Open Source Ecology brings "life sized Lego set" to live
If we had some sort of catastraphe that changed life as we know it, how could humans survive with and thrive without the machines and technologies we rely on? The folks at Open Source Ecology are using open source to make sure that if needed the plans for that are available. Their Global Village Construction set is a set of tools to build a replicable, open source, modern, off-grid resilient communities. OK, maybe instead of a post-apopalytic future, the “life sized Lego set” they are designing will have more relevance in today’s third world countries. The bottom line is that this group of inventors, farmers and environmentalists are publishing and open source guide to provide a low cost set of uniform tools that would allow a small human population to set up a self-sustaining agricultural settlement.
In much the same way that small solar power panels are bringing light and power to off the grid areas of the globe, the OSE could allow small groups to actually become more efficient. They have been designing their “life size Lego set” that allows for interchangeable parts and motors to create 40 different machines. They have already prototyped 8 of them, with more on the way.
Let’s be clear here though. These are not “some assembly required” type of plans. You would need to actually be able to machine craft these parts to make it all work. However, the group is publishing the full 3D plans for each of these. Right now most of these parts can be bought and manufactured in China. But the idea is to make it simple enough where any group with access to metal and some basic machining know how could make these machines come to life from the plans the group published.
I love seeing open source methodology applied to non-software applications like this. Of course one wonders how big a market we will see for this unless we really do have some sort of life changing event happen. By then it may be too late though.
The plans rely on a large number of the parts for the different machines being interchangeable. This way a motor from one could work in another. Wether you are a big fan of this kind of stuff or not, it is good to see that at least some folks are thinking about it. They have held a Wold Conference on Open Source Ecology as well at their experimental farm near Kansas City, where they develop, build and test much of this gear as well.
Here is a short video explaining what they are all about:
GVCS in 2 Minutes from Adam Mitchell on Vimeo.
Ya just have to love this open source stuff!
