Castello di Amorosa

May 15, 2025April 26, 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 Sacramento 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 to refill our creative well.

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

The attention to detail is astounding and having visited castle in Europe they capture the feel.

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 in it .

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! We love looking at them. Sometimes we might even sketch them to bring inspiration.

Castello di Amorosa: Napa Valley Castle Winery in Calistoga Knight

Here is a suit of armor stand ready for action. In the backround you can see a beautiful mural that shows the nights 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 dimly lit corridors.

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

Hope you find inspiration!

Maker Fest at Ecole Bilingue in Berkeley

April 29, 2025April 29, 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 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 fest.

Hip Monster’s Robot Freedom

We were there with Number Three of RobotFreedom fame, who got a chance to test out her new legs. We will have a post in a bit on her leg redesign. Te legs worked well and the batteries lasted long 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. And all the designs were coded by kids!

And ere is out favorite design, a 3D printed pink bunny.

Bike Powered Smoothies

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 a 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.

Find your 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.