KOCHI: Kerala will get two new fab labs this weekend after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurates a mini and super version of the technical prototype platform for design fabrication technology, at a function organised by Kerala Startup Mission in Palakkad on Saturday. The move will give a boost to the country’s hardware industry.The Super Fab Lab in Kochi will allow researchers, innovators and developers to do things beyond the purview of the state’s existing fab labs.
The Super Fab Lab has been set up in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and it will be the first such facility to function outside of the US. The Mini Fab Lab in Palakkad will add to a statewide network of 20 such establishments that allow students to learn digital fabrication and experiment with the technology which combines computer-aided design with additive and subtractive manufacturing.
The Super Fab Lab, which will come up at the Integrated Startup Complex (ISC) in Kalamassery, will have state-of-the-art machines worth more than `7 crore across an area of 10,000 sq ft. Kerala currently has two electronic fab labs, functioning in Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi. Saji Gopinath, CEO of KSUM, said its collaboration with MIT will also allow Kerala’s hardware startups to use the super fab lab and work with researchers of MIT’s Centre for Bits and Atoms on MTM (Machines That Make) projects. “This explores the possibility of using machines in a fab lab to create machines for its own use. In essence, it creates a pathway for desktop manufacturing,” he added.
The first experiment in this direction has been successfully completed at the fab lab in Thiruvananthapuram with the creation of a three-axis computer numerical control machine. KSUM is positioned to lead the transition of MTM projects from research projects in the lab to fully functioning units in the field.