recently I’ve had the chance to develop
a series of humanoid robots so on a
screen you’ll see at the one at the one
is an avatar he is a robotic avatar and
joining me on stage today is Edgar – can
you say something to us hello there
my name is Edgar and it is good to be
here
Thank You Edgar very nicely done so
thank you now this good friend of mine
he is a semi autonomous social robot
right and we’ll come back to him later
on in the talk now I’m here today to
talk to you about being a maker being a
maker of things to get you to embrace
the maker movement to adopt the culture
of making or creating things with your
hands so you can do this in a number of
ways you can maybe knit a sweater make
furniture but computer code make food or
even create fashion all these things and
I’m gonna explain why being a maker
helped us to develop a better
understanding of the physical world and
it helps us also to prepare us mentally
for technological disruption so one of
the things I’m very often asked about
Edgar is how long did it take for me to
build the robot and I’m always somewhat
stumped by this question because it is
difficult for me to select a point in
time where I think the process began
definitively and so my standard response
is well maybe 18 months two years for me
to build a number of these robots but in
truth I like to think that the process
began much earlier for my childhood for
my childhood experiences in trying to
address a various of your lag in toys
and so this is the first thing that I
recall making this to an adult is a pen
that’s been clipped instantly onto a
ruler but to a shrew child this was an
aeroplane this was the pinnacle of
aviation technology
so to me and to countless other children
around the world
this meant hours of fun and enjoyment
what we were supposed to be doing our
homework and so if you think about it
all of us will make us from the
beginning and then I went on to make
other things I was particularly very
inspired by movies and Star Wars of
course
and so I recall one Saturday afternoon I
was watching Star Wars when I was about
eight or nine and I saw the scene of the
Death Star destroying the planet
Alderaan and I was hooked I was
transfixed by this to be honest I didn’t
care very much about Princess Leia
because let’s face it I wasn’t a
teenager at that point in time and so I
was very focused on building myself the
Death Star complete with that laser
system and so I hatched a plan a plan
that only a small kid could come up with
a plan that I’m still very proud of to
this day this is what I did I went into
the fridge and I drank all of the yokota
that was in the fridge that day much to
my mother’s displeasure so I could amass
a small collection of empty bottles I
lined the bottles up in this way and I
put a lie pout in each one of them
hoping for that to happen god of course
I failed
absolutely miserably Hey and you would
think that I should be discouraged but
in fact I wasn’t I was invigorated by my
attempt and tried to make something and
and so I kept on trying to make new
things and finally about a couple of
years later I was able to achieve some
success
I made the Ghostbusters ghost trap out
of an empty tissue box and I had so much
fun making it and playing with it now
after all these years looking back I
think I had more fun trying to make
those things then I feel I would if
somebody had actually bought those toys
for me so my lack of toys wasn’t such a
bad thing after all I also recall it
being very difficult for a child to try
and
things right for a young person to try
to be a maker it meant having to face a
number of rather daunting obstacles for
example moral support that was very
difficult to come by my parents I’m not
saying that they were bad parents but
they were like other parents they were
very deeply focused on getting me to do
well in school which of course I didn’t
much do their disappointment activities
like making things with your hands
sometimes they were frowned upon
sometimes they were very strongly
discouraged because manual labor has
traditionally been associated with being
poor and I think that’s a pity because
even though your child may not be doing
very well in school in the traditional
subjects he or she may be very talented
in artistry in creating things in
designing things or even advancing or at
sports but because we are so obsessed
with taking the narrow paths of academic
excellence that we forsake everything
else we robbed a child we robbed that
poor kid of his or her gift we deny the
whole society of the talent that is
within that child and that to me is
profoundly sad and rather unfair that
was another problem I faced and that was
a lack of materials and tools as a kid I
didn’t have any money and even if I did
I didn’t know where I could go to
purchase for instance electrical wire to
make a circuit and so what I did was
that I was stockpile on things that I
thought would be useful for making
things like cardboard
bubble wrap empty plastic containers and
as you saw you know empty Apple bottles
I did this much to the annoyance of my
family but if you’re a maker you will
know this behavior to be truly natural
and totally forgivable and so that’s why
I think one of the quotes from history
that truly resonated with me is this one
from Edison
so Edison said that to event you need a
good imagination and a power chunk so I
thought bingo
I’m there I had some imagination I had
some junk all right but what Edison
didn’t tell me and what I didn’t know
was that you also need space room to to
store the power chunk and to work with
it and so that was another challenge
that I had to face you may think right
now that now would be a good time for me
to share with you how I’ve overcome
those challenges and you know created
something like Edgar well I have to
admit it is easier being an adult but I
think makers today here still find it
difficult to make things let me tell you
why first of all moral support still to
this day sometimes difficult to come by
is strange isn’t it because sometimes a
maker can persevere he or she makes
something truly revolutionary truly
groundbreaking when that happens some
people react positively rude with a lot
of encouragement and we like people like
that but there is a very vocal portion
of the population that are very anxious
very fearful and they react in anger
it’s not difficult to see this sentiment
all you have to do is to go to the
comment section on news reporting the
implementation of some new technology
and you will be greeted
you’ll be deluged with a plethora of
negative comments like these I used to
think that such comments are very
hurtful and indeed they are especially
to to younger makers but after reading a
few hundred of 10 you don’t find them so
hurtful anymore all right in fact I find
them amusing but having met so many of
them I’ve come to see the validity in
what they’re trying to say for example
people are naturally angry they’re angry
about the possibility of losing their
jobs to technology so they wonder how
somebody can be so selfish as to create
technology that would potentially
denying countless people of their jobs
they recoil in anger at this scary new
prospect that is borne out of the 20th
and the 25
century but we know looking back now we
know that technology has shaped the way
that we work the way that we live I
think the clothing industry offers an
excellent example back in the 1800s when
the sewing machine was first introduced
workers were up in arms they were
panicking they took it upon themselves
to smash sewing machines in a bid to
protect their jobs many of them were
arrested some of them were even executed
but now we know that their efforts have
been futile totally useless because
machines that make clothes fabrics
garments these machines have stayed and
we as a species of humans we have
benefited tremendously from this
technology and so it is not selfish for
somebody to be innovative somebody to
make things but rather is this selfish
to insist the innovation be stopped
because of your insecurities
other times we were frustrated
frustrated about the prospect of killer
technology people like Elon Musk Stephen
Hawking they have famously expressed a
concerns about killer AI the singularity
that could potentially bring about a
doomsday scenario that would end all
humanity and this seems like a good
reason to stop our technological
progress right here and now but the key
thing we have to ask is it even possible
to stop innovating if all of us here we
stopped our attempts at innovating is
that a guarantee that somebody out there
is going to do the same certainly not
and so for us to address this problem we
have to maintain a smart society a
society was ethical engineers scientists
both policymakers and lawmakers that are
well versed in technology and its
potential so that we can develop
regulations and rules to guide the
growth of technology to ensure that
science is not misused and if a doomsday
scenario should occur it would be
technology comes to our help
to our rescue in a form of new drugs and
four new robots that rescue us from
disaster zones to help to clean up
nuclear fallout and so the next time you
are frustrated about technology and you
feel tempted to say something derisive
about that technology think think about
that maker who is behind the scenes
working working very hard to make our
lives for the better it has changed our
past for the better I think and if we
continue to let it grow in the correct
path it will help us to change our
future for the better as well if you’re
a maker someone comes to you and say
something bad about your efforts please
don’t be discouraged know that their
remark is more about a lack of
understanding about fear than it is
about you and the thing that you have
made makers today also face the problem
of lack of space just as I did when I
was a child so this appeared this post
appeared on my Facebook feed
a few days ago now I think it does a
very good job of illustrating how badly
makers one space to develop our craft to
build the things that we want to build
but living in Singapore I know the lack
of space all too well most of us we live
in HDB flats we don’t have garages we
don’t have shares for us to build things
at home with and so
makerspaces have to be public so far we
have had spaces public spaces like
libraries for us to flex our
intellectual muscles public spaces like
gyms to flex our actual muscles but we
haven’t had any space as up until
recently for us to flex our creatives
and our making muscles and that’s why I
think we are very largely a buy and
throw away nation it’s difficult for us
to make things even if we wanted to so
this is where I would like to ask for
your help
I want all of you to be makers I think
I’ve been fighting this fight for such a
long time it’s time to call for backup
and I know there are many people out
there
you exactly the same way I do I want to
see more public maker spaces spaces
where you can find tools and equipment
that you need spaces where you can find
guidance and resources spaces that are
not just open to people in the industry
but also to young people because it is
young people who like resources for
making spaces that help makers make but
also help to make future makers and
being a maker is not all doom and gloom
it is a struggle but there are some
perks by being a maker you don’t just
learn about the physical world you
experience it you experience the
properties of the materials in a way
that no textbook is going to allow you
to completely feel the material and you
develop an understanding for human
behavior as you watch them react to your
creativity to your ideas to the thing
that you have made and you learn a
separate language somehow a language
that is unique amongst makers because
when one makers see something that’s
been made by another our thoughts
immediately go how is this made what
materials are were applied what
techniques were used and so we can see
the finished product as the
communication as a message from one
maker to another so now the next time
you’re looking for a new hobby the next
time you chance upon some material like
a block of wood think about making
something with it start with something
simple like a pendant some jewellery a
pencil holder and then you build up your
confidence slowly before long you’re
finding not so difficult to replace that
cracked screen on your iPhone so embrace
that do-it-yourself spirit who knows one
day you could go for making something
simple like this so something that a lot
of people will truly enjoy what do you
say Edgar I do wish there are more
makers really why do you say that then
perhaps someone can make me a few more
friends
I don’t like that because I’m your best
friend just you then you better stop
talking and start making me a pair of
legs he’s really sarcastic by I think
he’s got a very good point thank you
very much
[Applause]
a series of humanoid robots so on a
screen you’ll see at the one at the one
is an avatar he is a robotic avatar and
joining me on stage today is Edgar – can
you say something to us hello there
my name is Edgar and it is good to be
here
Thank You Edgar very nicely done so
thank you now this good friend of mine
he is a semi autonomous social robot
right and we’ll come back to him later
on in the talk now I’m here today to
talk to you about being a maker being a
maker of things to get you to embrace
the maker movement to adopt the culture
of making or creating things with your
hands so you can do this in a number of
ways you can maybe knit a sweater make
furniture but computer code make food or
even create fashion all these things and
I’m gonna explain why being a maker
helped us to develop a better
understanding of the physical world and
it helps us also to prepare us mentally
for technological disruption so one of
the things I’m very often asked about
Edgar is how long did it take for me to
build the robot and I’m always somewhat
stumped by this question because it is
difficult for me to select a point in
time where I think the process began
definitively and so my standard response
is well maybe 18 months two years for me
to build a number of these robots but in
truth I like to think that the process
began much earlier for my childhood for
my childhood experiences in trying to
address a various of your lag in toys
and so this is the first thing that I
recall making this to an adult is a pen
that’s been clipped instantly onto a
ruler but to a shrew child this was an
aeroplane this was the pinnacle of
aviation technology
so to me and to countless other children
around the world
this meant hours of fun and enjoyment
what we were supposed to be doing our
homework and so if you think about it
all of us will make us from the
beginning and then I went on to make
other things I was particularly very
inspired by movies and Star Wars of
course
and so I recall one Saturday afternoon I
was watching Star Wars when I was about
eight or nine and I saw the scene of the
Death Star destroying the planet
Alderaan and I was hooked I was
transfixed by this to be honest I didn’t
care very much about Princess Leia
because let’s face it I wasn’t a
teenager at that point in time and so I
was very focused on building myself the
Death Star complete with that laser
system and so I hatched a plan a plan
that only a small kid could come up with
a plan that I’m still very proud of to
this day this is what I did I went into
the fridge and I drank all of the yokota
that was in the fridge that day much to
my mother’s displeasure so I could amass
a small collection of empty bottles I
lined the bottles up in this way and I
put a lie pout in each one of them
hoping for that to happen god of course
I failed
absolutely miserably Hey and you would
think that I should be discouraged but
in fact I wasn’t I was invigorated by my
attempt and tried to make something and
and so I kept on trying to make new
things and finally about a couple of
years later I was able to achieve some
success
I made the Ghostbusters ghost trap out
of an empty tissue box and I had so much
fun making it and playing with it now
after all these years looking back I
think I had more fun trying to make
those things then I feel I would if
somebody had actually bought those toys
for me so my lack of toys wasn’t such a
bad thing after all I also recall it
being very difficult for a child to try
and
things right for a young person to try
to be a maker it meant having to face a
number of rather daunting obstacles for
example moral support that was very
difficult to come by my parents I’m not
saying that they were bad parents but
they were like other parents they were
very deeply focused on getting me to do
well in school which of course I didn’t
much do their disappointment activities
like making things with your hands
sometimes they were frowned upon
sometimes they were very strongly
discouraged because manual labor has
traditionally been associated with being
poor and I think that’s a pity because
even though your child may not be doing
very well in school in the traditional
subjects he or she may be very talented
in artistry in creating things in
designing things or even advancing or at
sports but because we are so obsessed
with taking the narrow paths of academic
excellence that we forsake everything
else we robbed a child we robbed that
poor kid of his or her gift we deny the
whole society of the talent that is
within that child and that to me is
profoundly sad and rather unfair that
was another problem I faced and that was
a lack of materials and tools as a kid I
didn’t have any money and even if I did
I didn’t know where I could go to
purchase for instance electrical wire to
make a circuit and so what I did was
that I was stockpile on things that I
thought would be useful for making
things like cardboard
bubble wrap empty plastic containers and
as you saw you know empty Apple bottles
I did this much to the annoyance of my
family but if you’re a maker you will
know this behavior to be truly natural
and totally forgivable and so that’s why
I think one of the quotes from history
that truly resonated with me is this one
from Edison
so Edison said that to event you need a
good imagination and a power chunk so I
thought bingo
I’m there I had some imagination I had
some junk all right but what Edison
didn’t tell me and what I didn’t know
was that you also need space room to to
store the power chunk and to work with
it and so that was another challenge
that I had to face you may think right
now that now would be a good time for me
to share with you how I’ve overcome
those challenges and you know created
something like Edgar well I have to
admit it is easier being an adult but I
think makers today here still find it
difficult to make things let me tell you
why first of all moral support still to
this day sometimes difficult to come by
is strange isn’t it because sometimes a
maker can persevere he or she makes
something truly revolutionary truly
groundbreaking when that happens some
people react positively rude with a lot
of encouragement and we like people like
that but there is a very vocal portion
of the population that are very anxious
very fearful and they react in anger
it’s not difficult to see this sentiment
all you have to do is to go to the
comment section on news reporting the
implementation of some new technology
and you will be greeted
you’ll be deluged with a plethora of
negative comments like these I used to
think that such comments are very
hurtful and indeed they are especially
to to younger makers but after reading a
few hundred of 10 you don’t find them so
hurtful anymore all right in fact I find
them amusing but having met so many of
them I’ve come to see the validity in
what they’re trying to say for example
people are naturally angry they’re angry
about the possibility of losing their
jobs to technology so they wonder how
somebody can be so selfish as to create
technology that would potentially
denying countless people of their jobs
they recoil in anger at this scary new
prospect that is borne out of the 20th
and the 25
century but we know looking back now we
know that technology has shaped the way
that we work the way that we live I
think the clothing industry offers an
excellent example back in the 1800s when
the sewing machine was first introduced
workers were up in arms they were
panicking they took it upon themselves
to smash sewing machines in a bid to
protect their jobs many of them were
arrested some of them were even executed
but now we know that their efforts have
been futile totally useless because
machines that make clothes fabrics
garments these machines have stayed and
we as a species of humans we have
benefited tremendously from this
technology and so it is not selfish for
somebody to be innovative somebody to
make things but rather is this selfish
to insist the innovation be stopped
because of your insecurities
other times we were frustrated
frustrated about the prospect of killer
technology people like Elon Musk Stephen
Hawking they have famously expressed a
concerns about killer AI the singularity
that could potentially bring about a
doomsday scenario that would end all
humanity and this seems like a good
reason to stop our technological
progress right here and now but the key
thing we have to ask is it even possible
to stop innovating if all of us here we
stopped our attempts at innovating is
that a guarantee that somebody out there
is going to do the same certainly not
and so for us to address this problem we
have to maintain a smart society a
society was ethical engineers scientists
both policymakers and lawmakers that are
well versed in technology and its
potential so that we can develop
regulations and rules to guide the
growth of technology to ensure that
science is not misused and if a doomsday
scenario should occur it would be
technology comes to our help
to our rescue in a form of new drugs and
four new robots that rescue us from
disaster zones to help to clean up
nuclear fallout and so the next time you
are frustrated about technology and you
feel tempted to say something derisive
about that technology think think about
that maker who is behind the scenes
working working very hard to make our
lives for the better it has changed our
past for the better I think and if we
continue to let it grow in the correct
path it will help us to change our
future for the better as well if you’re
a maker someone comes to you and say
something bad about your efforts please
don’t be discouraged know that their
remark is more about a lack of
understanding about fear than it is
about you and the thing that you have
made makers today also face the problem
of lack of space just as I did when I
was a child so this appeared this post
appeared on my Facebook feed
a few days ago now I think it does a
very good job of illustrating how badly
makers one space to develop our craft to
build the things that we want to build
but living in Singapore I know the lack
of space all too well most of us we live
in HDB flats we don’t have garages we
don’t have shares for us to build things
at home with and so
makerspaces have to be public so far we
have had spaces public spaces like
libraries for us to flex our
intellectual muscles public spaces like
gyms to flex our actual muscles but we
haven’t had any space as up until
recently for us to flex our creatives
and our making muscles and that’s why I
think we are very largely a buy and
throw away nation it’s difficult for us
to make things even if we wanted to so
this is where I would like to ask for
your help
I want all of you to be makers I think
I’ve been fighting this fight for such a
long time it’s time to call for backup
and I know there are many people out
there
you exactly the same way I do I want to
see more public maker spaces spaces
where you can find tools and equipment
that you need spaces where you can find
guidance and resources spaces that are
not just open to people in the industry
but also to young people because it is
young people who like resources for
making spaces that help makers make but
also help to make future makers and
being a maker is not all doom and gloom
it is a struggle but there are some
perks by being a maker you don’t just
learn about the physical world you
experience it you experience the
properties of the materials in a way
that no textbook is going to allow you
to completely feel the material and you
develop an understanding for human
behavior as you watch them react to your
creativity to your ideas to the thing
that you have made and you learn a
separate language somehow a language
that is unique amongst makers because
when one makers see something that’s
been made by another our thoughts
immediately go how is this made what
materials are were applied what
techniques were used and so we can see
the finished product as the
communication as a message from one
maker to another so now the next time
you’re looking for a new hobby the next
time you chance upon some material like
a block of wood think about making
something with it start with something
simple like a pendant some jewellery a
pencil holder and then you build up your
confidence slowly before long you’re
finding not so difficult to replace that
cracked screen on your iPhone so embrace
that do-it-yourself spirit who knows one
day you could go for making something
simple like this so something that a lot
of people will truly enjoy what do you
say Edgar I do wish there are more
makers really why do you say that then
perhaps someone can make me a few more
friends
I don’t like that because I’m your best
friend just you then you better stop
talking and start making me a pair of
legs he’s really sarcastic by I think
he’s got a very good point thank you
very much
[Applause]
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