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!

PunkSTEAM

July 3, 2025July 17, 2025 Lutin

This is a video we recently released on the meaning of punkSTEAM.

Castello di Amorosa

May 15, 2025July 13, 2025 Lutin

Ever wish a medieval castle was just a drive away? In you live in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can visit Castello di Amorosa. It is in Napa just two hours away.

Castello di Amorosa: Napa Valley Castle Winery in Calistoga

We sometimes need to break from the workshop, and Castello di Amorosa is one of our favorite places to relax and refill our creative well.

Castello di Amorosa: Napa Valley Castle Winery in Calistoga Court yard

The attention to detail is amazing, and they capture the feel of ancient castles in Europe.

Castello di Amorosa: Napa Valley Castle Winery in Calistoga Hall way

Dark and spooky corridors can be found to given you inspiration and chills. Sometimes you can find hidden passageways.

Castello di Amorosa: Napa Valley Castle Winery in Calistoga Knight

Beautiful murals and statues are found throughout the castle. There is so much detail to the murals, and everything is done in the same style as the ancient castles.

Castello di Amorosa: Napa Valley Castle Winery in Calistoga Knight

Here is a suit of armor stand ready for action. In the background you can see a beautiful mural that shows the knights going into battle.

Castello di Amorosa: Napa Valley Castle Winery in Calistoga Gift shop

Everything has the perfect patina to give it a timeless and well-worn look. The tiles in this image are skillfully decorated with intricate patterns.

Castello di Amorosa: Napa Valley Castle Winery in Calistoga downstairs

Here are some more mysterious dimly lit corridors.

Castello di Amorosa: Napa Valley Castle Winery in Calistoga View from the front

The outside of the castle looks just as real. You can see the guard towers and the merlons, and you can even walk along the castle wall. There is also livestock outside the castle.

Hope you find inspiration!

Wood Sculpture: Cat

May 8, 2025May 8, 2025 Lutin

This cute little wooden cat was a quick build from some leftover pieces. We wanted a simple toy that would be sturdy and easy to build, but would also look like a cat. All of the wood was harvested from our yard.

Wooden toy cat

For the tail and legs we like to keep the bark on to give it a rustic look. The texture would also look like fur.

Wooden toy cat

The head, tail and legs are attached using wire to make it poseable. To do this, we drill small holes in each on the limbs, and used the wire like a peg. There is no glue in the whole figurine.

Happy Creating!

Maker Fest at Ecole Bilingue in Berkeley

April 29, 2025July 22, 2025 Lutin

The Hip Monsters team was thrilled to be invited to a Maker Fest last week at Ecole Bilingue in Berkeley, CA. Ecole Bilingue is a preschool to eighth grade French immersion school focused on preparing their students to make a positive impact on the world.

We had a wonderful time at the maker fest and it was amazing to see such talented makers and dedicated students. The event had great food (including handmade boba tea), a fun crowd, and an exciting lineup of makers. It was a beautiful day in Berkeley which added to the cheer.

Below are just some of the makers at the festival.

Hip Monster’s Robot Freedom

We were there with Number Three of RobotFreedom, who got a chance to test out her new legs. We will have a post in a bit on her leg redesign. The legs worked well and the batteries lasted longer than we anticipated.

We also brought our pneumatics demonstration which is an ideal place to start kids (and adults) on robotics.

The Sewing Corner

There was a great sewing section with helpful makers who quickly got even first time sewers make a tote bag.

Here is a finished toto bag! We have already put it to good use storing cat toys.

Magnification Mayhem vs. Resolution Rumble!

George and Janai Southworth from the San Francisco Microscopical Society had a fantastic demonstration of microbiology. They showed how different filters and lightning impacted what could be viewed through the microscope. Below is a petri dish of bacteria waiting to reveal its secrets.

Solar Racing Car

Members of the UC Berkeley CalSol Solar Racing Car were there giving us the inside scoop on their upcoming race in Nashville, TN. Every few years the car is completely redesigned and rebuilt using the most up to date technology.

3-D Print Making

There was 3D printing space with a great collection of designs and examples. All the designs were coded by kids!

Here is our favorite creation, a 3d printed pink rabbit.

Bike Powered Smoothie Machines

The bike powered smoothie machines were steampunk inspired pieces of art. They were designed and made by the talented students at Ecole Bilingue. They also are a great way to make sure you earn those calories in the smoothie. Every household should have one of these!

The designs are modified stationary bike with blender connected to the front wheel.

Here are the bikes in action making a smoothie.

Painting Robot

They even had a robot making art! It was fun watching the robot as it dutifully created its next masterpiece.

Here is a view of the business end of the painter bot.

Space Wars

And last but not least, a RaspberryPi powered game console designed and built by one of the students. The compact design had custom made controllers that allowed for two person games.

The stand was a clever design using a cardboard box as a case neatly cut so it looked.

Thank you so much to Ecole Bilingue for inviting us to the maker fest! We would love to participate in more of your events in the future.

Hope you find inspiration!

First Robotics Competition in SF

April 9, 2025April 7, 2025 Lutin

We had a lot of fun at the First Robotics Competition at St Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco CA. We cannot think of a better way to spend the weekend than watching teams of highly skills robotics engineers compete for fame and glory!

Above is a photo the entrance to St Ignatius located in the heart of the Sunset district in San Francisco.

Below is a video showing one set of the robotic competition.

The goal is for your team to finish as many tasks as possible before the time runs out. Each team has three robots: two that are focused on competing tasks and one that tries to disrupt the other team’s robots. The court is divided in two with each team having one side as their home where they perform their tasks. The tasks are placing the tubes in a slot, throwing a ball and lifting themselves up at the end of the round.

Here is a close up of one of the robots, number 6822. It is amazing to see how many different and creative designs the teams come up with. For example, some receive the tubes from feeding machine while others scoop them up from the floor.

Here is another robot, 7667, waiting to be serviced.

Above is a photo of a typical repair station. Like with the robots, each team has their own layout and collection of tools optimized for their robot’s design. We had serious tool envy as we walked through the pit.

While none of our photos have people, the event was crazy crowded. We made sure to exclude people when taking photos, so missed about half of the teams at the events. Below is a sample of some of the teams there.

The Otter Bots.

The Aztechs from Alameda, California.

And team 846 with the absolute coolest pin dispenser ever!

The Breaker Bots.

The Pirate Robolution!

The Bot-Provoking.

Bora Robotics from Türkiye!

Blue Magpies from Taiwan!

Find your inspiration!

A Selection of Wands

March 21, 2025July 13, 2025 Lutin

We make wands to relax and to practice our woodworking skills. The process usually involves spokeshaving, sanding, staining, and waxing the wood. We always use wood from our yard to make the wands extra unique. Here is a selection of some of our wands!

This piece of wood had a handle that bends that was very difficult to spokeshave, but turned out very well. We stained it red and brown then sanded the wood for the marbled finish.

Unusual for us, this wand is made from bamboo. Instead of spokeshaving, we just sanded this wand to maintain the classic look of the bamboo. The black color of the wood is natural, not stained.

This wand is nice and strait. We spoke shaved it smooth and stained it mahogany to add a pop of color. This wand was also sanded to have a smooth finish.

Happy creating!

Paxton Gate

March 17, 2025March 12, 2025 Lutin

Whenever we go to Valencia Street in San Francisco, we always go to one of our favorite stores called Paxton Gate. An eye catching store that is full of interesting natural wonders and oddities.

When we go in Paxton Gate we always will stay there for a very long time, because there is so much to see and explore!

Here are some interesting rocks and minerals, including opal, aragonite, and bismuth! We love to pick out some new and interesting rocks to add to our rock collection.

Here are some more rocks! We love looking at and picking up all of the different rocks. One particular favorite is a desert rose crystal. We like then because they are very beautiful and remind us of a rose. We also love bismuth because it reminds us of Gunnerkrigg Court.

Here are some animals and other random curiosities that are preserved in glass. There is even a human brain in a jar!

These are animals displays and animal figurines. We love to look through all of the animal figurines to try and find our favorite animals.

These are some cool skeletons and bones of different animals, including the skull of a muskrat.

Paxton Gate also has a variety of plants. We love to hang out in the plant section to try and find a new addition for the yard.

More plants! The weirder the plant the better. We love to have odd looking plants in our garden.

Here are some fossil trilobites, ancient creatures that lived in the ocean. There are a variety of sizes. We are especially interested in them because trilobites are the family sign for the Heterodyne family in Girl Genius.

Here are some glass eyes used for taxidermy which we find creepy but cool.

These strange stones are actually owl pellets! Owl pellets are undigested food that an owl would regurgitate.

And a friendly skeleton watches over the store while you explore!

We hope you find you inspiration!