Updated 09/24/2010 02:42 PM
Inventors To Showcase Their Work At Maker Faire
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From life-size mouse traps to robots and rockets, inventors are getting a chance to showcase their work in Queens.
The New York Hall of Science is hosting the World Maker Faire this weekend at Flushing Meadows Corona Park. The event started five years ago in California.
Three hundred projects and performances will be featured in what organizers call the best of "do-it-yourself" science and technology.
"We've re-invented the county fair,” said World Maker Faire Director Sherry Huss. “Instead of pigs and pies, it's rockets and robots."
One highlight is the Life-Size Mousetrap that replicates the classic board game. It took creator Mark Perez 13 years to build.
"I was a fan of the game when I was a kid and I used to put together the old board game, and you know, make it work and not try to poke out my sister's eye," said Perez.
"A lot of people say, ‘I always thought about doing this, but never did, and here it is, you guys have done it,’” said Perez’s wife, and “head mouse,” Rose Harden.
There will also be rides like The Bumblebee, which is made up of flying bicycles that run on leg power.
Also on display will be the ArcAttack. It makes lightning with tesla coils, which in turn produces music – making it a combination rock concert and light show.
"We have a computer that controls the drums and the tesla coils and sequences them together, and then the rest of the band plays along with it, or sometimes we can also interface our instruments directly into the equipment, too,” explained ArcAttack inventor Joe DiPrima.
"I always grew up wanting to be a rock star and thinking it was never going to happen, and now I'm in one of the most unique rock bands in the world,” said ArcAttack’s co-inventor John DiPrima.
The location for the New York City Maker Faire is appropriate, given that Flushing Meadows Corona Park was the site of the 1939-1940 and the 1964-1965 World Fairs.
The Maker Faire runs this Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $25 for adults, $10 for children, $20 for seniors, and $15 for students.
For more information, go to makerfaire.com.