[Edu-sig] Python-powered Fab labs the next big thing?

[Paul D. Fernhout]

Dethe Elza posted about Fab Labs on this list in 2005.

    http://mail.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/2005-April/004676.html

A year later, here is a mainstream new article on them:
   "'Fab labs' deliver high-tech tools: MIT's fabrication laboratories aim 
to help developing communities find innovative solutions to local needs."
   http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0927/p16s01-stct.html

Excerpts:

...

MIT opened the first international Fab Lab in Costa Rica four years ago 
and has sponsored nine others since then. Meanwhile, many more labs have 
opened on their own. "They're just sort of popping up," Lassiter says. 
"It's a good idea, and people want to do it."

That's what is happening in South Africa, where the government has a 
stated goal of improving the country's science, technology, and 
manufacturing capabilities.

...

"The high concept is to get these into the communities," says Naas 
Zaayman, who runs the Innovation Hub Fab Lab for Advanced Manufacturing 
Technology Strategy, a government program created to spread science and 
technology. "It's the idea that if you're somewhere in rural South Africa, 
and you want something for solar energy, you can go to a Fab Lab and make 
your own."

...

Justinos Nkutshwev is one of the regulars. He sits at a computer, using 
the mouse to manipulate lines on a graphics program. He is building a bus, 
he says, and a generator to make it run. He is 15 years old and never used 
a computer before he came to the Fab Lab a few months ago. Now, he works 
with the lab's machines twice a week. "I come here because I can make 
interesting things," he says.

Although the lab technically closes at 5 p.m., the staff regularly keeps 
it open hours later. Sometimes teenagers show up at staff members' houses 
on Sunday, begging them to unlock the doors.

"They say 'We need to finish our projects, can you please open?' " 
Nkadimeng says. "It's great to see them so eager. There's no way to say no."

===

Looks like they use Python too:
 
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/158007275731/m/615004070831
"We primarly use the computer in each Fab Lab for running our computer 
aided design (CAD) and manufacturing (CAM). Our main 3D tool is BLENDER 
(pictured on the left above) which we are extending in Python (for 
example, see cad.blend) for use with our specific audiances. We also use 
SDRAW and PSTOEDIT for 2D design."
http://cba.mit.edu/projects/fablab/tools.html

Anyway, just fodder for the imagination -- nice having Python running 
these things.

--Paul Fernhout