propose a final project that integrates the range of units covered, answering:
what will it do?
who's done what beforehand?
what materials and components will be required?
where will they come from?
how much will it cost?
what parts and systems will be made?
what processes will be used?
what tasks need to be completed?
what questions need to be answered?
what is the schedule?
how will it be evaluated?
projects can be separate or joint, but need to show individual mastery of the skills covered
where possible, you should make rather than buy the parts of your project
Materials Library
Visiting date: May 10, 2016
As digital fabrication has flourished thanks to recent technology development, materials have taken more critical roles than ever before. In the individual domain, 3D printing opens the possibility for individuals to build their own product. If the so-called third industrial revolution is bringing individual producers, the potential needs from makers and prosumers cannot be underestimated. Therefore with this project, a materials library would aim to give up-to-date information on various materials, so that people can get useful information in order to foster their creative projects.
Also, in the industrial domain, there still a gap between creative products and the new materials to be used in these products. Those restrictions mainly come from when high-performance materials are needed. They may be difficult to be applied due to their structural complexity, high functionality, affordability, and etc. To take a further step from individual/laboratorial domain to the industrial domain, a linkage between labs to market is required. By putting materials at the core of innovation, a materials library would become a possible linkage to leverage the gap between materials researchers and designers.
With this project, I would like to look into broadening and deepening the materials world by linking them to the following fields: construction, architecture, energy and environment, digital fabrication, and contemporary design. By doing so, I would like to see cooperation improve between prosumers, makers, designers, architects, engineers, and materials researchers to develop and bring innovative products to the market. And furthermore, I would like to discover the future possibility to promote collaboration between materials research and creative industries to drive faster, innovative and sustainable products and architectures development.
What questions need to be answered?
Design Goals
For Fab Academy final project, I would like to build a small prototype of materials library in both physical and virtual ways. For physical library, I would like to apply an idea of wall-and-bricks which contains geometric figure. For virtual library, I will build an online platform to save and display materials database effectively. The form of online platform would be a beta version of website (and an android application, if possible). In order to link between physical and virtual library, I will apply NFC (Near Field Communication) technologies using NFC tags, RFID-NFC shield, Leonardo, and android phone.
Scenario
1) Physical materials library: Displaying 10 different materials samples.
2) Virtual materials library: Collecting materials database and informing materials samples.
3) NFC tags application: If an android phone (RFID-NFC reader) is approached to a material sample, the phone (Arduino serial monitor) links to the materials library website where you can find the material information.
Challenges
First of all, the RFID-NFC concept is a new concept for me, even though I have used transportation cards with IC chips since a very early age. Even though my instructors recommended me not to build a PCB NFC board (because antenna building is quite tricky and we didn’t have components for RFID-NFC boards), I would like to learn more concepts about RFID-NFC shields, antennas, NFC tags, and Android NFC. Also, I have never developed an Android application, so I would like to take the first trial with this project. Lastly, one of my biggest concerns is actually how to answer so many questions that I keep coming up with this project, which sometimes need so much time to have an answer. So, obviously, the main challenge of this project would be how to “actually” make “something”.
Questions
• How can you classify materials in an effective way?
• How can you connect materials most effectively to empower projects in digital fabrication domains?
• If you connect materials information (internet of materials; in a sense of physical/virtual library), what future impact can it draw beyond individual level?
• How can you leverage between the following levels? Can you draw any question and answer to connect these arrows?
Q. What processes will be used?
Processes
Laser cutting, CNC milling, 3D printing, electronics, programming
Electronics
Adafruit RFID-NFC shield (antenna design, if possible), Adafruit NFC tags, Jisunardo (powered by Luizino V1.0)
Programming
Website: Cargo, Application: Android Studio, NFC tag: Arduino
Materials
Wood, PLA, materials samples
Financial Statements
Q. What materials and components will be required?
Q. Where will they come from?
Q. How much will it cost?
Q. Where possible, you should make rather than buy the parts of your project
Adafruit RFID-NFC shield: $39.95, provided by Elia
Adafruit NFC tags: $2 for each
Wood: recycled remain parts from Make Something Big Project
Materials samples: provided by Fab textile and IAAC materials lab
Total Cost ~ $40
Q. What is the schedule?
4. Schedule
5. Evaluation Criteria
Software
• Did you build a virtual materials library (with website programming skill)?
• Did you link the physical materials library to the virtual materials library applying NFC technologies?
Electronics
• Did you redesign and fabricate Leonardo?
• Did you integrate Adafruit RFID-NFC shield with redesigned Leonardo (Jisunardo)?
Mechanics
• Did you build a physical materials library with CNC milling and laser cutting process?
• Did you build a geometric figure with the process?
Design goals
• Did you draw meaningful implications and insights on materials platform in digital fabrication domain?
• And in further domains?
6. References
[1] Materials Library, Institute of Making, University College of London
http://www.instituteofmaking.org.uk/materials-library
[2] Materials Collection, Harvard GSD
http://www.gsd.harvard.edu/#/loeblibrary/collections/materials-collection
[3] Materials Lab, The University of Texas at Austin
http://soa.utexas.edu/resources/matlab
[4] Stanford Product Realization Lab
https://productrealization.stanford.edu/
[5] Material Connexion