Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
(Source: Images [a through d] CC-BY-SA Joshua Pearce)
Figure 16.4
(a) The XO Laptop from OLPC in use by a young child on an open source ad-
justable laptop stand (
www.thingiverse.com/thing:134081
)
constructed from (b)
OpenBeam, an open source hardware aluminum extrusion system, standard nuts and bolts,
and (c) custom hinges. These items can be fabricated with (d) a low-cost open source
RepRap 3D printer, which is itself fabricated with printed parts, stock hardware, open
source electronics, and recycled materials such as an old computer supply for power and a
cardboard spool holder.
If the student work was of high enough quality and fit the necessary guidelines, there
was a real chance it might be translated and used by millions of children all over the world
to improve their lives by building and using open source hardware plans on their laptops.
The student authors with the best work were offered credit for furthering their projects in
independent study courses. For example, in an undergraduate course in general physics,
an open source hardware service learning project on removal of arsenic from groundwater
was expanded into full research projects the following semester (Hashmi and Pearce,
2011).
Overall, these projects proved successful at both assisting students to learn course ma-
terial (Pearce, 2007a) and providing high-quality content in the open source hardware and
OSAT movements. Students were motivated to do high-quality work. By tracking the his-
