When he was only 13, Kelvin Doe built an entire radio station on his own. Quite impressive, but not only because of Kevin’s young age. This teenage boy from Sierra Leone, a self taught genius, makes batteries, transmitters, and generators out of bits and pieces found in the trash. Since electricity is scarce in his village, his inventions power lights in neighbouring homes. At 15, in recognition of his accomplishments, he became the youngest person to be ever invited to the Visiting Practitioner’s Program” at MIT. Not bad. Not bad at all.
On the opposite side of the African continent, in the outskirts of Nairobi, another self taught prodigy kid is trying to find ways to protect his father’s cattle from predators. He experiments with electronics by taking apart his mom’s radio and comes up with an invention that will improve the life of his community while also changing his own path forever. Richard Turere, an 11 year old Maasai boy with no training in engineering and electronics, invents Lion lights – an amazing low cost system to keep lions away.
A couple of years later Richard steps onto the TED stage (a stage he shared in 2013 with speakers such as Elon Musk and Sergey Brin). He’s excited not only because he’s sharing the story of his invention, but also because his biggest dream just came true – in order to speak at TED he flew on a plane for the first time.
These two boys achieved so much with so little. Their main obstacles were the scarcity of resources and information. Now, what happens if we remove these obstacles all around the world and make solving actual problems the only challenge?
Empowerment and inspiration
In a more privileged part of the world, far away from the dusty Kenyan savannah, Reem starts her first Arduino day. She came to the Fab Lab with her father Ahmed. She seems to be very comfortable in this space. She’s been here before for a digital fabrication workshop where she created a wooden falcon. I enjoy watching her playfully discover micro controllers, LED lights and jump wires.
I’m probably 3 times older than Reem, but I feel as excited as a kid too. One quick Arduino crash course done on Udemy the day before fast-tracked me into the advanced group and by midday, I was proudly demonstrating my self-made system for remotely controlling lights and electricity at home.
What an incredible sense of achievement and empowerment. I left the Fab Lab that day thinking about my next projects. Interactive Christmas lights, a couple of toys for my daughter and a full smart home system are already on my list. All that outpour of inspiration and the willingness to create after only a couple of hours at the QBIC Fab Lab.
Cool, but what is a Fab Lab?
A Fab Lab (fabrication laboratory) is a small-scale workshop offering the facilities needed for digital fabrication. The Fab Lab concept grew in 2001 out of a popular class at MIT (MAS.863) named “How To Make (Almost) Anything”. Nowadays there are over a thousand Fab Labs in over a hundred countries all around the world.
A Fab Lab is equipped with off-the-shelf, industrial-grade fabrication and electronics tools, coupled with open source software and programs written by researchers at MIT’s Center for Bits & Atoms. You’ll find 3D printers, 3D scanners, laser cutters that make 2D and 3D structures, sign cutters that plot in copper to make antennas and flex circuits, high-resolution NC milling machines, and a suite of electronic components and programming tools for low-cost, high-speed microcontrollers that allow for on-site rapid circuit prototyping.
Fab Labs share common tools and processes, aimed at creating a globally distributed network centered around research and invention. They are open to the public for free or for a minimal service charge and are obliged to share knowledge and designs with other Fab Labs across borders. If we make something in Doha and send you the files and documentation, you should be able to reproduce it wherever you are.
Tools – check, knowledge – check. Now what?
Making things is fun, but what if we streamlined all that fun into doing something meaningful?
We’re living in a time when many problems can be solved right at their source. If we empower people locally, we can harness their inventive power and fuel bottom-up innovation. And If you think of the user centered approach in design, the best way to create great things is to start with direct observation and a deep understanding of the end user.
Look around. What could be improved in your community? Richard and Kelvin channeled their passion, curiosity, and determination to learn into innovations with a huge social impact. Reem is on a good path to make a difference too. How about joining them?
Join a movement
Sounds great, but you don’t feel skilled enough? No worries. Fab Labs are all about knowledge sharing and learning by making. It’s perfectly OK to be a complete beginner.
You don’t know what the pressing issue that you could resolve is? When it comes to social impact and solving global and local problems, there are multiple platforms that make it easier to contribute.
Open IDEO and Impact Hub are just examples of networks that help people discovering solutions to some of the world’s key issues.
So what are you waiting for? Go to Labs Map | FabLabs to find the nearest Fab Lab. If nothing shows up, maybe another type of makerspace is available in the area? Still nothing? Maybe it’s up to you to start and build the right environment to empower people and make great things locally.
Go and give it a try, it’s really fun and fulfilling.