Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
6 . A college student can master the basics of wiki markup in less than 30 minutes.
In all of these cases, sharing research as it is done facilitates others in improving it free
of charge. Most importantly, outsiders often submit improvements to methods and experi-
mental apparatus designs. This improves research quantitatively, as discussed next.
Improved Experimental Design and OSHW Design
The standard protocols in open source hardware sharing can be applied directly to research
equipment for experimental design (Pearce, 2012b; 2014). One of the most successful en-
abling open source hardware projects for the academic world is the Arduino electronic pro-
totyping platform, 7 which can be used in both the lab and the classroom. The $20-$60 Ar-
duino is a powerful, yet easy-to-learn microcontroller that can be used to run a burgeoning
list of scientific apparatuses directly, including the open source Polar Bear Environment-
al Chamber, Arduino Geiger (radiation detector), pHduino (pH meter), Xoscillo (oscillo-
scope), and OpenPCR (DNA analysis) (Pearce, 2014). However, one of the Arduino's most
impressive technological evolution-enabling applications deals with open source 3D print-
ing.
7 . www.arduino.cc/
Although the number of variants of open source 3D printers is proliferating rapidly, the
vast majority build off of the RepRap platform, so named because it is a self-replicating
rapid prototyping machine (Jones et al., 2011). Currently, the RepRap, which uses fused-
filament fabrication of complex 3D objects, can fabricate approximately half of its own
parts and can be made for less than $1000. A low-cost version developed in my lab can be
built for less than $500 and assembled in a weekend. For more on building your own 3D
printer, see Chapter 8 .This ability to inexpensively and freely self-replicate has resulted in
an explosion of both RepRap users and design improvements. RepRaps are used to print
many kinds of objects, but their transformative power finds its greatest promise in signi-
ficantly reducing experimental research costs. As many scientists with access to RepRaps
have found, it is less expensive to design and print research tools, and a number of simple
designs have begun to flourish in Thingiverse, which is a free and open repository for di-
gital designs for real physical objects. For a curated list of 3D printable hardware for sci-
ence tools, see www.appropedia.org/Open-source_Lab .
Open source 3D printable hardware includes single-component prints such as paramet-
ric cuvette/vial racks, as well as an entirely new class of reactionware and microfluidics
for customizing chemical reactions (Dragone et al., 2013; Kitson et al., 2012; Symes et
al., 2012). Combination devices have also been developed in which a 3D-printed object is
coupled with or integrated into an existing hardware tool such as the portable cell lysis
device for DNA; this 3D-printable adapter which converts a Craftsman automatic hammer
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