fablab@aup.ac.uk
Fab Lab in schools
Fab Lab in schools
Fab Lab in schools
Fab Lab in schools
Fab Lab in schools
Fab Lab in schools
Projects

Fab Lab in schools

We want to inspire digital makers, develop digital making skills in young people, and support the digital agenda within the curriculum.

In early 2016, we ran a total of 50 free FabLab taster sessions in primary schools, secondary schools, FabLabs and public libraries across Devon, from Exeter to Seaton to Barnstaple, as part of a county-wide collaborative project, funded by Devon County Council. The initiative aimed to inspire digital makers, develop digital making skills in young people, and support the digital agenda within the curriculum.

Led by Fab Lab South West Manager Ian Hankey, who is also an award-winning designer and Master Glassmaker, the workshops gave schoolchildren access to cutting edge technology that they may not otherwise have in their own schools. The workshops were designed to be fun and engaging, giving a flavour of what FabLabs can offer, using digital technologies such as 3D printing, laser cutting, 3D scanning and 3D design.

Workshops included Make a Puppet, Race a Racing Car, Making History, where children 3D printed a Roman bust, and Build a Glider, where 3D design software, a laser cutter and a 3D printer were used to design, construct and then fly a wooden glider. The Makey Makey Musical Objects workshop saw children as young as 6 turning everyday objects into musical instruments using basic circuits and programming.

Overall the project was an overwhelming success in terms of reaching new audiences and generating interest in the services that FabLabs can offer.

“Today’s workshop was very different to our student's usual learning. Our Year 6 students have experienced technology in the workshops that they’ve only ever heard about on the news before, and they’ve had a taste of where technology is headed in the future.”

— Mrs Taylor, Seaton Primary School
Fab Lab in schools Fab Lab in schools

Fab Lab in schools

We want to inspire dig­i­tal mak­ers, devel­op dig­i­tal mak­ing skills in young peo­ple, and sup­port the dig­i­tal agen­da with­in the curriculum.
The Environmental Futures and Big Data Impact Lab The Environmental Futures and Big Data Impact Lab

The Envi­ron­men­tal Futures and Big Data Impact Lab

The Envi­ron­men­tal Futures and Big Data Impact Lab is a part­ner­ship of sev­en Devon-based organ­i­sa­tions, work­ing togeth­er to help busi­ness­es analyse data to cre­ate new prod­ucts and ser­vices, focus­ing on safe­guard­ing the environment.
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Ashnihilation: augmented reality for ecological storytelling Ashnihilation: augmented reality for ecological storytelling

Ash­ni­hi­la­tion: aug­ment­ed real­i­ty for eco­log­i­cal storytelling

An aug­ment­ed real­i­ty art­work by Dr Tom Milnes, co-cre­at­ed with stu­dents and sup­port­ed by Fab Lab South West 3D scan­ning, that engaged the pub­lic with ash dieback through sev­en twi­light per­for­mances on Ply­mouth Hoe, Devon, and mobile AR access city-wide.
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Smart Citizens Programme Smart Citizens Programme

Smart Cit­i­zens Programme

The Smart Cit­i­zens Pro­gramme is open­ing Fab Lab South West to com­mu­ni­ties. We’re sup­port­ing cit­i­zens in devel­op­ing skills to design and make their own objects, prod­ucts and art­work using dig­i­tal fabrication.
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Barnaby’s Brewhouse: capturing CO₂ for a circular brewing economy Barnaby’s Brewhouse: capturing CO₂ for a circular brewing economy

Barnaby’s Brew­house: cap­tur­ing CO₂ for a cir­cu­lar brew­ing economy

Devon-based Barnaby’s Brew­house worked with Fab Lab South West to design and pro­to­type a sys­tem that cap­tures and puri­fies CO₂ from beer fer­men­ta­tion. The inno­va­tion reduces reliance on fos­sil fuel-derived CO₂, cuts costs, and opens new pos­si­bil­i­ties for reuse in food and agriculture.
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Agrikinetics: turning miscanthus grass into sustainable packaging Agrikinetics: turning miscanthus grass into sustainable packaging

Agri­ki­net­ics: turn­ing mis­cant­hus grass into sus­tain­able packaging

Fab Lab South West worked with Dorset-based Agri­ki­net­ics to test whether mis­cant­hus grass pulp could replace import­ed paper and card in pack­ag­ing. The project proved the con­cept, pro­duc­ing moulds for fruit car­tons and sup­port­ing a grant to scale local production.
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SageTech: recycling anaesthetic gases to cut emissions in healthcare SageTech: recycling anaesthetic gases to cut emissions in healthcare

SageTech: recy­cling anaes­thet­ic gas­es to cut emis­sions in healthcare

SageTech part­nered with Fab Lab South West to pro­to­type com­po­nents for an anaes­thet­ic gas cap­ture and recy­cling sys­tem — accel­er­at­ing R&D from con­cept to pilot and sup­port­ing a low­er-car­bon future for oper­at­ing theatres.
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Atkinson Architects: enhancing heritage renovation with LiDAR and model-making Atkinson Architects: enhancing heritage renovation with LiDAR and model-making

Atkin­son Archi­tects: enhanc­ing her­itage ren­o­va­tion with LiDAR and model-making

Fab Lab South West sup­port­ed Atkin­son Archi­tects with LiDAR scan­ning and archi­tec­tur­al mod­el-mak­ing for a Grade I‑listed ren­o­va­tion on the Dart­ing­ton Estate, deliv­er­ing dig­i­tal pre­ci­sion and tan­gi­ble pro­to­types to inform con­ser­va­tion planning.
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Laura Quinn: innovating wearable glass with digital design Laura Quinn: innovating wearable glass with digital design

Lau­ra Quinn: inno­vat­ing wear­able glass with dig­i­tal design

Irish glass artist and Arts Uni­ver­si­ty Ply­mouth alum­na Lau­ra Quinn col­lab­o­rat­ed with Fab Lab South West to cre­ate mod­u­lar, wear­able glass art using bespoke 3D-print­ed con­nec­tors, blend­ing tra­di­tion­al glass­blow­ing with dig­i­tal fab­ri­ca­tion for more sus­tain­able, adapt­able design.
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AYCH - Improving lives with design and digital fabrication AYCH - Improving lives with design and digital fabrication

AYCH — Improv­ing lives with design and dig­i­tal fabrication

The EU fund­ed Atlantic Cre­ative Youth Hubs Project builds a social inno­va­tion mod­el for young peo­ple sup­port­ing social entre­pre­neur­ship, employ­ment and edu­ca­tion in the cre­ative and cul­tur­al industries.
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Art & Energy: breathing new life into solar design Art & Energy: breathing new life into solar design

Art & Ener­gy: breath­ing new life into solar design

Art & Ener­gy CIC part­nered with Fab Lab South West at Arts Uni­ver­si­ty Ply­mouth in Ply­mouth, South West Eng­land, to explore how pho­to­volta­ic pan­els can be cut, engraved and artis­ti­cal­ly fin­ished with­out sac­ri­fic­ing per­for­mance. The col­lab­o­ra­tion demon­strates how cre­ative tech­nol­o­gy can accel­er­ate pub­lic accep­tance of green infra­struc­ture by mak­ing it desir­able as well as functional.
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Made@EU Made@EU

Made@EU

Bridg­ing the dig­i­tal divide that hin­ders the use of dig­i­tal fab­ri­ca­tion knowl­edge and tech­nolo­gies in the Euro­pean cul­tur­al and cre­ative sectors.
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Skills Support for the Workforce Skills Support for the Workforce

Skills Sup­port for the Workforce

Our Skills Sup­port for the Work­force project invit­ed busi­ness­es, artists and small traders into our Fab Lab to take part in a course that trained them how to use the kit and then how to adapt it to their practice.
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HackFest HackFest

Hack­Fest

Part of Ven­turefest South West, Hack­Fest is a coun­ty-wide project for young peo­ple to come togeth­er to cre­ate prod­uct pro­to­types that respond to the issues of the future.
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