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Interested in working together? Just fill out the form below. Don't like the form? That's ok, just email us. Thank you.
ROBOTICS: MY JOURNEY
SAM QIAN
What is Maker Faire?
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Maker Faire is one of those events where creativity, engineering, and imagination collide. It’s billed as a gathering for makers, tinkerers, inventors, technopreneurs — people who build stuff, experiment, display weird prototypes, share skills, and challenge “just doing what’s normal.” It’s playful. It’s hands-on. It invites people from all ages to see what you can do when you combine art, science, craft, robotics, and imagination.
So it’s not just a fair — it’s like a festival where maker culture gets shown in full spectrum: kids making LED lamps, students demoing robots, artists showing interactive displays, families exploring hands-on booths, people teaching craft, programming, microcontrollers, etc.
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My Maker Faire in 2022 & 2023
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Being an officer for Maker Faire was confusing, exciting, messy, and one of the best things I’ve done. Here’s roughly what I did:
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Planning & Setup: Before the event, we helped organize the robot-prototype booths: deciding where booths go, what materials are needed (wires, boards, 3D-printing filaments, safety tools, tables, display boards).
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Volunteer Coordination: I worked with other makers/officers to recruit and guide volunteers — people to help with setup, with demonstrations, with crowd management, answering questions from visitors, running hands-on robotics zones, etc.
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Demonstrations: I personally got to bring my robot prototypes — ones I'd built or helped build — to Maker Faire. I demonstrated them to thousands of attendees. I explained what the robot can/can’t do, how it works, even the ugly parts (the failures, the wires that looked messy).
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Workshops & Hands-on Experiences: We set up interactive sessions where visitors could try simple robotics tasks: maybe assembling a circuit, controlling a small robot, making LED blink, playing with sensors. Kids and adults alike jumped in.
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Public Engagement: Talking to people, answering questions (“How does this work?”, “Where did you get the parts?”, “Can I try?”), helping someone who’s never touched a robot feel like they could try too. That part was fun and sometimes unpredictable.
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Post-Event Reflection and Improvement: After each year, we gathered feedback: What booths got the most traffic? Which demos failed or glitched? Which volunteers struggled or shone? Then we tried to improve for the next year: better signage, more robust prototypes, easier access to demos, more time slots for workshops, better arrangement of space.
In short: I was much more than “show my robot.” I helped make the event happen, helped people connect, and tried to make sure the experience wasn’t intimidating for someone seeing robotics for the first time.
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Maker Faire 2022 and 2023: From my perspectives:
Even though I played the officer role in both years, the experiences in 2022 and 2023 felt quite different. Each year had its own rhythm, challenges, and lessons, and looking back, I can clearly see how much I grew — not just as a volunteer, but as someone learning how to manage people, events, and technology under pressure.
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In 2022, the event felt smaller and more intimate. There were fewer exhibits and many first-time makers who were still figuring things out. Most of the visitors were new to the whole Maker Faire experience, and you could sense their curiosity mixed with hesitation. By 2023, though, everything had scaled up — more booths, more workshops, more returning families, and a lot more energy. The larger crowd brought excitement, but also higher expectations. I learned that as an event grows, you can’t just rely on enthusiasm; you need stronger logistics, more preparation, and backup plans for when things inevitably go wrong. Growth is exciting, but it also means being ready for bigger responsibilities.
When it came to technical preparedness, 2022 was definitely rougher. Some of our demos weren’t fully polished; a few prototypes malfunctioned right in front of visitors; and there were moments when we realized a crucial part or power supply was missing. But those mishaps were the best teachers. By 2023, we made big improvements. We ran tests ahead of time, packed extra tools, and built redundancies into our setups. If a robot failed, we had another demo ready. If something broke, we had spares. I learned that in live events, you should always assume something will fail — and prepare like your success depends on that assumption.
The volunteer experience also evolved. In 2022, some volunteers weren’t sure what to do. There wasn’t a clear system for briefing them, so many just improvised or followed along by watching others. It made things chaotic at times. The next year, we changed that. We created simple orientation packets, ran walkthrough sessions before the event, and made sure everyone knew their roles and responsibilities. The difference was huge. Volunteers became more confident, and the event ran much smoother. That experience taught me that enthusiasm is great, but structure and clarity are what truly help people contribute effectively.
Visitor interaction changed dramatically between the two years as well. In 2022, a lot of visitors mainly watched from a distance. Crowds made it hard for everyone to get hands-on time, and we didn’t have enough staff to manage engagement. So in 2023, we focused on making everything more interactive. We added workshops, guided sessions, and more assistants at each booth to help visitors actually build, touch, or control something. The energy was completely different — people weren’t just spectators anymore; they were participants. It reminded me that when people get to do something, they remember it much longer than when they only see something.
Another big change was in how we showcased our robots and tech. In 2022, we mostly focused on showing what the robots could do — their movements, features, and functions. But there wasn’t much storytelling behind them. Visitors saw the output, but not the journey. In 2023, we decided to change that. We talked about what inspired our designs, what problems we ran into, what failed, and what we wanted to improve next. Sharing those stories made the demos more personal. People connected not just with the machines, but with the makers behind them. It taught me that technology impresses people, but stories inspire them.
Looking back, those two years at Maker Faire weren’t just different editions of the same event — they were two stages of learning. 2022 was all about figuring things out on the fly; 2023 was about refining and improving based on those lessons. Together, they showed me that growth doesn’t come from perfection — it comes from paying attention, adapting, and daring to try again.
Highlights & Memorable Moments
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Here are a few of my favorite memories (both funny and meaningful):
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There was one booth where the robot arm was supposed to pick up small balls. It worked fine in the workshop, but at Maker Faire, under bright lights, sudden shade change (or overloaded power) made the motor lag. People watching started asking if it was broken. Instead of hiding, I let the demo run slow, described what was happening in real time, people appreciated that honesty. Some even offered ideas or joked encouragement (“Keep going, we believe in you!”). That taught me authenticity matters.
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During one of the workshops, a kid said, “I want to make something like that robot when I grow up.” That six-year-old had never touched coding or robotics. But just seeing a prototype, and being able to touch a motor, changed something. I’ll never forget her eyes.
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Another time, one of my demos broke down midway. Wires came loose; rubber wheels slipped. Because I’d prepared a spare kit, I swapped parts, fixed it there with volunteers. Meanwhile, people in the crowd saw us fixing, swapping, testing. Afterwards one of them said, “That’s what’s cool: seeing the behind-scenes.” That’s when I realized that failure in public can be powerful — it shows process, authenticity, learning.
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At Maker Faire 2023, there was more community vibe: families strolling, makers chatting, students showing peers what they built. I helped in a booth where visitors could program a small robot to follow lines. Watching people who had never done it before laugh when the robot wobbled or went wrong was sometimes more fun than when it worked.
What It Meant to Me:
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Maker Faire didn’t just let me show off what I built — it changed how I see building things, sharing ideas, and engineering.
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Here are some of the shifts I felt inside:
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Building for Others: Before Maker Faire, I often felt robotics was like competing — how good my robot was. At Faire, I saw how much value there is in building something so others can play with it, learn from it, or just be inspired. It taught me to think about usability, clarity, fun, robustness — not just “cool features.”
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Communication & Storytelling: I learned that showing a robot is one thing, but telling why you built it, what problems you had, what you’d do differently — those stories stick. I began to explain things differently: simpler, more visual, more storytelling. That helped people relate, not just look.
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Adaptability Under Pressure: Faire days are intense. Equipment might fail. Power might flicker. Schedules slip. Crowds grow. So I learned to make backup plans, keep calm when things break, improvise with what’s available. These moments helped me build mental toughness.
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Empathy & Inclusion: Seeing people of all ages, backgrounds, skills walk up to booths, curious but maybe intimidated — helped me become more patient. Helping someone who’s never touched robotics before, guiding their hand through a simple circuit, explaining why a sensor matters — that taught me kindness and humility.
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Seeing Potential Everywhere: Maker Faire made me realize that inspiration isn’t only in big innovations. Sometimes seeing someone solder their first LED, or a group of children curious about a motor’s noise, is as powerful as seeing a flawless robot. Potential is everywhere; sometimes we just need to invite people in.
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Challenges (Real Ones):
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It wasn’t always smooth. Being an officer had hiccups, mistakes, and sometimes stress. Here’s what I ran into — because those were the moments I learned most.
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Logistics: Getting electric power to booths, ensuring safety, making sure equipment works under event conditions. Sometimes cables tripped. Sometimes power strips overloaded. Sometimes tools were missing. I learned that behind the scenes stuff — tables, wires, connectors — can be just as important as the robot you bring.
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Volunteer Burnout: Some volunteers canceled last minute. Sometimes people didn’t show up. Sometimes the schedule changed and some booths were understaffed. Having backup volunteers, clear schedules, snack breaks, and appreciation helped.
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Crowd Management & Visitor Flow: Especially in busy times, booths got crowded. People waiting to try your demo, others blocking view, lines forming, children impatient. We had to think about signage, layout, how to guide people, ensuring safety.
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Prototype Failures in Public: It’s scary when something fails on stage or when showing to many people. I remember demos that failed, sensors misbehaved, motors slipped. But these moments became learning opportunities — and audiences often appreciated seeing “real work,” not just polished pieces.
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Balancing My Time: While preparing Maker Faire, I had school, robotics team duties, possibly other projects. Juggling deadlines, prototypes, rehearsing demos, coordinating volunteers — it was demanding. I had to learn to prioritize, delegate, sometimes say no, and be OK with “good enough” when perfect wasn’t possible.