Fablab Ncc

[Do Kieu]

SCOPES-DF brings together a community of practice activating digital fabrication tools to support authentic student learning across all subject areas. With 1,000 members, this website hosts over 250 community-contributed lesson plans to engage students in learning with Fab tools. Lessons are standards-aligned and incorporate the Fab I Can Statements for student learning assessment. Join the SCOPES-DF community mailing list to stay informed of virtual webinars, workshops, and meetups with this amazing group of educators.

Since 2016, Chevron and the Fab Foundation have partnered to recognize educators that are creating STEM learning opportunities through digital fabrication. To date, we have awarded over $40,000 to formal and informal educators all around the world. Last year was a particularly challenging time for educators and their students. Due to the pandemic, over 95% of school-age children were unable to learn in their classrooms with teachers. In spite of these difficulties, many teachers are innovating and finding a way to get quality learning experiences to their students, and we wanted to acknowledge them with the Teacher Innovator Award! Fab Foundation and our partners at Chevron awarded innovative teachers with $1,000 to continue their work during this pandemis.

The National Fab Lab Network Act of 2019 has been introduced to the US Senate and is in process of introduction in the House of Representatives, Bill S.2752 mandates a Fab Lab for every congressional district, empowering individuals and communities through digital fabrication tools that promote education, science, technology, engineering and math skills, increase invention and innovation, create businesses and jobs, and fulfill personal, professional, and community needs. *Alaska and Hawaii not shown due to sizing constraints but also have fab labs. This map shows a rough estimate of fab labs that already exist in the US, taken from fablabs.io. There are more maker spaces throughout the US that do not appear on this map.

A fab lab is typically equipped with an array of flexible computer-controlled tools that cover several different length scales and various materials, with the aim to make "almost anything".[3] This includes technology-enabled products generally perceived as limited to mass production.

While fab labs have yet to compete with mass production and its associated economies of scale in fabricating widely distributed products, they have already shown the potential to empower individuals to create smart devices for themselves. These devices can be tailored to local or personal needs in ways that are not practical or economical using mass production.

The fab lab program was initiated to broadly explore how the content of information relates to its physical representation and how an under-served community can be powered by technology at the grassroots level.[4] The program began as a collaboration between the Grassroots Invention Group and the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Media Lab in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a grant from the National Science Foundation (Washington, D.C.) in 2001.[5]

While the Grassroots Invention Group is no longer in the Media Lab, The Center for Bits and Atoms consortium is still actively involved in continuing research in areas related to description and fabrication but does not operate or maintain any of the labs worldwide (with the excmobile fab lab).The fab lab concept also grew out of a popular class at MIT (MAS.863) named "How To Make (Almost) Anything". The class is still offered in the fall semesters.

One of the larger projects undertaken by fab labs include free community FabFi wireless networks (in Afghanistan, Kenya and US). The first city-scale FabFi network, set up in Afghanistan, has remained in place and active for three years under community supervision and with no special maintenance. The network in Kenya, (Based in the University of Nairobi (UoN)) building on that experience, started to experiment with controlling service quality and providing added services for a fee to make the network cost-neutral.

Fab Academy leverages the Fab Lab network to teach hands-on, digital fabrication skills.[6] Students convene at Fab Lab "Supernodes" for the 19 week course to earn a diploma and build a portfolio. In some cases, the diploma is accredited or offers academic credit.[7] The curriculum is based on MIT's rapid prototyping course MAS 863: How to Make (Almost) Anything.[8] The course is estimated to cost US$5000, but varies with location and available scholarship opportunities. All course materials are publicly archived online here.

Fab City has been set up to explore innovative ways of creating the city of the future. It focuses on transforming and shaping the way how materials are sourced and used. This transformation should lead to a shift in the urban model from 'PITO to DIDO' that is, 'product-in, trash-out' to, data-in, data-out'.[9] This can eventually transform cities into self-sufficient entities in 2054; in line with the pledge that Barcelona has made.[10]The Fab City links to the fab lab movement, because they make use of the same human capital. The Fab cities make use of the innovative spirit of the users of the fab labs.[11]

The Green Fab Lab Network, which started in Catalonia's Green Fablab,[12] is made up of fablabs that embrace the concepts of an open source symbiotic economy and the circular economy through green entrepreneurship.[13] For example, they promote distributed recycling, where locals recycled their plastic waste turning locally sourced shredded plastic into items of value with fused particle fabrication/ fused granular fabrication (FPF/FGF) 3D printing, which not only is a good economic but also a good environmental option.[14][15]

Listing of all official Fab Labs is maintained by the community through website fablabs.io. As of November 2019, there existed 1830 Fab Labs in the world in total.[16] Currently there are Fab Labs on every continent except Antarctica.

The Fabrication Lab, or FabLab, is a center for empowering people with tools for making, prototyping, and construction at a range of scales, materials, and techniques. As the staff and students of the FabLab Team, we are dedicated to a creative and inclusive environment through access, training, consultation, and support on a range of analog and digital fabrication tools for UVA students, staff, and faculty. We engage projects and research from all the departments of the School of Architecture, connect to shop and lab partners all over Grounds through the MakerGrounds network, and develop research discovering new materials, tools, and fabrication processes related to the built environment.

Our main FabLab within Campbell Hall was renovated in the summer of 2019 by Pancorbo Arquitectos in which we expanded to over 7500 sq ft of project and shop space housing a number of tools for analog and digital fabrication. This renovation greatly increased our capacity to build full scale prototypes, to push experimental fabrication research, and to expand our fleet of tools. From drop-in spots for model making to academic spaces for fabrication based studios and seminars housed within the Lab each semester, we always have a number of exciting projects happening.

Our spaces and tools are available to UVA students, staff, and faculty through training. Many of our programs within the A School embed these trainings into studios and seminars, and others are through our FabLab Short Courses which we offer each semester. Specialized equipment like our CNC routers, metal 3D printer, clay 3D printer, object and site scanners, CNC embroidery machine, and fleet of Kuka robots are available through consults and Short Courses.

If you would like to gain access in the Lab, want to talk about a project and how to get started, discuss an accommodation for access, or other fabrication related questions, please contact fab...@virginia.edu.

The Open Lab provides 24/7 access to working space for assembly and small gatherings as well as access to our Universal laser cutters, many of our 3D printing fleet (Stratasys FDM and Formlabs SLA printers) and their post-processing equipment, electronics and soldering equipment, Bernina sewing and embroidery machines, a Formech vacuformer, a Wazer water jet, and a tool wall of hand tools. This allows users to make models and test small prototypes and projects on as flexible of a schedule as one can get.

We know that making takes many forms, gets messy, spreads out, and needs to be flexible. Within the FabLab, we have three teaching spaces called the FabLab Studios for classes, projects, and research that are focused on materials and fabrication. Faculty and teaching staff can apply for FabLab Studio space for each semester including the summer. Outfitted with rolling worktables and adjacent to dedicated storage spaces, the Studios can morph throughout the semester as the work needs.

Just outside of the FabLab Studios is a larger, flexible space called the Garage. The Garage is set up with tools for the FabLab Studios, FabLab short courses, and other research work that can expand in size and scope as prototypes get built. It is the home of our fleet of Kuka industrial robotic arms with a 6-10kg payload for teaching and research, a Potterbot clay 3D printer, a Desktop Metal 3D Printer for steel, and other process specific tools.

If you are interested in starting projects at Milton or going for a visit, contact fab...@virginia.edu and the Milton Operations Team at miltona...@virginia.edu for more information about access and support.

Fablabs are a global network of local labs, enabling invention by providing access for individuals to tools for digital fabrication. A fablab is a platform for learningand innovation: a place to play, to create, to learn, to mentor, to invent. OurFablab is a member of a global community of learners, educators,technologists, researchers, makers and innovators. Because all fablabs sharecommon tools and processes, the program is building a global network,a distributed laboratory for research and invention.

c80f0f1006