This week the LifeTrac 5 Tractor was shipped to New Orleans. With the build of this most recent LifeTrac design complete, we are in the process of setting up LifeTrac 5 on GrabCAD, an Open Engineering platform. Meanwhile, development of the documentation for the 50 machines of the Global Village Construction Set continues on the the Dozuki platform, starting with machine infographics and module breakdowns such as the ones outlined for the OSE Backhoe, drilling down to development method. (Content is under development, but you can see the modular organization documentation will take.). See Design Sprint page for this weekend’s development schedule.
Documentation modules in development for the OSE Backhoe
Audrey Rampone, OSE’s Technical Community Manager, brings us this update on Dedicated Project Visits:
Last we said goodbye to three amazing DPVs: Cory Shenk and Leandra Forman on July 19, and Jordan Phoenix on July 15. During their stay, Leandra, Cory, and Jordan were instrumental in the development and prototyping of products for the 6-in-60 Campaign and in building the Lifetrac 5 Tractor to be featured in the documentary film The Spark. In addition, Jordan Phoenix, who is the Founder and Director of Project Free World, provided advice on media strategy, outreach, and scalability.
Recently, we have welcomed the arrival of three new DPVs at Factor e Farm: John Stager, Miguel Castro, Jr., and David Preiss. John Stager is working on HydraFabber at Factor e Farm. The HydraFabber design is Lulzbot with CNC Circuit Milling spindle.
On Sunday, 28 July, we will welcome a new DPV, Scott Eisele, from Brigham Young University. Scott has participated in several Design Sprints, where he assisted with the design of the LifeTrac 5.
As members of our first “class” of DPVs leave Factor e Farm, the focus has shifted to gaining feedback in order to improve our processes. A Post-DPV survey has been launched, and we are seeking feedback to understand what we are doing well and what we can improve upon.
On that note, the Dedicated Project Visits page is being updated, and the application process has been streamlined to improve transparency and efficiency.
Dedicated Project Visitors are key to moving the mission of Open Source Ecology forward, and we are committed to making DPV’s time here as positive and fruitful an experience as possible. If you are interested in becoming a DPV and working with us at Factor e Farm on a specific project, pleases do visit our Dedicated Project Visits page and contact Audrey with any questions you may have.
Last, we’d like to encourage readers to complete the Open Source Hardware Community Survey 2013 – https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/OSHW2013. The survey, hosted by the Open Source Hardware Association (oshwa.org) requires as little as 3-5 minutes to complete, but there’s space to offer thoughtful responses to a few key open-ended questions. Please take the time!
