This was our first of the next three weeks that we will be spending at Fab Lab to learn about various resources that are available to us. Although I have heard of Fab Lab before, I was not aware of what it contains. In fact, I didn’t even know where it was located, so I was very surprised when I found out where it was. It was a small, old-looking building that I passed by daily to get to my classes from the dorm that I used to live in during my freshman year. I always wondered what it was and even peered into it through the windows once, but I never figured out what it was. Walking into it, I was wondering how this place could contain all the high-tech gadgets that the professor was talking about.
As soon as I walked through the doors, I had my eyebrows raised. It was not at all what I imagined the place to be.
One side of the wall at Fab Lab displaying different products that are made there 
Example of a machine that is available at Fab Lab for use
Inside the building was an open space filled with computers, machines, and various types of products that were made at the lab. I felt like a kid who just walked into a candy store, trying to absorb all the different things that I see. From electric cutters, 3D printers, to embroidery machines, there seemed to be endless lines of resources available. Although I was excited to see so many resources, I was also worried about how I could possibly learn to use them for the project.
Examples of laser engraved products from Fab Lab 
3D printers available at Fab Lab 
Map of the Fab Lab
After taking a tour throughout the building, the class was divided into two groups to get hands-on learning on a couple of resources available at the lab. This week, I got to participate in an Inkscape workshop. Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor, which can be used to create or edit vector graphics. During the workshop, we got to design a watch face of a motion-detecting watch, which could detect whether the user was performing the bicep curls or wrist twist motions correctly. We were to think of a specific user group and create a design based on it so that the user can use the watch correctly. Although the task seemed simple, it was challenging to come up with a simple, yet effective design. This exercise made me realize how much of a challenge we have ahead of us in trying to design a product that could help the power wheelchair users with preventing the rain from getting into the joystick.
After the workshop, we were grouped into our own teams and got time to brainstorm various prototypes for the team products. The point of this session was to keep the options limitless, even thinking of things that are impossible for us to achieve. For example, while we were brainstorming about what can protect the power wheelchair from rain, we came up with instant heating that dries the moisture, force field, and strong wind blower that can push the water droplets away. Although we understand that these options are not viable, by not limiting ourselves, we were able to come up with more creative ideas that can potentially lead into more feasible ones.
In the end, we had to select a couple of designs that were more feasible, easier to implement, and most effective, which we decided were bags to put over the joystick and a mold that can be put over the part. For our next assignment, we will be coming up with a 3D prototype of these ideas. Although the exercises that we performed throughout the week demonstrated lots of challenge ahead of us, I am excited to use the available resources to take our ideas further.
Hi Matthew! I enjoyed reading your reflection this week. I think your title really reflects on all of our experience at the Fab Lab. My group and I had similar reactions to your group during the group activity as we were able to come up with many ideas but we realized that many of them are not feasible due to the limitations we have. Anyway, I look forward to see what kind of protection your group will come up for powered wheel chairs.
Hey! I think the ideas you guys came up with instant heating and a force field is super interesting. I also think it helped our group think about out of the box ideas as well. I’m curious to know if you have thought about what material the bag or the mold would be made out of?
I think that it’s really cool that your team was able to come up with so many out of the box ideas. I wonder if any of them could be scaled down to help with your current, more feasible prototypes? If you are interested in pursuing some sort of heating product, I suggest you look into combining Calcium Oxide (CaO) with Water, which actually causes a chemical reaction that releases heat. I once did a science project based on it, and there are actually self-heating drink bottles that have been created with CaO chambers that are used in disaster relief to provide hot drinks when other types of heating are unavailable!