Welcome to Tom's FAB LAB Project
Welcome to the web address that will allow you to learn about my FAB LAB project. General information about FAB LABS can be found at: http://fab.cba.mit.edu
Short biography:
My principal career was with the US Navy where as a civilian I worked on sumbarine electronic systems and transitioning research to the Navy and Marine Corps. I retired from that career in October, 2012. I then started my own company, KMRM, LLC, and now work on transitiong technology to law enforcement, fire and emergency medical personnel. I have degrees in Electrical Engineering from MIT and Johns Hopkins University and a degree in management from MIT.
As a volunteer I have been involved in bringing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics activities from the MIT Media Lab to the K-12 market. The most recognizable of these is educational robotics
This is a photo of me at the 2012 RI Statewide FIRST Lego League (FLL) competition. The research topic for the 2013 FLL competition addresses Natural Disasters.Over 20,000 teams, ages 9-16, will compete in a robotics and research competition. The teams identify technology that could address a need. FAB Lab technology would allow the teams to actually design and build systems that demonstrate the utility of their inventions.
This is a photo of my wife Janice. Janice is a math educator and will be helping me with my project.
THE PROJECT
For my project I would like to design and build a Cabaret Mechatronic Movement (CMM). My CMM would build on the idea of Cabaret Mechanical Movements with added electronic control.
Example of a Cabaret Mechanical Movement:
A quote from the Cabaret Mechanical Movement website: Making Automata is hard. Making other sorts of three dimensional objects can also be hard, but the extra dimension of movement seems to add a disproportionate amount of difficulty.
For most people, especially those untrained in engineering skills, getting to the point where making mechanical devices is easy, can be a long and frustrating task.
Below is an example of a microprocessor controlled mechanical contraption:
Below is a picture of the carousel that needs repair and FAB Lab based additions.
