Knowledge Base
We specialise in open source hardware, software and education to help people tackle global issues in their local community.
Open Source Hardware
We build and use machines that have blueprints, build instructions and diagrams which are readily open to the public.
Open Source Software
We use, test, teach and improve off the shelf software to help tackle global issues.
Open Source Education
We make educational material such as articles, books, flash cards, and do workshops on various topics including but not limited to Machine Learning, 3D Printing and recycling.
Translation
We believe that knowledge bases should be available to all people around the world. We help translate technical documents so more people can learn and share.
Open Source Hardware
Open source hardware is another way that people help the wider community as it allows for improvements to surface and anyone to participate. When we can, we like build some of them ourselves and participate in the community that forms around them.
Machines that recycle plastic
Dave Hakkens open sourced some low cost machines that can be used to recycle plastic in his project called Precious Plastic which included an injection machine, an extrusion machine a compression machine and a shredder.
We followed these instructions and we now build and sell these machines to companies, schools and universities either to recycle or as an educational tool.
We've been building the machines since Version 2 had been released and there were only four machine designs. Now Dave Hakkens and his team has released even more machines after finishing Precious Plastic V4 in 2020.
Learn more Buy a machine
Open Source Software
Where possible we use Open Source Software in our toolchain as it helps us move fast, work better and make improve to it. We are not afraid to reinvent the wheel when we have to and where it fits we also open source this work.
Coronavirus Flashcards
We recently attended the Hack from Home Hackathon where we built resources to help people understand the global pandemic.
The website is so that it is easily viewable and portable to any form. We hope to make the dataset in such a reusable format that any people who wish to use the content in their own application need to only point to the centralised location.
Learn more
Lab Partner
Very often in laboratories you need to monitor a particular device which has an old seven segment display or the like that if it falls outside of a given parameter the experiment is no longer valid. The idea of Lab Partner is to have a Raspberry Pi with a USB camera pointed at the display and it uses Machine Learning to
- read the display to monitor this range to either let you know that this situation has occurred to tell you that you need to start again or
- to notify you as it happens so you can salvage your experiment before it is unsalvageable.
BTMBMS
The Better Than Manual Battery Management System (BTMBMS) is a way to easily track which batteries you own, their status and location. Being able to correctly manage the batteries you own ensures that you have the longest life possible for your electronic devices and is often a requirement for purchase warranties and insurance policies.
Learn moreOpen Source Education
We do many things to help spread the knowledge we have been lucky to have the opportunity to learn.
Videos
We've recently started documenting the work that we've been doing in video form so that you can follow along the way in hopefully an educational and entertaining manner.
Channel Trailer YouTube Channel
Consulting
We consult on a variety of topics that we specialise in.
For example we run consult on the low cost and open source Precious Plastic ecosystem that provide a good way to get started with recycling in your local community, how best to open source your work and bringing products to market. The best way to reach out for these services is via our Patreon.
Reach out via Patreon3D Printer Training
We often run 3D Printer Training Sessions for all levels of expertise.
In these workshops we cover, what would make a 3D model suitable for 3D printing, and what would be difficult to print. Preparing a STL for loading into OctoPrint, loading a STL file into OctoPrint, slicing in OctoPrint, preparing the printer and printing.
Drone Flying
In our team we have people who hold various levels of drone flying skills and qualifications including the UK Flyer ID, A2 Certificate of Competency and are studying towards the GVC.
Our particular interest in automated navigation for land and data surveying, cinematography and first person view racing with micro drones. We've also helped various people get started in flying drones in the UK and also run workshops and online introductions to drone flying.
Request an online introduction to drone flying workshopFlashcards
We have to learn many topics so we built for ourselves several flashcards on various topics.
We've opened these up so more people can learn about these topics, take a look and pick and choose what you're most interested in!
Featured Projects
See here for some of our key pieces of work.