Fab Academy 2018 by JEAN-BAPTISTE NATALI jbnatali@gmail.com

daily updates
Week 22 - Beyond the Fab Academy

Attending the Fab Academy in Barcelona, I document each week of intense learning as I come across new digital fabrication techniques.
This documentation is as much a report of what I do as a reflection on why I do so, and will hopefully guide me back to Oceania to spread and make good use of the knowledge gathered along the path.

18.06.18 I take a break in Paris , hosted by friends who have moved to a new "Eco-Conscious" district in Paris :

With solar panels set up on all roofs, all new buildings are energy neutral, and the neighborhood is considering setting up a local energy network between all buildings. One of them draws my attention so I go for a wonder around it :

Green wall :

This is actually a student residence AND a school. The energy produced per day can be read on a display at the bottom of the building. The cover of the facade are made out of hollow ceramic, to regulate heat I guess :

The building is facing a 10 acres park with a community veggie garden. The "Vegetalisation" process is slowly expanding to neighbor districts, the local council offering individuals to get a permit to "vegetalise" the area and go nuts without asking for validation for each new plots :

The rest of the city is still an overcrowded mess, and the subway a warzone. The Subway company even created new jobs as "pushers" during peak hours to pack up each carriage, like in Japan.

On my way back to Barcelona, I take a few pictures from the plane. 2 min after taking off, the rural landscape unfolds until the horizon line - that very thing that people are craving in the city is right there :

Couldn t we mix up rural and urban area somehow?

21.06.18 /I start looking at all final project from this year both by curiosity and in order to curate some project for the learning kit. The variety of project is incredible :

Have a look at it here .

I select some project out of them all - Many apologies for butchering names in the process :

• -FabLabManager (RFID) / at Bottrop / by Peter Vonderbex;>
• -Smart Planter (bluetooth interface) / at Aachen / by Svetlana Shishkovets;
• -"Fabnik" Windmill / at Fab Lab Barcelona / By Nico;
• -Bionic Butterfly - my favorite - / at FabLab Beijing / by Dian Song;
• -Holo - Comm / at CEPT / by Adhitya SS;
• -Posturea - Posture T shirt / at CEU Madrid / by Victoria Peredo Robinson;
• -Smart T shirt with heating system / at Dassault Lab / by Oyedotun Ajwede;
• -Urban Flexi Pot / at Deusto / by Leire Bereziartua Gonzalez;
• -Hermetique incubator for plants / at EcoStudio / by Matthew Hotsko;
• -Ferrofluid Art installation / at Fab Lab Irbid / by Shefa Jaber;
• -Another project from 2015 - electronics small part storage / at AS 220 Lab / by Kenzo Abiko;
• -Inventory storage / at FabLab Khairpur / by Noor Ahmedrazapirwani;
• -Planet Bin / at Fab Lab Kochi / by Salman Faric;
• -Fab Assist / at Fab Lab Kochi / by Jacob Rose;
• -Tots - training of trainers system / at Opendot / by Laura Cipriani;
• -The buoy - soccer game / at Fab Lab Sorbonne / by Ben Adamson;
• -E-Bin / at Fab Lab Sorbonne / by Thierry Dasse;
• -Recording stand / at Fab Lab Sorbonne / by Adel Khenicle;
• -Clay extruder for Clay Printer / at Fab Lab Spinderi Hallerne / by Carina Kristensen;
• -Wake Up Mat / at Fab Lab Lima / by Andrea Lazo;
• -Vacuum Formning Mahcine / at Fab Lab TechWorks / by Musa Abukhalaf;
• -Mouse control by head motion / at Fab Lab Trivandrum / by Akila Surendran;
• -Tele-Plug-Power Point Control / at Fab Lab Trivandrum / by Amith-G-Nair;
• -Data Saver / At Vigyan Asharm / by Ganak Sanket Kulkarni;
• -JedPro - programmable robot / at Fab Lab Yachay / by Edgar Eduardo Cartagenao Campo.

22.06.18 /Beyond the Fab Academy I have been offered the opportunity to develop my final project further at Fab Lab Barcelona. The idea is to develop it and test it out with a group of expert and non-expert at some stage in September this year.

This is great news! September has been selected for project development wisely, considering the busy period of July and August that are coming ahead with the Fab City Summit and the Fab Conference.

I have a look at FabLab Namibia , for they are pushing for a sustainable local development AND have set up their lab... in containers! Same as what I plan to do in New Zealand :

After a long hunt looking for the box containing all the prototypes and samples made in the last six months, I have to accept that in the heat of the preparation for the makerfaire, my work has been put in another box... which was taken for a bin, and thrown away. Goodbye early prototypes and good-looking lattice hinge samples! I am going to take this opportunity to throw everything else : cardboard machines, press fit kit and so on - and clean up my electronics box. I am very aware of the amount of waste generated, and that we do not have any system to recycle even the most basic materials on-site. I un-solder some components, and save anything that can be saved.

Just before I go away for a weekend, I can celebrate :

Voila! My Fab Academy final push and overall work is now over! Thanks everyone!

28.06.18 /Before this entire experience falls into oblivion I am writing a few mental notes about this experience from the perspective of a student. What did I learn about learning? about tutoring? It is all very personal from here, and there is no magic recipe.

• -A ratio of 1 instructors for 6 students is probably the maximum for all students to receive enough feedback;
• -There is three ways to go through the Fab Academy : the first-time is : if working part-time, copy-paste the exercises and very lightly cover each topic, and add an extra badge on the resume and get inspired. The second is : taking it as an introduction to many topic, planning to study further later on to really grasp subjects properly. The third one is : to develop a personal project - and this one is possibly the most limiting one, since one will go deep rather than wide. And to do so properly, one needs solid knowledge in Electronics, CAD design and Programming, no ways around it;
• -"classic" teaching sessions do play a important aspect in the learning experience. 10 hours of experimentation going in all directions won't make up for the quality of one superby taught piece of knowledge which makes all other click together. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of setting up a solid, fertile ground prior to planting the seed. More practically, warning futur researchers of the obvious potholes to bypass so time is spent on the learning rather than the fixing.
• -The space has to be well organised, the hardware ready to be used. This includes storage for each students (for their bags, coats, projects, sheets of materials), natural light inside the workspace (see "Opendot"), at least two working, one quiet and one loud. Acoustic is at least as important as visual design. Also I must clarify : well-organised does not mean pristine-clean : be surrounded by a constantly changing libraries of shapes and proof-of-concepts and prototypes feeds the insiprational body (see "WeMake").
• -Classes start and finish on time. People's focus is precious and does not strech well over a long period.
• -access to good, fresh food. Old school vending machines with their nasty coffee cups should be part of the past, or sent to another dimensions.
• -Teach everyone the hardware. Pull machines apart, let each student put them back together. Makes machines fail, get students to fix them. Make some smoke, get the fire alarm to ring, and go through the drills with them all. But do that intentionally, with all the material required to fix what must be fixed.
• -Short first note about organisation : to drop the level of stress while performing a task, break things down to very small tasks - things that can be achieved in one day maximum, less if possible.
• -Humans (well most of untrained humans which I am part of) cannot listen and learn sitting at a table for 6 hours in a row. divide the recitation style classes.
• - Neil's lectures are not understandable for mere mortals. An introduction to the topic with a first approach of the key words would be immensely useful.
• - Close the lab at night if needed, but leave it open on the weekend. The best work sessions happen then. The best cross-pollination happen then.
• - Every day, standing meet up with all students, asking these questions : what were you doing yesterday? what are you doing today? What could stop you from doing it? information travels, instructors can think ahead, people get together once a day.
• - If possible, do the Fab Ac in two years, covering half the subject each year. Or half of each subject each year. With six months to actually learn in depth.







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by JEAN-BAPTISTE NATALI jbnatali@gmail.com