Small Wooden Harp

November 20, 2025November 9, 2025 Lutin

Here is a very old project that we had a lot of fun on but forgot to post about. This is our wooden harp, made in 2019, that we made after our ukuleles. This project was very simple, but never worked correctly. Here is a description of the harp and some changes we would make if we were to do this same project today.

Please note, this material is provided for informational purposes only and is not a guide on how to create the designs. Please read our disclaimer.

The harp has a classic triangular design, with one guitar tuner and one long string. The string is attached to the frame using screws. The whole thing is very small and light, you can hold it in one hand. A main problem was that there was not a big difference between the different notes on the harp. It was also hard to play the strings one by one because they were too cramped.

If the HipMonsters team were to make this project again, we would add more than one guitar tuner so you would have different sounds. After looking at pictures of smaller harps online, we noticed that many do not have the classic triangular design, but instead a more rectangular or ovular shape. By using that shape instead of the triangular one, the strings would be less cramped. The thick frame of the wooden harp also makes it look more messy and unwieldy, so we would either use thinner wood or make the harp larger.

Looking back on old projects is a great way to see growth. This harp was very creative, and it was impressive at the time, but there are many ways we would improve this.

Happy Creating!

SMASH: Stem Madness at Saratoga High

November 9, 2025 Lutin

Members of the 6165 MSET Cuttlefish, the Saratoga High School FIRST robotics team, noticed tons of pumpkins get tossed after Halloween only to end up rotting in landfills, where they release greenhouse gases even more harmful than carbon dioxide. Since composting isn’t yet widespread in their area, the Cuttlefish decided to take action.

For the past two years, they’ve hosted SMASH: STEM Madness at Saratoga High, a fun, hands-on event where they smash pumpkins in creative ways to promote composting and environmental awareness, while also sparking interest in STEM. Last year, over 200 attendees smashed over 650 pounds of pumpkins!

This year the Hip Monster’s team presented. We had a lot of fun, met some wonderful people, and were very impressed by the Cuttlefish team!

It was a perfect day for a festival and the Saratoga High School is beautiful with tall trees scattered throughout the campus.

We brought Number Three and Number Eight. Here is a little girl using the touch sensor on Number Three.

And here is some adults trying out Number Three.

Here are the 6165 MSET Cuttlefish robots in action.

Kids loved having a second Halloween and several dressed up in their halloween costumes.

They had vendors and activities, to make this festival more interactive. There were also booths for organizations, like the public library and several clubs in the school.

The main event, Pumpkin Smashing! People could pick out a pumpkin, weigh it, then wait for their pumpkin to be called for it to be smashed. You could also choose to carve the pumpkin. The person who chose the pumpkin gets to press the button themselves, making it a fun and interactive process.

Here is a pumpkin being smashed. There were many different smashing machines for different sizes pumpkins. Our favorite was a hydraulic sledge hammer with 20 pounds of crushing force.

If you live in the Bay Area, make sure to attend next year.

Hope you find inspiration!

Number Three’s View of Bay Area Maker’s Faire 25

October 17, 2025 Lutin

The Hip Monsters team had another wonderful time at this years’ Bay Area Maker Faire and our robots did too. Since we engaged the touch sensor at the end of each demo, we calculated we conducted at least 1239 complete demos over 3 days, three times what we achieved last year! Maker Faires are an ideal way to reach a tech savvy and engaged audience.

Check out the video below, generated based on the stimuli, emotions, and actions of Hip Monsters’ robot over the course of three days at the Maker Faire. Turn up the volume! The sounds are based on the robot’s simulated emotional response to the stimuli.
The robots recorded the following sensory data:
Noise: A sudden, loud noise. Represented by the color blue.
Distance: Motion within 1 foot. Represented by the color green.
Speech: The spoken word “robotics”. Represented by the color gold.
Touch: Contact on the touch sensor. Represented by the color pink.
Movement: Motion within 6 feet. Represented by the color orange.
Balance: If the balance sensor was moved. Represented by the color red.
Light: If there was a sudden change in light. Represented by the color yellow.
Frequency of Stimuli: How often or rarely the robots received stimuli. Captured by the Movement of the cube.
Mood: Happy or overstimulated. Reflected in the choice of sound.

THANK YOU everyone for making an incredible experience for humans and robots alike!

Baye Area Maker Faire 2025

September 25, 2025September 25, 2025 Lutin

Making KB’s Visor from Star Wars Skeleton Crew Part 1

August 21, 2025November 9, 2025 Lutin

San Francisco Exploratorium

August 7, 2025August 9, 2025 Lutin

We went for a visit to the San Francisco Exploratorium in the Embarcadero pier 15. The Exploatorium teach science, technology, art and math (STEAM) like no place else on earth. Most of the exhibits are one of a kind creations straight from their prototyping workshop designed to engage audiences of all ages. The Exploratorium has over 600 exhibits that visitors can interact with.

Situated in the middle of San Francisco’s piers, it is a perfect walking destinations with lots of sights, food and more to explore!

If you are not up for a walk, there is also a MUNI stop right outside the entrance.

There is a lot to see, if you are only going once make sure to prioritize which exhibits you must see.

Learn about human perception by taking a drink from this unique drinking fountain that is shaped like a toilet.

This is a cloud chamber, a machine that allows you to see particles. The cloud chamber was invented by a physicist named Charles Thomson Rees Wilson in 1911. The cloud chamber is filled with the supersaturated vapor of water or vinegar.

You can even look inside the prototyping workshop where engineers can build prototypes for complicated designs.

This device counts when you turn the first gear using more and more advanced technology. It goes from the ones place counted by a spinning gear, all the way to a computer.

This is a model of the mars rover Perseverance. Its jobs is to look for evidence of ancient life on mars and pick up rock and dirt samples that will be brought to earth in the future. It was launched in 2020 and landed on Jezero Crater in 2021, which used to be a crater lake.

In the far back you can see artifical geysers that go off several times an hour. One of our favorite ways to relax is to take a seat and watch as the pressure slowly rises.

The liquid Litmus display shows how electricity and water relax to create basic (blue) and acidic (yellow) solutions.

Ever dream you can visit Dune? See a desert world trapped under glass ever changing as winds rip across its surface.

Brave the cold and get a great View of San Francisco while eating lunch.

Learn how a heat pump work and burn off some energy in this exhibit. A lot of the exhibits require a bit of elbow grease to work the body as well as the mind.

This exhibit about DNA shows different models of human heads. Each head is modeled after the sane DNA, showing that DNA is not the only factor that decided people’s appearances.

And we finish our tour with vibrating rings showing how vibrational frequencies affect objects like steel rings.

We only showed you a few of the countless exhibits hidden in every corner of the San Francisco Exploratorium. If you plan a visit we strongly recommend staying all day.

Hope you find inspiration!

Maker Faire 2025

July 30, 2025July 30, 2025 Lutin

We are very excited to announce HipMonsters.com will be presenting RobotFreedom at this year’s Bay Area Maker Faire, September 26 through September 28th at Mare Island! We have been training our emotional robots for over a year, living with them, playing with them and watching them grow. Come see our robots in action live!

Here is a recap of the 2024 Bay Area Maker Faire to give you a preview of what to expect. These are some of our favorite exhibits, from an underwater robot explorer to a giant inflatable cuttlefish car.

This is the Maker Faire Bazaar, where visitor can find all sorts of handmade goods, like dice, pottery, and even 3d-printed hot chocolate.

This is a big working model of the solar system that is the size of a room. All of the planet’s orbit times are proportional to the real ones.

This is a small model of a bakery with working lights and miniature baked goods.

This is an old battlebot, complete with two giant spikes in front and four googly eyes (Maker Faire 2023).

This is the Humanoid Robot Comedy Show. These robots can move their faces to show facial expressions and look you in the eyes while they tell jokes.

This robot is built for battle. This is one of the robots that fights in an arena against other robots. It is remote controlled and has arms that can swing around.

This is Dalek FAX, a remote controlled model of a Dalek that moves and talks.

This small robot is built by ROV Tour: Underwater Robotics Adventure. They are remote controlled and have cameras that can show footage of its underwater adventures.

And the award winning After.AI whose 3D printed mechanical flip signs were so fun to watch!

This amazing clock uses a whole wall full of gears to tell time.

This is a part of Serenity, an art exhibit showing three insects that shoot fire at a press of a button (Maker Faire 2023).

These are parts of Astro Botanicals Space Garden, which is a collection of glowing handmade inflatable plants.

This is Sepia Lux, a giant inflatable cuttlefish car that lights up. The tentacles and the fins of the cuttlefish can move, and the eyes can change colors.

This is a truck inspired by a beetle complete with wings and a bright green shell.

This is a peacock vehicle that lights up and moves.

We are looking forward to seeing you all at this year Bay Area Maker Faire!

Hope you find inspiration!

Sutter’s Fort

July 24, 2025July 22, 2025 Lutin

Sutter’s Fort is around a two hour drive from the San Francisco Bay Area. Built in 1839, it is in the first permanent European colonial settlement in Central California. Sutter’s fort was the economic center of the settlement, it had bakeries, blacksmiths, and other businesses that most people would need. It lost its importance in 1849 when the gold rush caused many people to rush to California, who competed with Sutter’s businesses.

Here is where they made barrels. Barrels were an essential part of frontier life, holding everything from pickles to gunpowder.

And here is our favorite store, the apothecary store, where you could get herbal remedies and cures as well as coffee.

This is the general store, where the settlers would buy everyday objects such as silverware, food, and simple tools.

Here is the carpentry shop. This shop supplied many important things, such as barrels, furniture, and tools. You can see the tools in the background which the carpenters used for woodworking. Many are very similar to modern woodworking tools. We love seeing workshops to get new ideas on how to improve ours.

Hope you find inspiration!

Sensor Array Mounts Part Two

July 17, 2025July 17, 2025 Lutin

This is our working solution for making secure sensor array mounts for our robots. Because the first one failed, we made many changes based on what worked well and what didn’t.

Please note, this material is provided for informational purposes only and is not a guide on how to create the designs. Please take a look at our disclaimer.

The Video below shows us making a model for the sensors.

Now we pour silicon over the clay model to make a model.

Once the silicon is dry we removed the clay model.

To get the metal finish we mix in brown dye and copper pounder into the resin then put it into the cast.

It you look closely you can see the resin flowing as it dries.

We carefully remove the resin from the molds.

‘A bit of light sanding finishes it off.

Now we attach the sensors.

Finically, Number Three has a stable sensor mount!

Happy creating!

Sensor Array Mounts Part One

July 10, 2025July 13, 2025 Lutin

To make a sensor array mount for the robot, we wanted to try using resin molds. This experiment did not work as intended, but we wanted to share how our experiment went and maybe find a use for the resin pieces in the future. Here is a link to our working solution.

Please note, this material is provided for informational purposes only and is not a guide on how to create the designs. Please take a look at our disclaimer.

First, we laid out our basic design of the sensor array mount using square wooden dowels. Then we traced the design using a markers on a piece of plywood to help guide us later.

Next, we glued the dowels together using hot glue to create a frame. We made sure the joints were tight and leak proof so the resin wouldn’t spill out.

Then we glued the mold to the plywood and put an extra layer of hot glue on the outside. We lined everything with a mixture of one part vegetable oil and one part dish soap to help the resin would separate from the mold. Then we poured the resin into the mold.

We store the mold in a secure location making sure it was laying flat.

While the process did give us a cast, the mold had to be destroyed to get the resin out. The homemade releasing agent did not work, and caused the clear resin to turn green and oily. The design also ended up not aligning as well as we needed. For making resin molds, we recommend not using dish soap or vegetable oil because it will interfere with the resin’s color and make it oily and sticky even after it dries. However, it did make it easy to separate the resin from the mold. We also learned to not make the mold out of wood. Back to the drawing board!

Happy Creating!