A look back at Maker Faire Rome 2023
It’s that time of year again. The leaves are turning brown, the air is turning crisp. The nights are slowly drawing in, and pumpkin spice lattes are popping up on chalkboards outside every coffee shop in the Northern Hemisphere.
For those of us in the maker community, though, the month of October means only one thing: Maker Faire Rome!
A yearly pilgrimage for hundreds of thousands of DIY enthusiasts, Maker Faire Rome is a perfect opportunity to connect with like-minded people, share your creations, and marvel at some truly mind-blowing feats of home engineering.
This year’s event had branches all over the globe, and brought a wealth of exciting new projects, presentations, and workshops to its attendees. And let’s not forget the Arduino Village, where visitors had the chance to explore the world of microcomputers and technological creativity through a range of innovations and activities guided by Arduino co-founder Massimo Banzi.
Those who were lucky enough to make it to Rome saw some seriously impressive designs on display, showcasing the best of the maker community and the cutting edge of DIY tech.
If you weren’t able to join us, we’ve got you covered with a quick recap of what you missed!
Some highlights from the Arduino Village
Space Wars with the Arduino Nano ESP32
Originally released in 1977, the arcade game Space Wars captured the imagination of a generation, and was part of the wave that brought video games into mainstream culture for the first time.
At this year’s Maker Faire, Arduino presented Danko Bertovic’s recreation of Space Wars. With just a few components — breadboards, jumper wires, push buttons, and an Arduino Nano ESP32 — you can now create your own game and start playing today.
Barbot: Robotic bartender with the Arduino GIGA WiFi R1 + GIGA Display Shield
Wandering around the Maker Faire can be thirsty work. This year, Arduino brought a solution — a robot bartender capable of mixing your favorite cocktail to fuel the rest of your exploring.
Complete with a user-friendly interface, Filo Connesso’s Barbot is built around a GIGA WiFi R1 and a GIGA Display Shield — a powerful combination for creating IoT projects with highly responsive graphic interfaces, all on a budget.
ENROV: A remotely operated vehicle with the Arduino Nano ESP32
The remote-controlled vehicle space has seen some truly exciting developments over the last few years.
At this year’s show, Arduino revealed Settorezero’s RC vehicle called ENROV, which runs on a Nano ESP32. The vehicle can be operated remotely while you interact with the environment and monitor telemetry data via a display on the remote control.
Memory Game
Memory games are always fun, and can even help train our brains.
To add a dash of educational fun to this year’s Faire, Greta Galli developed a quick memory test for visitors to test their skills. Based on an Arduino UNO R4 and a handful of components, the game is simple: watch a random sequence of colored LEDs, remember what you saw, and then replicate it by pushing the colored buttons.
You level up each time and the difficulty increases each level, making the sequences longer and harder to remember. Your score will also save and be available on the Arduino Cloud, allowing people to compete and follow the leaderboard over the course of the day.
Inspired? Get in touch with us to learn more about Arduino, and how you can get started with your own maker projects.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in with your Arduino account to post a comment.