Translator: Gabriella Patricola Reviewer: Federico MINELLE
Here we are. I'm going to talk about machines,
which seems like a large break from the previous talk, but bear with me.
So. we are talking about machines that make things
and there's a history for that, where they came from.
This is automation in 1952 and a little bit before,
the first time they hookup a milling machine to a computer.
And the quite thing about that is the computer can control the machine,
instead that you manually having to turn and moving it around
assuring the new era of precision,
and the ability to make complex parts,
but also creating the basis for later will become the technology
that we use for controlling 3D printers
or other kinds of visual fabrication.
And so, if you go to Apple's factory right now in Washington,
they employ this technology, so all computer controlled mills
at a massive scale
to create precisely fabricated computers
all that enclosure of your i-phone.
And that's the same thing over and over again.
At the Center for Bits and Atoms,
one of the things that we've been facilitating
is personal access to computer automatic control.
This is a Fab Lab in Iceland,
where kids can come and use digital fabrication machines.
You can immagine that a Fab Lab is -
Haven't you ever been in a Fab Lab before?
Some of you? Yes, you.
It's like a kind of a library,
but instead of books,
you have machines.
And so, instead of reading,
you can produce things.
And it's actually been a really successfull way
of introducing the means of production
so that people can start doing personal fabrication.
Instead of everyone the same phone or everyone the same computer,
people are concerned making their own solutions
for their own kinds of problems
with Fab Labs.
The means of production though, it's not the only thing that is changing.
This is our market place in Shenzhen.
So, where we are going go from the U.S. in 1952,
South of China last year.
This is - looks like a regular marketplace
where you just buy, you know, eggs and vegetables
but actually, this marketplace sells LEDs and motors,
for nerds like me is kind like having your goal,
ready to buy a lot of stuff.
And each one of these stores
it's not just selling the things that they have there,
but they represents factories that they can go back to
so you can go customizing the parts that you need.
The potentiometer that you wanted to buy
has a red LED and you actually want the green LED,
five minutes later they'll give to you.
And so, I buy parts there for the machines that I build,
but also I buy these other things.
These are phones that I collect
from Shenzhen
and each one of these -- seems kind of silly, right?
In the bottom right here, that's a i-phone 8
it's about half the size of a i-phone 7 who runs Android.
There's Hérmes handbag self-phone
There's the porsche, kind of Lamborghini-like self-phone.
Each one of these kind of tacky, right?
And they are all around ten, twenty dollars.
And maybe is not necessarily that exciting,
why all I wanted to have is all that silly phones.
But to me, this establishes
system integration where someone had to make the circuit board
to fit in these phones,
someone made the operating system
and branded them Hérmes
and you have all of these DIY cast parts that kind of the system integration,
at this kind of value,
value that is never intended for mass market.
Not everyone is gonna walk around with one of these,
means that the means of production next to this kind of material productions,
enables all kinds of crazy things.
But that's not exactly what people are making in Fab Labs yet,
so sometimes you wonder why is at the case
and actually, if you use some of the machines,
these digital fabrication machines,
they are not totally well suited yet for just anyone to walk up and use it.
This is actually not a machine from 1950,
it's a machine from last year,
but you still have to be able to run and using this
extremely user friendly interface.
And, one of the groups I work with is NASA Ames.
We worked on shape shifting wings.
So, you are are making wings for space and the future.
But this is the machine, the milling machine
that they used to produce those parts.
And, if you recognized it,
this mill machine is actually exactly the same model
as is in that popular science are recalled from 1952.
The only difference is that is updated
with this fancy new operating system.
You don't have to control with punch cards anymore.
So, what is the future now?
Our machines are going to continue looking like this,
or do they need to change entirely?
And so, I explore what is look like to have personal digital fabrication.
This is the machine I built with Alan Myer,
which is a pop-up milling machine
and also a 3D printer.
(Music)
One of the funny things about this machine,
is that you bring it on the airplane,
none asks any questions.
(Music)
So, that's just one imagination of a machine,
that, what is look like to have a laptop
of digital fabrication,
instead of a MainFrame.
On MIT I teach the class
"How to make something that makes (almost) anything",
which is only about machine building.
So, instead of the 3D printer being the universal machine for everyone,
can you make custom machine
for whatever the processer application is that you envision.
So, liquid handling machines for pie padding,
or five axes control machines for cutting forms,
or that stop wired ingredients.
And together we'll see what develops
infrastructures for machines building to make it easier to do it each time
so that you're not doing everything from scratch.
These are network controls,
where if you want to add a mill other machine
with another motor or another end effector,
instead to have to redesign your board,
you just add another control node
to a control network.
And also doing that mechanically
instead of saying everytime you design a motion system
that you have to design the entire mechanics and one go,
you can say "Can I add motion
in the same way I add Lego pieces in structures",
so that each machine is just an extension action of modules
where you have control modules
and mechanical modules
and software parts that together form application specific machine.
Well, so this is great for me
I've built lots of fancy machines all over the time
but I'm actually also interested not just engineers like me.
We go to fancy places and work for people to make fancy machines,
so I have access to these modules
but I wanted to know if it was possible for other people
to start building these machines as well.
And so, together with my colleague James Coleman,
we decided to make a construction kit
for machines that are built up out of a cardboard
(Music)
So, cardboard is a laser cut,
so that you score precisely to make the right form.
(Music)
And it just start with top this machine building class
in the global network of Fab Labs
all around the world.
(Music)
They are still making different kinds of machines,
like calligraphy machine,
or drying machines.
This is the 3D scanner that uses the i-phone
as the input device.
There are also other machines.
This is a coffee storing machine,
a light show machine,
and this machine for example
has five degrees of freedom
is typically for application of engineers adding more degrees of freedom is hard.
But for them, they don't know that there's a hystory
of adding a 4-5 degree that is complicated.
They just, yeah -- Just, I don't know how it works, simple.
That's a lace.
This is a precision ketchup application machine.
(Laughs)
And a cocktail mixing machine.
You find that when people start making machines
that are application specific,
a lot of people care deeply about food and drinking.
(Music)
This is also from Japan. Japan brought a lot of weird machines.
This is a cutting machine.
Will you see,
they got the all machine
the software and everything works, the prototype difficult was
rigidly attaching the knife such it can cut all the way through.
And so, these are all people that are engineering students
or there are people that are spending time in Fab Labs
to build this kind of things-
And so, being able to use system integration
of a modular system
to quickly fit in something,
is a great way to have all of this success experience
and then be able to do
the next prototype.
This is a bleach application machine,
so that you can write on t-shirts.
(Music)
And then, this is a sand gardening machine
for computer-control zen.
(Laughs)
I was in a lot of place,
there was a sand gardening machine from Iowa,
and this a sand-gardening machine from Italy.
So, what I've learned from this was sand gardening
has more global appeal than you really knew about it.
All that seem kind of frivolous
you know, all of these machines
none of them necessarily seem to be solving
any kind of really important question.
But when you can do things that are frivolous,
like the phones that I've showed you in the beginning,
which are frivoulous, or these machines that are frivolous,
that's also means that it is easy
and so, if it's easy now
to build machines that makes almost anything that is easy to do
in a low or higher production,
what are the possibilities that you can immagine?
You know, If the power to make machines
is now here,
what are the other things we can do with that?
Thank you very much.
(Applause)