Developing open & distributed tools for Fablab project documentation

by Anu Määttä (Fablab Utrecht)anu@fabfolk.com

@narnua

Outline

● Introducing Fablabs● Defining problem and scope● Solution approaches● Documentation tools in Fablab Utrecht and

elsewhere● Prototyping data formats and aggregation● Development plans● Discussion

What is a Fablab?

● Started by MIT Center for Bits and Atoms

● Book: Fab – the coming revolution on your desktop by Neil Gerschenfeld

● Open access workspace

● Standard set of digital manufacturing machines

● Principle: make here → make anywhere

● Free (as in beer ;) to use

● Fab charter: as long as you share (what was made and knowledge on working with the machines)

Network of labs

● All over the place: about 50, in most continents● With few central resources● Labs by now operating mostly independently of

central control (by MIT)

What is the problem?

● Sharing designs has always been the intention, but tools are lagging behind

● Diversity

● Independent labs using platforms they are comfortable with

● Few common resources to pull these together, and structures to support development

● Tools originally meant for Fablab design sharing - software source code version control system - appear to be:

● Less usable by typical Fablab visitors

● Less suited for sharing the designs of physical objects (where images and human-readable instructions are needed on top of the object design file / code)

● SCOPE: physical object documentation for replicability

● PRACTICAL needs of sharing

Solutions?

● Thingiverse, Instructables etc?● Controlled by outside, often commercial parties

● Not available under open licenses for needs of customization and localization

● Would be outsourcing a central aspect of Fablabs' mission to share knowledge

● Interfere with further Fablab community building efforts

● + communities of makers

● Centralize?● Imposing central control and one size fits all

● + easier to set up and maintain

● Distribute? ● Work needed by all participants

● Managing complexity

● +Flexible for independent lab needs

● +open for further innovation

Requirements

● Possible to use tools familiar to individual labs

● Catering for typical Fablab users

● User interface matters!

● Rapid prototyping the solutions as practical needs arise

● Bottom-up rather than top-down planning and execution● (In practice, some central planning needed to maintain progress)

● Possibly combination of centralized and distributed approaches

● Connected with other communities of makers (e.g. Thingiverse API)

● Comply to open source hardware standards (e.g. register as OHANDA product)

Documentation @ Fablab Utrecht

● “automatic documentation”

● Check in, check out

● http://fablab.nl/articles/2011/04/12/documentator-check-in-check-out

● Part of lab visit workflow

● With Drupal

● Eye-fi camera

protospace.nl/fabmoment/open-source-objects

http://protospace.nl/fabmoments/low-res-hi-quality-vases-ultimaker

Tools @ other Fablabs

● e.g. Switzerland, Barcelona, Japan using Wordpress● Peter Troxler for Swiss Fablabs● “Fab Source” project in Japan

● e.g. Iceland using Mediawiki● Bubbling under: Joomla, Ning, ...

Aggregator: step 0 - RSS

● Wordpress: custom template to include additional image namespace

● Use of an additional namespace to add images to RSS feed● xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"

● Drupal: custom template also needed

Aggregator: step 1 - FabML

● With current tools it is as easy to produce custom XML as it is a customized RSS feed

● Can be produced with any (open source) tool used by individual lab

● Simple XML definition to minimally define projects for sharing

● Required features● Media enclosures● Design source files● Human-readable instructions for replicability

FabML: example

●In Drupal: ● Views bonus pack: plugin Views XML (source)● Feeds & Feeds Xpath parser (aggregator)

<fabmoments> <fabmoment> <original_url>http://protospace.nl/node/1682</original_url> <author>joris</author>

<project_name>Low res hi quality vases on ultimaker</project_name> <machine>3d printer</machine>

<instructions>Single walled low res hi quality vases. Big one more than 220mm high, printed is 1.5 hour on a

Ultimaker...! ... </instructions> <image_flickr>

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3051/5776099442_73ea8367ec_m.jpg</image_flickr> <image>

http://protospace.nl/sites/default/files/2011-05-29%2013.15.40.jpg</image> <source>

http://protospace.nl/sites/default/files/vaas_220mm.stl</source> <source>

http://protospace.nl/sites/default/files/vaas02_77mm.stl</source>

</fabmoment> </fabmoments>

Aggregatorfabmoments.org

Plans

● Finalize the aggregator demo for annual Fablab conference in August (Fab7)

● Provide central documentation option for Fab7● Collaborate with Fablab Japan for Wordpress-

based feed production● Exploring ties to Mercurial used by MIT

Discussion

● Feasibility of defining a standard for Open Source Hardware documentation?

● Use of existing content definition frameworks such as XML, RDF, RDFa?

● Issues of distributed collaboration – feedback mechanisms and derivative objects?

● Connecting with other Open Source Hardware documentation efforts and emerging standards (such as OHANDA)?