tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.comments2022-12-02T10:02:36.840-08:00HumblefactureDominic Murenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-76126853976532497042011-07-15T17:25:20.381-07:002011-07-15T17:25:20.381-07:00This is awesome stuff, I ve spent an hour an half ...This is awesome stuff, I ve spent an hour an half watching your videos. How do you colaborate, FAcebook mailing list, wiki?Mrkihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11124569732060663636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-70854391555047041522010-11-29T03:21:22.316-08:002010-11-29T03:21:22.316-08:00I'm dying to see the original Koi fish! I thin...I'm dying to see the original Koi fish! I think the link is broken tho.<br /><br />That's an interesting angle on open development. I'm intrigued by how these layers of complexity interface in origami - does adding three toes to a frog's foot mean additional folds way back at the start, or is it a case of sliding on a three toed 'sock' onto the simplified foot?!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07899791233099847209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-57762636137500824292010-10-27T15:26:01.598-07:002010-10-27T15:26:01.598-07:00I'd love to see the rich collaboration you get...I'd love to see the rich collaboration you get on Open Source software transferred into the design process for physical products.<br /><br />I'm currently running a open design experiment for a sustainable consumer product at http://tacticalendar.co.uk. <br /><br />It's a laser-cut plywood perpetual-horizon erasable calendar.<br /><br />Hand-finished Tacticalendars are available for mail order, whilst the laser-cutter files are published under the creative commons for people to experiment making their own derived works. There's an instructable available if you're not sure how to fabricate.<br /><br />Consistent with the open source model, there's even a github issue tracker! This means feature suggestions and bugs can be recorded, triaged and incorporated into the design as it is iterated. <br /><br />The product is developed first through beta versions and release candidates. Finally stable versions appear after much user testing. <br /><br />Betas and release candidates are for sale at cost price for people who want to save money and work with us to perfect the ideas.<br /><br />The v0.1 design was canned early - the first physical prototype immediately suggested a better approach. We're now at v0.2 release candidate 3, and there's only one non-functional modification before v0.2 is declared stable and serious shipping will begin. Version 0.3 beta will follow, incorporating fiduciary markers to synchronize the calendar with Google from a camera phone. <br /><br />Tacticalendar is the first project to be taken to market from the pool of ideas published as part of the public domain invention-a-week project at http://enigmaker.org . I'm hoping someone else will beat me to market with the second :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-20986901725260784002010-09-24T02:17:45.221-07:002010-09-24T02:17:45.221-07:00A short route towards this is pick-and-place machi...A short route towards this is pick-and-place machines that desolders, identifies and tests components and put them into an assortment for later reuse or apply them to a new circuit.<br />Since we're making good progress having 2D and 3D fabbers for the skeleton/body, we need the PnP machines for the guts/brain too.<br />While it's not an easy task to develop such a machine, it definitely can be done and is a typical project where users can collaborate to develop and refine the technology and techniques.Erik de Bruijnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09433438819279256757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-14983052326358977942010-09-23T23:11:17.594-07:002010-09-23T23:11:17.594-07:00How will these novel configurations be tested for ...How will these novel configurations be tested for safety? A distributed ULbot?<br /><br />Then there's the possibility of weapons manufacturing, I wonder if the BATF has considered the implications of high precision 3d plastic printers...tell leo oncehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07342092531327478618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-4081294294869906962010-09-01T06:28:47.255-07:002010-09-01T06:28:47.255-07:00Awesome Post Dom!
Making modular electronics mai...Awesome Post Dom! <br /><br />Making modular electronics mainstream is a fascinating concept. I can imagine buying my next watch, phone, or camera on ETSY, because that is where the leading edge designers sell their creations - I could even start to consider getting 'custom' electronics built for me, or If I was brave- try my own hand at it. Sweet.<br /><br />To help make this happen faster, I would imagine a 'student design challenge' that uses the SSG framework might create a flood of designs and help kindle the concept. Let's chat about how I can help make that a reality.Tim McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07957002164813581408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-23996759127753182572010-08-24T14:10:38.764-07:002010-08-24T14:10:38.764-07:00Monda-
Good point - An SSG product will almost ne...Monda-<br /><br />Good point - An SSG product will almost necessarily (at least for the foreseeable future) be bulkier than a comparable monolithic product. <br /><br />However, there seems to be a lower bound to the usefulness of compactness - consider the similarity in size of the MotoRazr phone and iPhone, even thought one is much more powerful. I submit that given enough time to develop compact connectors and to optimize the standards / modules which might contribute to such an ecosystem, SSG devices could be comparably compact to monolithic devices, though they might have to sacrifice power for thermal optimization reasons.<br /><br />In the case of these slightly underpowered SSG devices, I suspect that they would make up for their deficit by having more specifically tailored functionality. By focusing on a few functions at a time, rather than all possible functions, as an iPhone does, such devices might be just as functional, despite their lower power.<br /><br />In any case, it is a valid concern. I would welcome any suggestions you might have for addressing, or overcoming this shortfall.Dominic Murenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-1316657608079250372010-08-22T04:12:08.727-07:002010-08-22T04:12:08.727-07:00I was also thinking about desiging modular electro...I was also thinking about desiging modular electronics to minimize waste and costs long-term but I've got a concern: This philosophy is in contrast with compactness which is a strong requirement nowadays. How are we supposed to solve this problem?Monda Lászlóhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17321659808190267116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-30122788922840585232010-08-18T18:35:57.048-07:002010-08-18T18:35:57.048-07:00Big Congratulations,
I am Looking forward to seei...Big Congratulations,<br /><br />I am Looking forward to seeing your presentationdr.scotthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00941045639017510310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-69084525542182263312010-08-18T08:09:51.432-07:002010-08-18T08:09:51.432-07:00I'm an RPCV and former environmental regulator...I'm an RPCV and former environmental regulator who started a business, retroworks.com, which is basically about "fair trade recycling". I noticed you were making the same points I've been making about the retained value = added value as compared to shredding and grinding up western goods. I wanted to invite you to guest post, or read http://retroworks.blogspot.com/ You may be interested to know that the free market of "informal recyclers" naturally uses retained value components, and that some have become so good at it that they represent a threat to OEMs. See Harvard Business Review article, "Battle for China's Good Enough Market". What i am trying to do is protect the reuse markets already up and running, which are being gunned down and clubbed.Robinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17669077665223573133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-50699346926349412062010-08-18T05:16:35.637-07:002010-08-18T05:16:35.637-07:00Excellent post Dom! TED was lucky to have you the...Excellent post Dom! TED was lucky to have you there - see you at the Open Hardware Summit in NYC!dustynrobotshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14623495227943855598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-66290157490275366332010-06-30T09:36:00.329-07:002010-06-30T09:36:00.329-07:00This is fantastic, Dominic! Congratulations! It&...This is fantastic, Dominic! Congratulations! It's wonderful that your amazing ideas are getting a BIG stage.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12826668622326764058noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-62209699492015304352010-06-21T05:41:08.303-07:002010-06-21T05:41:08.303-07:00Congratulations Dominic!
I back you 100% on your ...Congratulations Dominic!<br /><br />I back you 100% on your mission for "real, modular, open electronics development," good luck!gohnjanotishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14661818511853247966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-58773504572682861982010-06-17T16:15:32.529-07:002010-06-17T16:15:32.529-07:00Nice one Dominic!
Will be great to see some higher...Nice one Dominic!<br />Will be great to see some higher profile discussion on open designAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07899791233099847209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-10277478766483089672010-04-06T13:10:12.622-07:002010-04-06T13:10:12.622-07:00I think Alibre Design deserves a mention in the &q...I think Alibre Design deserves a mention in the "3D Solid: Proprietary" category. They have a free version, Alibre Design Xpress, and the next level up (Alibre Design Standard) is only $197. And unlike some other free or student editions, it can be used commercially. It's also thousands of dollars cheaper than the ones you have already listed but still very capable. Additionally, they have donated some licenses to at least one open source project I know of: The Open Prosthetics Project (www.openprosthetics.org). I think their company philosophy is in line with your work - their goal is to provide "full parametric CAD technology to anyone that needs it, versus only to those in the relatively unique financial position to afford traditional CAD systems."dustynrobotshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14623495227943855598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-6989926358953456412010-03-10T00:06:49.879-08:002010-03-10T00:06:49.879-08:00Cool! Great post! I met friends of yours recently!...Cool! Great post! I met friends of yours recently! Small world!:)bre pettishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11993093443243157472noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-62625159071452206672010-03-01T12:12:08.685-08:002010-03-01T12:12:08.685-08:00Hi, really liked the article, my modest contributi...Hi, really liked the article, my modest contribution to spreading Adrian Bowyers vision of decentralized manufacture assumes that I am not smart enough to redesign manufacturing entirely, so instead I want to modularize what we already do. Please take a look at http://www.cubespawn.com , Your feedback appreciated to data dot pathway at gmail, thanx!SocialCritichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15305579721646445258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-4837092125940149632010-02-18T00:27:09.636-08:002010-02-18T00:27:09.636-08:00Just wanted to thank you for your part of the fab ...Just wanted to thank you for your part of the fab talks. I'm so geeked about all of this stuff. I'm currently working on 3d models for a car mount for my 1956 Chevy Bel Air, as well as an iPhone case that will snap onto the mount and then be rotatable. Once I get a working version in plastic, my intended goal is to be able to get some of these milled out of aluminum to sell.<br /><br />My 3d program of choice has been Form•Z, which works very well for architecture, as it allows text entry and it allows easily changing the snaps so that I can do 1' accuracy when in a wide view, and then switch down to 1/16" in a zoomed view. Makes it so that I can very quickly model the massing for an object or building facade as well as the more detailed parts of the model.<br /><br />I don't have the new version yet, but they've added the ability to export files directly for 3d printing. Another cool feature that it's had for a long time is the ability to print out foldable objects, including tabs for the purposes of gluing! Here's an example of the foldable output you can get, although this was modified a bit to make it work a bit better: http://www.flickr.com/photos/v8media/2433412160/<br /><br />Here's a link to the video from the dorkbot meeting. You are videos 2 & 3. http://vimeo.com/channels/dorkbotseav8mediahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14080907082756960447noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-35568279078578760692010-02-15T13:07:19.163-08:002010-02-15T13:07:19.163-08:00Hi Dominic,
I like you slides. They cover a lot o...Hi Dominic,<br /><br />I like you slides. They cover a lot of ground and there are many good examples. I think RepTab (Open Source plasma-torch developed at Factor @ Farm) could still be added.<br /><br />I haven't heard your talk but it would be very interesting to discuss what the effects are of users developing solutions for themselves and sharing the development workload (in communities) allowing more elaborate and complex challenges to be solved by heterogeneous groups of people with the correct understanding of the problem domain and use context.<br /><br />Contrast this with a traditional model of product development for a market, where common denominator choices are made to suit the scaling charateristics of mass production, moreover the choices are made based on imperfect and limited information. This is a threshold that is often too high for the more radical innovations.<br /><br />Increasingly, with and emerging open commons and improving means of communications, it becomes cheaper and can be more efficient for people to develop their own solutions or do this in communities. This mode of production becomes viable for more and more products and is becoming more significant over time. The way our products look like can change over time. And of course hybrid modes (which can be especially successful) will emerge.<br /><br />I hope this was remotely comprehensible?! ;)Erik de Bruijnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09433438819279256757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-39895139049381546052009-10-27T15:25:27.597-07:002009-10-27T15:25:27.597-07:00"I say let agriculture or whatever process be..."I say let agriculture or whatever process be automated, as long as there is some educated moral person in the feedback loop."<br /><br />There is a two-fold problem in this; first, educated moral people are in short supply; and second, this is the scheme that has brought us to where we are today.<br /><br />When we don't have to think about where our goods come from, we give no thought to the true price of those goods. This is exactly what has led to massive over-consumption in the western world. Because everything is in such easy supply, we feel free to be careless in our usage of those things. The greater problem isn't that the people who run and manage industrial agriculture (or other processes) are not educated or moral, it is that the goals of our society center around money and profit. The focus of our economy is on growth, rather than meeting needs.Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11116028104962029038noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-68326685474246485092009-08-27T14:15:42.502-07:002009-08-27T14:15:42.502-07:00I found this fascinating.
I would take the line ...I found this fascinating. <br /><br />I would take the line that if a job can be automated in a sound way, why would any human want to do that job? I say let agriculture or whatever process be automated, as long as there is some educated moral person in the feedback loop. <br /><br />Give people more time to attend to things other than work.Samhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09179483339253691782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-52246045995277565652009-08-13T09:45:08.165-07:002009-08-13T09:45:08.165-07:00Great article - I'm loving Humblefacture.
I w...Great article - I'm loving Humblefacture.<br /><br />I want to delve the idea of extrusion in a bit more detail.<br /><br />As a biologist who practices biomimicry for a living I can't help but look to nature for 'patterns' that can be applied.<br /><br />In this case when you look at extruded materials in nature they are primarily lines (or threads).<br /><br />These threads are high performance composite materials that are extruded (silks, byssal threads) fairly quickly.<br /><br />Take for example a spider silk. It is extruded into a thread...yet it is the material properties of that thread where it gets a large majority of it's diversity and performance. The weaving of the spider silk into a web is dependent on the material properties of the thread itself.<br /><br />So, when I consider the maker-bot against natures extrusion I think increasing the diversity and performance of materials used is likely to have large benefits for the technology..<br /><br />If we can start to merge extrusion with self-assembling (self organizing) materials- it will open up tremendous growth for this technology. Once you can do that- then you can 'grow' complex objects like organic solar cells, or room temperature ceramics.Tim McGeehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07957002164813581408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-34605023542338395062009-07-20T13:43:44.362-07:002009-07-20T13:43:44.362-07:00In the Janet Maslin piece, I think she makes only ...In the Janet Maslin piece, I think she makes only a passing connection between the two books (neither of which, I must confess, I have actually read yet).<br /><br />She mentions the fact that both authors cite an experiment by the behavioral economist Dan Ariely and offer different versions of it. <br /><br />I did read Ariely's book ("Predictably Irrational") and I thought he did an excellent job of illuminating some very recognizable irrational behaviors that I know I have succumbed to more than once. <br /><br />in any event, as I recall, Ariely did many variations on the "free" chocolate experiment. Maslin seemed to have more issues with the scholarship and presentation in both "Cheap" and "Free" than with their basic theses.<br /><br />It seems to me that both topics are worthy of exposition and reflection.<br /><br />Curiously, yesterday's NY Times Book Review has a much more glowing review of "Cheap" by Laura Shapiro: <br /><br /><a rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/books/review/Shapiro-t.html</a>Andrew Davidsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10464320952187145297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-89357181076193241152009-07-15T22:12:18.576-07:002009-07-15T22:12:18.576-07:00It's interesting that so many people are makin...It's interesting that so many people are making the connection between "Cheap" and "Free" -- In reality, the similarity of the titles is very superficial. One of the books (Cheap) is discussing the cultural and social consequences of the economic metric by which we measure products. She may also suggest an alternative decision framework which could have different consequences. The other book (Free) looks at the next logical step for our current economy, particularly our economy of ideas. Anderson is hardly arguing that IKEA will ever be free, or use free as a large part of it's business.<br /><br />The two concepts can even co-exist. Indeed, Humblefacture advocates the freeing of the technical descriptions of products so that they can be built more locally, more carefully, and therefore, LESS cheaply, from an overall quality standpoint.Dominic Murenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18268620780873177982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5163661664232815564.post-51502538580676466192009-07-15T07:13:12.479-07:002009-07-15T07:13:12.479-07:00There is also a review in the NY Times of her book...There is also a review in the NY Times of her book by Janet Maslin: <br /><br />http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/books/06maslin.html<br /><br />She is not so enamored of it, and the review pairs it with Chris (WIRED) Anderson's "Free."Andrew Davidsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10464320952187145297noreply@blogger.com