Inventions-based Maker Faire Celebrates 5th Anniversary

Enter Maker Faire Detroit, where hundreds of inventors and crafters gather and show off everything from robots to planters made from recycled books.

"I like the fact that you got all sorts of people, just tinkering and building cool things and you see something new every time," said David Kittell, hailing from Millington, a town near Frankenmuth. "It's not something you're going to see in a store."

Kittell and his 7-year-old son relaxed under a shower of water coming from Robo Crop.

"He's the robot that watches over your urban farm or urban garden," said one of its inventors, Ted Hansen, with i3 Detroit. The Robo Crop has a camera that will initiate a spray of water in the direction of pests.

The event seemed to be as busy as the year before, bringing in more than 20,000 people.

The fair also had the Quirky in attendance, a man rolling around dressed as a cupcake, who satisfied the hungry with food in the form of fudge, pizza and kettle corn.

"To think of all of the hands that it went through ... I don't want them to end up in the trash," said Sherri Green of the Library Lab of Ypsilanti about the books she uses to make her creations.

To celebrate the Moog synthesizer, the Henry Ford will be presenting "Close Encounters of the Synth Kind", a special dedication to the anniversary of the Maker Faire of Detroit.

Toure Black, 12, of Beverly Hills praised the makeshift time machine made from everyday items that spat out bubbles. Being a big fan of inventions, Black thought the time machine was pretty creative.

"I think it's really creative."