Sep 8, 20222 min read

48 Hour Competition Starts At Fishers Maker Playground in Indianapolis This Weekend

Updated: Sep 10, 2022

Tomorrow the Make48 competition starts at Fishers Maker Playground with teams competing from the Indianapolis area.

Make48 is returning to the Greater Indianapolis area after launching the first city event challenge at Machyne Makerspace. This year the 48-hour competition event will be held in Fishers, Indiana (a suburb of Indianapolis) from September 9-11, 2022. Corteva Agricscience, a leading, global pure-play agriculture company headquartered in Indianapolis, is sponsoring the Hoosier event. The United Way of Central Indiana is calling the challenge theme, “Food Preservation: Food at the Right Place at the Right Time.”

Companies including PNC, AT&T and Creative Works are also sponsoring the Indianapolis-Make48 event. The winning team from Fishers will represent their hometown and move on to compete in the National TV Series competition in the spring of 2023, where it will be filmed for Make48’s sixth season on PBS.

As always, teams will have access to our expert technicians, mentors and the 15,000-foot, state-of-the-art, public makerspace inside the Hub and Spoke building. This year teams will rely on not only Make48 techs, but makers from the previous Indianapolis competition.

Fisher makerspace staff members Cassy and Daniel represented The Maker Playground at the 2021 Indianapolis event. Cassy is the resident CNC guru and Daniel is at IUPUI working towards a degree in motorsports engineering. Maker Playground members and staff Nick, Justin and Ginny will also be on-hand to help the teams and tool techs build the prototypes.

Two members from The Mallory’s, a group of educators from PPHS, are returning. Gregg and Andrew will help out as tool techs along with Miles, who competed with his team Thegrindery.org at last year’s event.

The Mallory's: Gregg, Amanda, Andy and Drew (l to r) | TheGrindery.org: Dr. Ivan and Samuel (front row) Miles and Anya

Mentors will be coming from Corteva and the United Way of Central Indiana. They will help the teams with the criteria they are given at the start of the challenge. Mentors will guide them to a winning product if the teams utilize their expertise. Their tips will touch on a number of issues such as manufacturing costs, marketing and help the teams discover new avenues on their way to building their prototypes.

Make48 will also have a few Tool Techs who you’ve seen from previous events. Tyler Isaacs (Wooden Whiskers Trading Company) will be with the crew, and will also do double-duty of emceeing the event. Scott Oram (Dad It Yourself DIY) is also coming out to his second event of the summer! Teams will benefit from expert advice and his positive energy. Brad Allred (Project Build Stuff) volunteered last year in Indianapolis and we’re delighted he’s returning. Brad grew up with maker blood in his veins long before he even knew what a maker was. Brad will be cranking out in the shop working with the teams on a variety of fabrication technologies including CNC, 3D printing and woodworking.