On Fablabs, Makers and Open Design

Sabina Barcucci @sabina cuccibar sabina.barcucci@muse.it

On FabLabs, Makers and Open Design A lecture within the ICT Law Course, Trento Faculty of Law 21 April 2015

http://fablab.muse.it

1) What is a fab lab?

Fab labs are a global network of local labs, enabling invention by providing access to tools for digital fabrication 2) What’s in a fab lab?

Fab labs share an evolving inventory of core capabilities to make (almost) anything, allowing people and projects to be shared 3) What does the fab lab network provide?

Operational, educational, technical, financial, and logistical assistance beyond what’s available within one lab 4) Who can use a fab lab?

Fab labs are available as a community resource, offering open access for individuals as well as scheduled access for programs

5) What are your responsibilities? safety: not hurting people or machines operations: assisting with cleaning, maintaining, and improving the lab knowledge: contributing to documentation and instruction 6) Who owns fab lab inventions?

Designs and processes developed in fab labs can be protected and sold however an inventor chooses, but should remain available for individuals to use and learn from 7) How can businesses use a fab lab?

Commercial activities can be prototyped and incubated in a fab lab, but they must not conflict with other uses, they should grow beyond rather than within the lab, and they are expected to benefit the inventors, labs, and networks that contribute to their success

The Fab Charter

http://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/charter/

What in a fablab?

What makes a maker?

The RepRap project

The RepRap family tree

An alternative way of thinking about value distribution and creation

Assembled Ultimaker > 1500 $

Ultimaker assembly kit > about 800 $

Ultimaker’s free blueprints on GitHub

On the viability of the OpenSource Development model for the design of physical objects http://thesis.erikdebruijn.nl/master/MScThesis-ErikDeBruijn-2010.pdf

From Open Source Software to Open Source Physical Objects

At the end of the last century Open Design was defined as design whose makers allowed its free distribution and documentations and permitted modification and derivations of it.

What is the Open Design definition?

An ever growing definition of Open Design on GitHub

Open Source and Open Hardware CNC milling machine

Open Source and Open Hardware laser cutter

FabLab House

FabLab House making-of

http://wiki.fablabbcn.org/Fab_Lab_House_Model

If you can’t open it, you don’t own it Open Hardware and Open Design

Arduino Microcontroller prototyping board

From an Arduino based prototyping environment ...

... passing through a DIY electronics board ...

... to an elecronics industrialized product

Low cost DIY wheelchair

Low cost prostethics

Rootless / DIY and Open Source donwloadable design

Open Mirror / Connected and Interactive home product

PRIMO.io / Interactive edutainment for kids

PRIMO.io / Arduino compatible. Why?

Documentation License Design to fabrication

Open Design project main features

1) A community-based necessity to provide and implement low cost and effective design-commons to people 2) A project-based strategy for designers and inventors to implement new technologies (A strategy deployed even by Facebook and Tesla Motors!)

Open Design in two points

thanks a lot for your attention

Sabina Barcucci @sabina cuccibar sabina.barcucci@muse.it