Interesting profile of how MIT professor Neal Gershenfeld is trying to increase the ability of people around the world to build things for themselves.
The kits can include a laser cutter, computer-controlled wood router and a miniature mill for drilling circuit boards, all for around $50,000, including open-source software, batteries and micro-controllers.
Those appliances and materials, Gershenfeld says, are all anyone needs to build whatever he or she can imagine: panels for roofing a house, a simple computer or a better mouse trap. "Basically, the goal is to create a Star Trek-style replicator in 20 years," Gershenfeld says matter-of-factly.
What is especially interesting is that Gershenfeld is also trying to make the process of creating Fab Labs self-sustaining.
"But for all that emphasis on self-sufficiency, Fab Labs have so far been oddly dependent on charity--the project has been fueled by about $2 million in funding from the National Science Foundation along with money from local non-profits and governments.
That's why Gershenfeld has been searching for a way to make his Fab Lab network self-sustaining. His newly evolved answer is the Fab Fund, a for-profit project launched a year ago by Gershenfeld's brother Alan and fellow venture capitalist Michael Angst.
The Fab Fund is a test of what its founders call "micro-venture capitalism." Its capital, currently around $200,000, will be invested in for-profit businesses that manufacture their products in Fab Labs around the world. Each Fab Lab, instead of building just what its owners design, can earn its keep by spending a few hours building someone else's Fab-Fund-sponsored product."
If you're interested in trying out a Fab Lab there's one in Boston's South End that anyone can use.
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