by Han-Ru Xie

Good Idea Come True- Maker Robotics Joins Hands with Maker Base

Building a robot that can move around starting from scratch with design, program, and assembly has been the most fascinating part of being Maker, as they see the ideas on their mind come together step by step.

Professional in robotics competition embraces education

“The most fun part of being a Maker is the process of putting your ideas into practice with everything you’ve got”, said Tsai, Sheng-en, a Maker from the IoT Maker Base. A senior student from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Tsai has been interested in robotics since he was little. Since the second year of high school, he has been developing robots that can do all kinds of techniques, and so has he been participating in competitions of all

levels.

As much as Tsai loves robots, he not only to does research and design, but also becomes a trainee teacher, as he visits schools to share the fun with more children. Starting from May 2020, Tsai started GTA Robotics, a company that focuses on training and teaching for robot development.

Winning the championship of Maker competition by making the most of resources at the Maker Base

Tasi mentioned that there are equipment and machines at the Maker Base, where, most of the time, he uses 3D-printers for robot 3D modeling and laser-cutters for cutting 2D projects. Tsai and his team also came up with a type of new robot that is easily portable, light, and small in size. That design brought home the first place in I, Maker, another Maker competition, last year.

New Born Maker after Years of Work- A New Career Path

“Since I was a child, I have been into building stuffs. You can say that I am the very first generation of Makers.” Chien, Shih-feng, a Maker from TCN Maker Base, recalled that he was rebellious in high school, and he transferred to the study track of liberal arts. After graduating and working for years, one day he realized that he should be embracing his interests and thus picked up science and engineering again, which is his favorite.

Starting from 2015, Chien has been developing robots at home. One day, he hit a bottleneck during work and there were few resources at home. Therefore, he got on his ride and went to Nantou, where he found a signboard that read “Maker Base”, which is the TCN Maker Base. He decided right away to apply to be a stationed Maker there, which started his long journey with TCN since.

Chien is currently working on robots that harvest mushroom, hoping that with the help of the equipment at the Maker Base, there can be robots in farming to solve labor shortage in Taiwan’s agriculture.

Conclusion

The Maker Base provides complete equipment and space, as well as abundant resources for all Makers in Taiwan who have tons of ideas in their head to be put into practice. It is hoped that in the future, more people can learn about the Base and make use of the tools to develop more novel and practical projects to make our lives better.