AT HIGH ALTITUDE
Faire: Rome
Maker: I.T.T. A. PACINOTTI
Our project main goal is to maintain in a great state the wind turbine’s blades
The project is divided in four separate part:
1. verify the integrity of the external structure using a drone with a 3D scanner
2. Verify the integrity of the internal structure using a rail robot with a scanner
3. Internal cleaning of the structure is divided in two sections: for the tower a robot with magnetic tracks is used, for the blades a system with rotating brushes is used.
4. Maintenance of the surfaces with a system of smoothing and painting
FPV IoT Micro Tanks
Faire: Rome
Maker: Oleksandr Poliakov
Many of us still remember how, as children, we spent hours in front of the TV, playing the legendary Battle City.
And what would happen if the game was being developed these days? Of course we would want to play it over the Internet and perhaps with AR glasses.
But what if we went even further and brought it into the real world? Where we could drive around in a handmade arena, or in a hallway. We can fire an infrared cannon at the enemy, or at his base. Or just chase pets?
And since these are IoT tanks - we can control them from the browser. Or even write javascript code to control them!
Un gioco per l’apprendimento della lettura dell’ora in modo divertente
Faire: Rome
Maker: Stefano Del Bufalo
The device, using a keyboard and a display, allows the student to set the desired time and see the result with the classic hour and minute hands, gradually learning the correct positions. the exercise is also useful for understanding the difference between 12H and 24H and for understanding the difference between analog and digital time.
PLASmA: Profilometro Laser per Superfici Ampie
Faire: Rome
Maker: Sapienza Università di Roma
We made a cheap high resolution laser profilometer with high vertical resolution (up to 5 microns) and large available surface using ORTUR 2-axis stage, laser sensor (Keyence), open source software (LASER-GRBL) and custom software.
Old game New game
Faire: Rome
Maker: Liceo Scientifico Alessandro Volta di Foggia
Why throw away old toys such as radio-controlled cars, animated puppets, globes, electronic games, etc. when can you indulge yourself in transforming them into fun and creative robotic toys? This provides for the "Old game New game" project. Visitors can either play with the toys made by the students of the Volta high school in Foggia, or try their hand directly at building them, through laboratory activities organized by the high school students themselves.
Sandwich – The Robot
Faire: Rome
Maker: Pizza Robotics
Sandwich is a small open-source ROS-based robot built over a Jetson Nano, to learn, experiment, and test vision algorithms. It is built with modular mechanical components, easy to improve and expand. Sandwich can be remotely operated, with a custom web-based interface, or can autonomously navigate the environment using a deep learning-based algorithm to perceive obstacles. It can follow objects, people or specific markers.
Parko: Sustainable Smart Parking Solution
Faire: Rome
Maker: Khaled Atef Megahed
Parko is an innovative parking management solution that revolutionizes the way parking spaces are utilized. With our smart technology, we optimize parking efficiency, reduce congestion, and provide a seamless experience for drivers. Our system incorporates real-time monitoring, data analytics, and intuitive mobile applications to enable efficient parking space allocation and reservation. By maximizing parking utilization, Parko promotes sustainable urban mobility, reduces carbon emissions, and enhances the overall parking experience for both drivers and parking operators. Join us in transforming the future of parking with Parko!
Robotic sorting plant – controlled by PLCs via WEBapp
Faire: Rome
Maker: Itis Paleocapa
The system, based on a Scorbot Er3 robotic arm and a Fishertechnik education kit, sorts different incoming materials by colour, weight ans size, thrugh different processes. The automation, controlled by S7-1200 PLCs, and supervised by a S7-1500 controller, is managed by an operator through an HMI display or through a webApp. It can be used to reach optimization and sustainability goals. The PLCs are able to manage a wide variety of information.
SASA – Sapienza Rocket Team
Faire: Rome
Maker: Sapienza Rocket Team
Minerva is the flagship project of Sapienza Rocket Team, a sounding rocket whose expected altitude touches 3000 m. It will be the result of the knowledge and skills acquired over the years by the Team members. Starting from the optimization of the external aerodynamics using specific algorithms, moving on to implementing an airbrake system designed to guarantee maximum precision in reaching the mission altitude, it will be made almost entirely of composite materials to ensure the best structural performance.
