Sunday opened with the “3D Printing” panel talk featuring Vik Olliver and Roger Uceda from RepRap, Joan Ravantós from Stalactite 3D, Harma Woldhuis from Ultimaker, Sénamé Koffi from Woelab, and William Hoyle (moderator) from Ethical Filament Foundation.
RepRap guys explained the origin and evolution of their project, as well as the revolutionary concept lying behind it; a free 3D desktop printer that can print replicas of itself. Showing a firm support to openness (“evolution needs open source” they said), and highlighting the importance of the community for the success of an open source project, their talk was one of the strongest points of the day. They also commented on RepRapBcn, a Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) project aimed to spread the use of RepRap technology in Europe. We spoke to Vik Olliver, core member of RepRap project. We will publish his interview soon.
Joan Ravantós from Barcelona-based start-up Stalactite 3D introduced us their 3D printer Stalactite 102, a high definition desktop resin printer with innovative technology and design looking pretty impressive. They just concluded a successful fundraising campaign on Indiegogo. Meanwhile, Harma Woldhuis from Dutch 3D printers fabricant Ultimaker told us the story of the company. Former participants of RepRap project, their founders launched this company in 2011, having had to go through a hard road to positionate it as one of the most successful open source companies within the Maker industry.
Finally, Sénamé Koffi from Woelab, a community of African makers and technology incubator center located in the small African nation of Togo, presented Wafate, the first 3D printer made of recycled electronic waste. By using these components, Woelab gives a solution to the problem of waste disposal while making 3D printing technology more affordable. This inspiring project deserved the first prize of Global Fab Awards this year.
After “3D Printing” talk, we attended the workshop of Smart Citizen, the worldwide project from Fab Lab Barcelona and IAAC, consisting in Arduino-based boards that collect, transmit and receive environmental data (air quality, noise level, light level, and so on) from their location. These pieces of hardware can either be purchased on-line or made at home. There is also an on-line platform where users can visualize and measure their data, as well as compare and share them with other users around the world. Providing to citizens with this simple and affordable tool for monitoring their environment, is meant by promoters as an engaging way to make citizens aware of their current environmental issues, and empower them to make smarter cities. This workshop, well conducted by Guillem Camprodon from IAAC, was an excellent opportunity to know more in depth the hardware and software behind this challenging project which is open to anyone, anywhere.
In the afternoon, the Global Fab Awards ceremony was held in the main auditorium. The first prize as best digital fabrication project went for Woelab’s Wafate 3D printer as explained above on this post. Second prize was for Japanese project AgIC , a silver-based circuit printing that allows to print circuit boards with your inkjet home printer. Third prize was for the Gladius 3D Printed Prosthetic, a self adjustable and multi-terrain prosthetic developed at Fab Lab San Diego. Furthermore, the winner of People’s Choice Award was Fabponics Puerto Rico with their P-1 project, an innovative home aquaponics (fish and plant agriculture ecosystem) that can be built using digital fabrication machines and recycled materials.
Sunday sessions closed with “Open Hardware”, a stunning panel talk that gathered renowned speakers as Massimo Banzi from Arduino, Alastair Parvin from WikiHouse, Giovanni Re from Roland DG Mid Europe, Simone Cicero from Hopen Think Tank and Tomas Diez (moderator) from Fab Lab Barcelona. Their discussion focused on what openness means as a business model. They clearly stated the importance that communities have for the success of any open source project, so a big effort should be done to get the community involved in the project and to keep it satisfied in the long term.
Massimo Banzi talked about the successful open source electronics platform Arduino from which he is one of the founders. He said that currently openness is being also used in many cases where it doesn’t correspond. “If you find all the files it is open source. If not, it is just marketing”, he convincingly stated. He also emphasized the importance that community always had for the success of Arduino. This platform collaborates actively with Maker Faires, and in that sense Massimo Banzi is co-curator of next huge Maker Faire European Edition, happening in Rome next October.
We will publish a full interview with Massimo Banzi shortly.
On the other hand, Alastair Parvin introduced us WikiHouse, an open source construction set, aimed to allow anyone (with no formal training in construction) to design and build his own house. WikiHouse users can download Creative Commons-licensed building plans from its web site, customize them and use them to create pieces with a CNC router.
Keep coming back for our recap of Fab City Symposium, held on Monday 7th July as part of the Fab 10 Barcelona event.
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