October 18th, 2017 
Jennifer Farmer
The 2017 Denver Maker Faire was held this past weekend and was a huge success. Solid State Depot showed off the new logo as well as personal projects from members. Dan’s “retro computer” was a big hit playing hi-lo written in Basic.
John M. brought his bare bones $2 Doppler radar sensor made of two transistors and an oscillator, hooked up to an oscilloscope to produce velocity data about objects at a distance. Andrew brought his inverted pendulum. Using a linear rail, a pendulum is balanced and maintains stability via a PID control loop. This is a classical example of non-linear control theory and requires a combination of mechatronics and control.
Brandon displayed video of the collaborative SSD eclipse balloon launch with VR goggles.
The Maker Faire also hosted the Sparkfun AVC an
d Combat Bot Division with weight classes from 1 to 30 lbs.
Carter built a 3 lbs “beetle” weight class robot named “Captain Hook” which managed to stay relatively intact while up against Poison Arrow, a 250 lbs BattleBot.
Maker Faire Denver is produced by Colorado Maker Hub, a nonprofit organization that celebrates the Maker Movement and fosters the maker ecosystem.
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