Fabricating, Machines and Materials including two 3D Printers, a Scanner, CNC Mill, Laser Cutter, Air Purifier, Vinyl Cutter, and a bunch of materials, all for between $14000 and 15000.
The next step in innovation is just around the corner, as the library prepares to open an ambitious technology-and-training center at the downtown branch. The technology center, opening in February, will include music, film and photography studios, editing bays, driving and flight simulators, even a fabrication lab with 3-D printers. Those 3-D printers are already in use for demonstration purposes. They are able to scan and replicate with amazing precision objects ranging from children's toys to cooking implements.
As an interactive design team within a larger architecture firm, the LAB seeks to blur the line between the physical and virtual in all of Rockwell Group’s projects. The LAB’s process relies heavily on iterative prototypes that we build ourselves. Through making and experimenting with interactive experiences, and embedding that software and hardware into things and places, the LAB creates narratives and new design opportunities that provide deeper and more valuable experiences for visitors and inhabitants.
She is, no doubt, amongst the most eminent representatives of the Hacking movement. To me, it’s extremely impressive though how one of the leaders of this revolution is coming right from outside the technological world and actually has a communication sciences and film college background.
"In the U.S. and Europe, people are starting to realize that there's this opportunity to make again," Muren said. "I think in the rest of the world, they're kind of like 'Well, isn't it funny you all call this 'making.' We've been doing this forever. That's one of the things that's exciting to me is the meeting of those two places.
The Hack Factory is what's known as a "maker space." Operated by Twin Cities (TC) Maker, the Hack Factory is a community-shared workspace that offers a cornucopia of tools and machinery for members like Harrison to take their do-it-yourself urges to the extreme.
TC Maker is one of two such operations in the metro area. The Mill, in northeast Minneapolis, opened early this year.
The two organizations are part of a larger maker movement, a broad term that refers to individuals from varied creative and technological interests who are united by their insatiable desire to create -- anything.