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Fab Academy 2026 Weekly Assignments

Compiled from the 2026 Fab Academy schedule and the linked weekly class pages.

Source schedule​

Week-by-week assignment list​

Week 1 — Jan 21, 2026​

Topic: Project Management
Schedule entry: Principles and practices, presentations, introductions, project management
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/project_management/index.html

Assignment requirements

  • download, read, and sign the student agreement, and commit the file to your repo
  • work through a git tutorial
  • build a personal site in the class archive describing you and your final project

Week 2 — Jan 28, 2026​

Topic: Computer-Aided Design
Schedule entry: computer-aided design
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/computer_design/index.html

Assignment requirements

  • model (raster, vector, 2D, 3D, render, animate, simulate, ...) a possible final project
  • compress your images and videos
  • post a description with your design files on your class page

Week 3 — Feb 04, 2026​

Topic: Computer-Controlled Cutting
Schedule entry: computer-controlled cutting
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/computer_cutting/index.html

Assignment requirements Group assignment:

  • do your lab's safety training
  • characterize your lasercutter's focus, power, speed, rate, kerf, joint clearance and types

Individual assignment:

  • cut something on the vinylcutter
  • design, lasercut, and document a parametric construction kit, accounting for the lasercutter kerf

Extra credit:

  • design it to be assembled in multiple ways
  • include elements that aren't flat
  • engrave as well as cut

Week 4 — Feb 11, 2026​

Topic: Embedded Programming
Schedule entry: embedded programming
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/embedded_programming/index.html

Assignment requirements Group assignment:

  • demonstrate and compare the toolchains and development workflows for available embedded architectures

Individual assignment:

  • browse through the data sheet for a microcontroller
  • write and test a program for an embedded system using a microcontroller to interact (with input &/or output devices) and communicate (with wired or wireless connections)

Extra credit:

  • assemble the system
  • try different languages &/or development environments

Week 5 — Feb 18, 2026​

Topic: 3D Scanning and Printing
Schedule entry: 3D scanning and printing
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/scanning_printing/index.html

Assignment requirements Group assignment:

  • test the design rules for your 3D printer(s)

Individual assignment:

  • design, document, and 3D print an object that could not be made subtractively (small, few cm^3, limited by printer time)
  • 3D scan an object (and optionally print it)

Week 6 — Feb 25, 2026​

Topic: Electronics Design
Schedule entry: electronics design
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/electronics_design/index.html

Assignment requirements Group assignment:

  • use the test equipment in your lab to observe the operation of an embedded microcontroller

Individual assignment:

  • use an EDA tool to design an embedded microcontroller system using parts from the inventory, and check its design rules for fabrication

Extra credit:

  • simulate a circuit
  • try another design workflow
  • design a case

Week 7 — Mar 04, 2026​

Topic: Computer-Controlled Machining
Schedule entry: computer-controlled machining
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/computer_machining/index.html

Assignment requirements Group assignment:

  • do your lab's safety training
  • test runout, alignment, fixturing, speeds, feeds, materials, and toolpaths for your machine

Individual assignment:

  • make (design+mill+assemble) something big (~meter-scale)

Extra credit:

  • don't use fasteners or glue
  • include curved surfaces
  • use three-axis toolpaths

Week 8 — Mar 11, 2026​

Topic: Electronics Production
Schedule entry: electronics production
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/electronics_production/index.html

Assignment requirements Group assignment:

  • characterize the design rules for your in-house PCB production process
  • submit a PCB design to a board house

Individual assignment:

  • make and test an embedded microcontroller system that you designed

Extra credit:

  • make it with another process

Week 9 — Mar 18, 2026​

Topic: Input Devices
Schedule entry: input devices
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/input_devices/index.html

Assignment requirements Group assignment:

  • probe an input device's analog levels and digital signals

Individual assignment:

  • measure something: add a sensor to a microcontroller board that you have designed and read it

Week 10 — Mar 25, 2026​

Topic: Output Devices
Schedule entry: output devices
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/output_devices/index.html

Assignment requirements Group assignment:

  • measure the power consumption of an output device

Individual assignment:

  • add an output device to a microcontroller board you've designed, and program it to do something

Week 11 — Apr 01, 2026​

Topic: Networking and Communications
Schedule entry: networking and communications
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/networking_communications/index.html

Assignment requirements Individual assignment:

  • design, build, and connect wired or wireless node(s) with network or bus addresses and local input &/or output device(s)

Group assignment:

  • send a message between two projects

Week 12 — Apr 08, 2026​

Topic: Mechanical Design
Schedule entry: mechanical design / machine design
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/mechanical_design/index.html

Assignment requirements Group assignment:

  • design a machine that includes mechanism+actuation+automation+function+user interface
  • build the mechanical parts and operate it manually
  • document the group project and your individual contribution

Week 13 — Apr 15, 2026​

Topic: Break / Midterm Review
Schedule entry: break, midterm review

Assignment requirements

  • No weekly class assignment listed on the schedule page for this week.

Week 14 — Apr 22, 2026​

Topic: Molding and Casting
Schedule entry: molding and casting
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/molding_casting/index.html

Assignment requirements Group assignment:

  • review the safety data sheets for each of your molding and casting materials, then make and compare test casts with each of them
  • compare mold making processes

Individual assignment:

  • design a mold around the process you'll be using, produce it with a smooth surface finish that does not show the production process toolpath, and use it to cast parts

Extra credit:

  • use more then two mold parts

Week 15 — Apr 29, 2026​

Topic: Interface and Application Programming
Schedule entry: interface and application programming
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/interface_application_programming/index.html

Assignment requirements Individual assignment:

  • write an application that interfaces a user with an input &/or output device that you made

Group assignment:

  • compare as many tool options as possible

Week 16 — May 06, 2026​

Topic: System Integration
Schedule entry: system integration
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/system_integration/index.html

Assignment requirements

  • Design and document the system integration for your final project

Week 17 — May 13, 2026​

Topic: Wildcard Week
Schedule entry: wildcard week
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/wildcard/index.html

Assignment requirements

  • Design and produce something with a digital process (incorporating computer-aided design and manufacturing) not covered in another assignment, documenting the requirements that your assignment meets, and including everything necessary to reproduce it.

Week 18 — May 20, 2026​

Topic: Applications and Implications / Project Development
Schedule entry: applications and implications, project development
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/applications_implications/index.html

Assignment requirements

  • Plan a final project masterpiece that integrates the range of units covered, answering:
    • What will it do?
    • Who's done what beforehand?
    • What sources will you use?
    • What will you design?
    • What materials and components will be used?
    • Where will come from?
    • How much will they cost?
    • What parts and systems will be made?
    • What processes will be used?
    • What questions need to be answered?
    • How will it be evaluated?
  • Your project should incorporate 2D and 3D design, additive and subtractive fabrication processes, electronics design and production, embedded microcontroller design, interfacing, and programming, system integration and packaging
  • Where possible, you should make rather than buy the parts of your project
  • Projects can be separate or joint, but need to show individual mastery of the skills, and be independently operable

Week 19 — May 27, 2026​

Topic: Invention, Intellectual Property, and Income
Schedule entry: invention, intellectual property, and income
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/invention_IP_business/index.html

Assignment requirements

  • Develop a plan for dissemination of your final project
  • Complete your final project, tracking your progress:
    • what tasks have been completed, and what tasks remain?
    • what's working? what's not?
    • what questions need to be resolved?
    • what will happen when?
    • what have you learned?

Week 20 — Jun 08–12, 2026​

Topic: Final Project Presentations
Schedule entry: final project presentations
Class page: https://fabacademy.org/2026/classes/project_presentation/index.html

Presentation requirements

  • Document a final project masterpiece that integrates the range of units covered, answering:
    • What does it do?
    • Who's done what beforehand?
    • What sources did you use?
    • What did you design?
    • What materials and components were used?
    • Where did they come from?
    • How much did they cost?
    • What parts and systems were made?
    • What tools and processes were used?
    • What questions were answered?
    • What worked? What didn't?
    • How was it evaluated?
    • What are the implications?
  • Prepare a summary slide and a one minute video showing its conception, construction, and operation
  • Your project should incorporate 2D and 3D design, multiple additive and subtractive fabrication processes, electronics design and production, embedded microcontroller design, interfacing, and programming, system integration and packaging
  • Where possible, you should make rather than buy the parts of your project
  • Projects can be separate or joint, but need to show individual mastery of the skills, and be independently operable
  • Present your final project, weekly and group assignments, and documentation

Notes​

  • Week numbers above are assigned sequentially from the Wednesday lecture schedule shown on the Fab Academy 2026 schedule page.
  • Recitations shown on Mondays in the schedule are not listed as separate assignment weeks here.