cc >> Good evening, everyone, and
welcome to the AeroInnovate Technology Showcase Stage here
at the AeroInnovate Pavilion here at AirVenture at EAA in
Oshkosh. I am the co-founder and director
of AeroInnovate here at UW- Oshkosh, and I'd like to welcome
you all for today's technology showcase presentations.
I just want to share a little bit about AeroInnovate before we
get started. AeroInnovate helps entrepreneurs
across the globe connect to investors and partners who are
starting new companies and bringing related new
technologies to the marketplace. We do this with four key
pillars. And the first one is the
education piece. Educating entrepreneurs to build
a pipeline of up and coming aero innovators.
We also work to align investors and aero related industry
leaders with quality opportunities.
We connect aero innovators with people and resources that they
need to grow and succeed. And finally, exposing new aero
related technologies to the world through presentations such
as this on Technology Showcase Stage.
So, with that, I will hand it over to John Nicol, our first
Technology Showcase presenter of the day who is the founder and
CEO of MakerPlane. So, with that, please welcome
John Nicol. [APPLAUSE]
Thanks so much, Meredith. So, who here has heard about
open source? Okay, well, hopefully almost
everyone in the audience. Now, what I'm going to present
today is the concept of open source in aviation, so using
both hardware and software technologies to help people
build aircraft faster, quicker, and safer.
Now, digital manufacturing, the whole maker movement, so-called
maker movement, The Economist has quite rightly called it the
third industrial revolution. So, just a little bit about
myself there. So, the maker movement, these
are people and this is probably going to be a very familiar
paragraph to anyone that has started or is considering
starting building an aircraft. The maker movement, in today's
terminology, are people that take things apart, they put
things together, they play around with technology, and they
come up with very cool and creative ideas to build new
capabilities. And, in my mind, some that's in
aviation that's building their own aircraft is a maker, and
they have been for over a hundred years.
So this should be a very familiar statement to people in
the audience. And this person here, Limor
Fried, is actually one of the pioneers in the open source
hardware movement, and she has a website called Adafruit, and she
provides open source electronic kits and plans for people to
build really cool little devices.
And she also sells kits to help support the open source side of
her business. So, one of the key enablers for
the maker movement, and, in our case, open source aviation, is
that personal digital manufacturing technologies are
becoming freely available, they're becoming really cheap,
and there's lots of content out there online.
They're supported in the community by many, many
tinkerers and makers who provide their ideas and their content
online for free for anyone to use and to collaborate on and
then to improve and put back out into the community, into the
space. So what you see here on the
image are different technologies, but you can see 3D
printers, you can see CNC machines or computer controlled
routers and cutting equipment, and also in the middle there is
an Arduino board which is an open source microcontroller that
you can use to build lots and lots of interesting and cool
things. Things like robotics, things
like the DIY drones, if you've heard of that.
It's an open source UAV, and they use Arduino a lot.
So there's a lot of technology out there that can, obviously,
be applied into the open source aviation space.
So what is the problem that we're trying to solve here?
So, a lot of you probably know of projects that have been
abandoned, that are lying dead on the side of a taxiway
somewhere. So after doing my research, and
probably you've also seen on Barnstormers or eBay or any
other online sales website you've got projects for sale,
and of myself, I've actually had a project quite recently for
sale, and the reason I did that was because the company went
under that I bought the project from.
And there's people in the audience here that know of
companies that have gone under or plan's designers that have
passed away, and the plans are no longer supported.
So there is a significant issue. This number really translates
into two out of three projects that are started are never
completed. Two out of three.
That is a massive problem. Really, that's a problem.
If two-thirds of projects fail out there, we must be doing
something not quite right. And the other problems here, on
EAA website they say it takes between one and three thousand
hours to actually build an aircraft, on average.
I think that might be a little bit optimistic, but that's what
the EAA has said. Also, it's very complicated to
build an aircraft. We start off all enthusiastic.
We get our kit and we just get stuck into it straight away.
But if you're building ribs, and I've got an example of a rib on
my stand which is actually from the project that I had up for
sale. It's a -- 3M.
It's a Reno racer if you know that particular aircraft.
So there's about 50 ribs in the wing.
It's a sport version. It's got extended wings.
So, if you're doing ribs and it takes you four or five hours to
do a rib, in this case there's a three-hour rib here on mine
because it was taken from a photo at a workshop here at EAA,
you could spend 12 to 18 months building ribs, and by the end of
that year you've got a stack of ribs.
Probably the first one is very cool when you get out of the
jig. The second one is great.
The third one is okay. By the 20th one, you probably
want to do something else. So there's a motivation factor
as well. You're making progress rather
slowly. But on a CNC machine, a computer
controlled cutter, you can do a rib in about two or three
minutes. So all of the sudden within an
hour, an hour and a half, you have your stack of ribs instead
of waiting 12 to 18 months. So you've got an immediate
gratification as well that comes with building your parts very
quickly. And I think that that maintains
the motivation when you're building a plan.
So, our solution, that's a long-winded explanation to get
here, but our solution is to actually provide and create
plans, designs of aircraft, from scratch that are optimized to
build on CNC equipment or personal digital manufacturing
equipment. So in that way you're not
necessarily constructing a rib out of 50 different parts by
hand. What you're doing is that you're
actually cutting out that part on a 2D profile on a CNC
machine. What we're also doing is not
just the plans and the files itself, but we're creating a
process and I'm sort of calling it the MakerPlane process at
the moment. Probably vanity coming in here.
The thing is, is that what we're doing is that we're not only
looking at just throwing a kit or throwing a plan at someone.
What we're doing is looking at the whole methodology of
assembly and creation of your dream aircraft.
So, if you can imagine slots and tabs construction so that you
can put an aircraft part into a slot and it only goes in one way
and you can't screw it up and it's really easy to do, then
that's one way that we can look at improving this whole concept
of assembling your own aircraft really easy and quickly.
Because I know that there's craftsman in the audience and I
know that there are people that will want to do the 50-part rib
and do it over many years, and that's the enjoyment that they
get. But I think there's a wider
issue if two out of three aircraft projects fail, then I
think that the majority of people are actually looking for
a way to get their aircraft in the air quicker.
So that's what we're looking at. Now, with this as well, the
methodology includes things like 3D images and animations and
modern technologies that we can use and apply to our assembly
instructions. So what that basically means is
minimizing text, minimizing interpretation of plans and
assembly manuals, and making it very picture oriented.
Pictorial, using images. That's the way that we think.
And lots of little arrows saying that slot there goes into that
tab. So there's lot of things like
that that we can do. We can use modern what we call
instructional techniques, learning techniques.
So I have a little bit of background in that when I was
doing some work with the Canadian forces.
So the problem that you might know is if you've got people
going overseas and they're teaching law enforcement or
militia how to do things, a lot of those people in different
areas are illiterate. So there's no sort of benefit in
giving them manuals which are written in English or French or
Spanish. They just won't get it.
So we're using a lot of pictures.
We're using a lot of images. That's what we want to do.
So you can see here on the bottom picture there is an
assembly for a landing gear. So that actually animates, it
pulls apart, it comes back together, and you can see where
each part goes. You can rotate it, you can look
at it from different angles, and you can see how things actually
fit together. Now, what we're going to be
doing with MakerPlane, and we've actually already started this,
is putting together a group of products and services to help
support this open source idea. Now, again, all of the plans
that we have online are free. People can download the avionics
plans. And when we have our aircraft
designed and built, people will be able to download the plans
for those aircraft for free. To support the community, what
we'll be able to offer is kits and parts and things that people
can purchase if they don't want to build particular parts or the
whole kit. That's how we're sustaining
everything. So we'll have our aircraft kit,
or kits. In fact, there's going to be
more, and I'll get on to that in a second.
They manufacture equipment as well.
So the CNC machine I've got on my booth is very much an early
prototype. It's very loose.
It's not rigid. It's okay but not for your kits.
So, we're working with a US-based manufacturer here to
provide a full CNC kit capability.
It will be open source as well. You'll be able to get the plans
if you want to build it yourself, but we also offer the
parts. Now, what that means is it's
going to be a four by eight built platform.
So you can put a whole sheet of plywood down, a whole sheet of
foam, and you can cut up all your parts at once.
We're also doing avionics as well.
So open source avionics. It may be an interesting
concept. But what we're doing is there's
a lot of people out there that are building their aircraft and
also designing and building their own avionics.
And there's quite a few projects that are out there online that
we've gathered up and we've put into a repository through
MakerPlane. That includes things like, these
are overseas plans, things like radios, traffic collision
avoidance system, radar altimeter, antennas for
composite aircraft, things like that.
And in the next month we'll also be putting up others which
include audio mixers to put your cellphone and iPod into your
headset for radio and annunciators.
And the most exciting thing being at the show this week is
that people have come up with projects that I didn't even know
existed. So, in the next month, this is
quite exciting, we will have an almost complete glass cockpit.
So, an EFIS, electronic flight information system, which will
have the artificial horizon and the engine monitoring and things
like that. So you should be able to put
together your own glass cockpit, each panel, for probably under
$500. So I'm very excited about that
I'm sure there's people in the audience that are quite excited
about that. The thing is that code will be
up online in the repository for people to download and use but
also to hopefully contribute to, to add new features and
functions because as a community we've got a lot of interesting
ideas and a lot of talent out there.
Software developers that might be doing software development in
their normal day job but their passion is aviation.
So those are the people that are really attracted to this idea as
well and hopefully will contribute to our project.
So you can see some of the things that we're up to there.
And also including things like Arduino.
For those of you that know Arduino, there's a lot of stuff
happening there in the DIY UAV community that is very
applicable into full-size aircraft as well.
So our vision, after all of that, our vision is to enable
you to build and fly your dream aircraft easily, cheaply, and
safely. That's our whole goal.
Because like you, I've got a couple of projects on the go and
I look at my 50-part rib and I'm thinking there's got to be an
easier way to do this. So that's the motivation here.
We want you to be able to build your dream aircraft easily,
cheaply, and safely. And with the worldwide community
behind open source aviation, we've got a ton of talent out
there that can help us do this. Just a little bit about myself,
I just finished a two-year contract with Lockheed Martin
about six weeks ago. I was principal engineer working
through Lockheed Martin global training and logistics in
Orlando. So I know that there's a few
people that I worked with that are very interested in this
project, so I'm hoping to bring those guys on board.
We have people contributing on our online forums, including,
very early stages, but including a Northrop Grumman avionics
engineer. I've had people from larger
companies here, like Rockwell Collins, say hey, this is cool,
I want to be involved. So what you're seeing here is a
group of very interested passionate aviators from
different backgrounds coming in and contributing to our project.
So I hope as well that that's of interest to people in the
audience. So, our first project out of the
gate, and this may actually change, I'll give you a bit of a
hint. I had someone come up to us with
an almost complete project which has the same principals that
we're looking at in our design. So there may be some interesting
news coming out of us in the next few weeks.
So hopefully I'll keep you on tenderhooks so you can come on
to our website and find out the latest news.
But anyway, when we started this project in October of last year,
it started when I posted up on the EAA forums, and I said
wouldn't it be cool if we could use CNC equipment and 3D
printers to help make our airplane?
So I got some really good, positive feedback from that.
A lot of private messages came through, and people just started
saying yeah, this is cool, let's do it, okay.
The advice that I got, I don't know if you know Ron Wanttaja,
he's an author that did an excellent book, actually, that I
use all the time. It's about a Kit Plane
Construction, I believe it's called.
He's a very well-known community person, particularly in the Fly
Baby community. He sort of runs that group.
Anyway, I got in touch with him, and he said, okay, piece of
advice here: get a small core group of very interested people,
and tell everyone else to go away.
And what he said, and this is absolutely true, he said if you
get two aviators in a room, you're going to have four
different opinions about what to build.
So, I took his advice to heart, and being someone who's been in
the high tech industry and a project manager doing big
projects and things, I said, yeah, you're right.
So, I got a group of four people, in fact it was five and
then we went down to four, and we started collaborating, we
started getting together on video conferencing and email and
chat. In our forums, actually, there's
a hidden members only group that you can't even see when you get
to the forums, and that is about 10 times the size of the public
area that you see. So if you got to our forums, you
say there's not much traffic here.
Well, actually, the private area is just huge.
So we had all of these discussions and I did take Ron's
advice and I basically did a benevolent dictatorship.
And I said, okay, we are building, after market research,
we are building a high wing LSA. It's going to be tricycle gear,
and that's what we're building. End of argument.
Of course there were some bottom lips quivering about that.
The thing was is that we had to start somewhere.
If we didn't start somewhere, we would never get off the ground,
literally. So, Jeffrey Meyer, who is our
very talented aeronautical engineer, he's actually a
retired UAV engineer living in Israel.
So it's truly an international collaborative environment right
from the start. So Jeffrey is a wonderful
designer, and using the specks that we came up with, that is
basically the design that he came up with.
The very cool thing with this design as well is that even
though we're building 2D on a CNC, you'll see there's lovely
curves on the machine. So it really does look nice and
modern. So that's our first one.
We are still looking for collaborators to help us finish
the designs. So if anyone wants to volunteer,
please go onto our forums and volunteer so that we can
complete this design. We're starting from the pilot
out. So, you will see that we've just
started this process, but I said to the team that, look, don't
start with the seat, don't start with the cockpit panel or
anything like that, start with the pilot standing outside the
aircraft, and you tell me how he's getting into the aircraft,
and then how he sits in the aircraft and looks around.
So, that's the design philosophy I've told the team is, look,
they start from the pilot, figure out how he gets in, and
then we'll figure out the rest. So we're building from the pilot
out. Currently, our design is for a
6-foot-8 pilot. So there's lots of room.
It's also 52 inches wide at the moment.
So it's actually the widest cabin in its class.
So, it's LSA so there will be speed restrictions and weight
restrictions, but those are design criteria right now.
So, with all of that, that is the design.
We're definitely still looking for volunteers to help us out.
What I've done is I've created what we call a system of systems
approach to this. So I've broken down the aircraft
into different systems. So, for example, controls,
engine, landing gear. So I've compartmentalized each
one so that there can be an owner for each one as well, and
then interface back into the main design using Jeffrey as our
gateway for that. He is the owner.
He is the aeronautical engineer. He is the gatekeeper.
So that's our MakerPlane version one, 1.0 LSA.
You'll also see some very nice renderings on our website from a
recent graduate, industrial design graduate, Jordan.
He's put together some quite interesting initial concepts of
how the interior of the cockpit looks as well.
My brief to him was basically I want a really modern looking
system and break the mold. Don't necessarily just have a
flat, 2D panel. Think about how we can make this
look really good when people hop in.
So we've got different concepts you'll see.
I don't know if I've got, oh, yes I do.
Here we go. So, this is some of the ideas
here, and also looking at things like pedestals instead of a flat
panel. So we really encourage people,
just give Jordan some feedback and jump in with your own
sketches on the back of a napkin, and we'll take it from
there because this is our aircraft.
We don't have to be boxed in to current thinking or designs.
So, there's a lot of talented people out there that we can
make this a really interesting looking aircraft.
So, our milestones, this is what we're looking at.
I am looking at a kickstarter campaign sometime in September
so that I can try and get this really off the ground and get
some software to the guys that are doing the design, get some
components in so we can start building our prototype system.
In October we're going to have our avionics kits online.
It may be September yet. We may be able to accelerate
that, including the CNC kits. Next year, I want to have the
one to one scale non-flying prototype here at Oshkosh.
Now, I want it non-flying because it's cheaper components.
If I have to rebuild something three or four times, I'm not
using aircraft grade stuff. I'll just go to Home Depot and
use whatever I can find there that's not bent like a hockey
stick. So that's why it's going to be
non-flying. We'll get the design right and
we'll get the assembly and processes right.
We'll take our time doing the processes.
As you saw before, that's one of the most important things is
making sure we understand how a builder is going to build this.
The year after that, we'll actually fly in our experimental
LSA. And then the year after that,
maybe we'll look at an SLSA for those people that are really
lazy. So, we'll figure all of that out
later, but, again, it's something that certainly I think
that there would be very interesting to have a certified
community-built aircraft out there.
And I know if you've invested some of your talent into this
aircraft, I think it would be interesting to say, oh, there's
my aircraft. So, the other thing, you'll see
the dotted line there in the middle, and the dictatorial,
benevolent dictatorship that I said will disappear.
And what we're going to be doing is opening this up for people to
design our next aircraft but also decide on what that
aircraft is going to be. So what I want to do is run a
competition next year, maybe some prizes, I don't know what
they might be yet, maybe a CNC kit or something like that that
we'll provide up as a prize, and we'll get designs from all over
the world and then the community will decide what the next one's
going to be. So MakerPlane version 2.0 will
be a completely community-derived aircraft.
And then, of course, we will get an aeronautical engineer to make
it safe and to actually get it into the air.
So one thing I just want to say, this is all about safety, and
like any other open source project, you always have
gatekeepers that make sure the code is secure and safe, and the
same thing with our aircraft. We'll make sure that it's as
safe as we possibly can. We'll also looking at a
ballistic recovery chute as well, by the way.
So that's something there. Please, our website:
MakerPlane.org. There are some cards on my booth
there, which has got the URL for the site.
This is where our community gathers.
And we also have the hanger workshop.
Now, the hanger workshop, I couldn't think of a cool idea,
so it's a workshop and there's a hanger, so we'll call it that.
But this is our open source repository.
This is our database of all of the plans and files that you
will find for all of the projects.
This has our current, I think there's 15 open source avionics
designs up there now. And there will probably be
another 13 to 15 up in the next few weeks.
And plus the EFIS which is coming online too.
Anyone can go in there and have a look.
Anyone can come in there and download.
You don't have to register. If you are running a project or
want to own a project, then you can register and actually start
your own project. So, this is your toolkit, your
framework that you can go in and start your own open source
aviation project. So if you've got a cool idea and
you want to gather a team of like-minded people and create
your next best thing for open source aviation, then this is
your platform to do it in. I don't have anything to do with
that. I'm just the shepherd.
This should be and will be a community-driven effort where
all I'm doing is providing the framework for everyone to
succeed. And that's also where our open
source aircraft plans will be as well, by the way.
Now, I've already started a project for the LSA, and I you
go in there you can actually see the initial very high level
system requirements document I put together, as well as that
breakdown of systems that I told you about as well.
So those are online and available.
Also, this is part of the core team project management system
that I'm using. For those of you who are in the
software development industry, I'm using the process called
agile and scrum, which is a software development process,
but the neat thing about it is that it's called iterative or
spiral development. So you do six-week what they
call sprints, and at the end of that six weeks you should have a
product, and then you do another six weeks.
So you've got release schedules every six weeks.
Now, of course you're not going to build an aircraft in six
weeks. That's not what we're doing with
the actual aircraft. But every six weeks we have
certain goals that we meet, and then we have something that we
can either use and continue to the next sprint, or it's
finished and we move on to the next part.
So, this particular, you don't have to read it, it's just
that's what we're using. Now, I'm also collaborating with
other open source projects, open source hardware projects, just
so you know. And one of them is called
WikiSpeed, and I'll mention those guys because they're cool.
The founder, Joe Justice, actually is using the same agile
methodology. He's a software geek as well,
living in Seattle, and he has a 100-mile-per-gallon open source
car which is extremely cool. So, the idea here is that maybe
you use the WikiSpeed car, your open source car to drive up to
your open source aircraft and fly away.
Talking about open source, actually one of the things I
also want to do, and this is part of, hopefully, the
Kickstarter to allow me to do this, is to start creating a
series of open source hanger plans as well.
There's an organization in Europe called WikiHouse, and
they have an open source house which you can put together on a
four by eight CNC machine, cut out all of your parts, and then
put together a house. So, I'll want to use that same
framework and design a hanger as well.
So you'll be able to use your CNC machine that you're building
your aircraft to also build your hanger, also build, perhaps,
your trailer. So you can take the wings off
and put it on a trailer and take it to the airport.
And maybe, I've said this at the booth, maybe an beach chair so
you can sit back and look at all of your handiwork as it comes
out. So, all of this is going to be
up there. When we say open source
aviation, I really mean that in the broadest sense.
Anything that you can think of from the deck chair on the
flight line rating people as they land all the way up to your
hanger and your aircraft and anything in between including
the avionics. How can you help?
This is my call to action here. I do have a newsletter on our
website, and I would encourage people to sign up for that.
It's just put your email address, and I'll send out
newsletters on a regular basis which keeps you up to date with
all of the free and core things that are coming up on our
website and as they're released. And also any news from the open
source community. Contribution to the forums is
the key. In fact, that probably should
have been the first one on my slide because without the
community, we won't prosper. This is all about community
collaboration. So, please, contribute.
Just go in there and say hi, just sign up online and just
talk to people. We've got a very, very small
group of people in the forums now.
So, please, the more the better. Join the design and build team.
We would love it if you could contribute to what Jeffrey is
doing, and then the other thing that I'm going to announce in
the next few weeks which is really cool too.
What we need is people to take over some parts that you don't
need to be technical. There are some things that we
just need some research done on and then contribute back the
findings to the team. So you don't need to be an
aeronautical designer or an electronic engineer or anything
like that. There's still a lot of work to
do in some areas. Like, for example, if Jeffrey is
designing the landing gear, what wheels are we going to use.
If we've got a certain weight, just do some research on the
wheels, maybe the brakes, whatever, so that we've got that
list together. I mentioned this before, but
maybe you want to start your own open source aviation project.
Now, we have some avionics designs on our website now from
a gentleman in eastern Europe called Mathias Vidmar, and if
you guys know anything about what he's been up to, he created
a whole list of open source radios and transponders and
radar altimeters and things like that.
They're out of date and they need updating, so I'm looking
for owners for those projects. Some of those diagrams, for
example, are hand-written and hand-drawn and they need to be
turned into electronic files. But it's a start.
And I just love the stuff that this guy's been doing.
So there are projects that are online now that need some love
and tenderness. And just spread the word, I'm
not worried about Kickstarter. Spread the word.
If you could just talk to people that you know, and also, because
I believe that MakerPlane does appeal to a different audience
as well, that maker movement, so it's not just aviators, it's
people that are interested in aviation, the kids that are
using Arduino, the kids that are interested in Android tablets,
the guys and girls that are in university or in high school or
whatever that are using Arduino and are using open source
software and hardware now... [PLANE ENGINE NOISE]
Who invited these aircraft to this thing?
What is it about these things? So, spread the word.
The thing is that I think we appeal to not just the aviators
out there but a new audience of wannabe aviators that now have
an opportunity to use modern technology and have a 3D printer
and a CNC machine that they can build other cool stuff.
And, by the way, they can also build an aircraft as well.
So, if you could spread the world as well, that would be
most appreciated. If you're an EAA chapter, just
talk to them about it. So, that really concludes my
presentation this morning. I really thank you for listening
to me. Does anyone have any questions
at all? >> I've got a million questions
but one that comes to mind is, this is a collaborative
effort... [INAUDIBLE]
So the question was, are we using open source software to
do our 3D modeling? The short answer is yes and no.
[LAUGHTER] The aeronautical engineer and
a couple of the team members are using SolidWorks.
So that is the best payware system that you can use to do
this type of design. However, the contributors can
use any open source software that they feel comfortable with,
and we ask them to provide the files in a particular format if
they want Jeffrey to have a look at it and put it into
SolidWorks. So that information is online.
So we can take DXF, so any open source software such as, I don't
know, there's lots of CAD programs out there that are open
source. I do actually have a list of
open source CAD and 3D modeling software in the forums as well.
So feel free to go in there and have a look at any of those.
And one of our contributors, Heather, on her blog, which
we've linked to, also has a whole list of open source 3D
software as well. So, the short answer is yes, but
the designers are using SolidWorks.
Any other questions? Yes.
[INAUDIBLE] >> So, the question is, what
is the power plant for this aircraft?
We haven't quite decided that yet.
As we go through the design process and look at the weight
and balance and what the requirements will be, right now
we're sort of tending towards ARV, maybe Corvair, something
like that because we want this really low cost.
If there are other similar cost engines out there or power
plants, then let us know and we'll definitely look at them.
One of the ideas with this being a collaborative effort is that
if people are looking at electric or hybrid and they want
to give that design back into the community, that's what it's
all about too. So we don't necessarily need to
be stuck on one particular type of propulsion or power plant.
Out of the gate to make it really simple and have the slot
A into tab B type construction we're going to specify a
particular power plant, and we're going to put all of the
instructions that people need to be successful with the aircraft.
So we'll choose one particular power plant and then we will
build it for that, but being collaborative, I'm really
interested personally in seeing what we can do with hybrid and
electric and retrofit this existing platform for that.
Any other questions? Did that answer it all right?
[INAUDIBLE] >> Okay, so the question was,
can I describe the four by eight cutting machine?
It's a four by eight build platform.
So it's slightly bigger, actually than a four by eight.
So you can put a four by eight sheet of ply on it or foam.
The gantry itself, you've got different options for the
gantry. So eight inches above the build
platform up to two feet. So that allows you to put quite
a bit of material underneath the cutting head.
I'm working with the manufacturers, so this is a
company, and we'll make all of these announcements online as
well, based here in the States that have an open source design,
and I've been very successful producing and providing CNC
kits. And I'm working with them to
design some hot wire cutters to go onto this machine as well.
So you take the gantry off, and you put motors on each end with
a hot wire between it. And you can cut out wing cores
and other foam material with it. And on the Zed axis you would
have a hot wire that goes the width of the table.
So you can put a foam core down on it, and then cut the
thicknesses you need for composite construction.
You also have an option for a torsion box which is something I
built for that particular prototype as well.
So you have a honeycomb structure underneath the table
to keep it level and flat and stop it from wrecking.
The material is basically a sign writing plywood.
So it's HDF, high density fiber hardwood, sandwiched or
laminated onto marine plywood. So it's very steady, very stable
under different temperature conditions as well.
It's almost as good as metal, but it's a fraction of the
price. So, there are other options as
well. So, four by eight, five by
twelve, and we may look at smaller machines as well.
The kits, sorry, I'll talk briefly about the kits.
You will have everything in the kit.
All the hardware, all of the electronics, all of the motors,
everything but the computer. And there are open source
software links. We'll either give you the
software on a CD or we'll give you a link to download the
software from the open source community.
[INAUDIBLE] >> Sorry, what was it?
[INAUDIBLE] >> The price range of the kit?
We're still working through the design so we don't know exactly
what. The target is under $15,000.
This design may be $10,000 to $12,000.
I just don't know yet, but that's definitely the target is
under $15K. You may be able to source parts.
Hopefully it will be well under that.
Hopefully well under that. One of the things is that we're
not in here to make a huge profit.
What we need is to make money to sustain the effort.
So there will be minimal margin on the kits, but for the parts
and everything else that you build yourself, definitely the
$10,000 to $15,000 but hopefully a lot lower.
But as we get through the build and design process, we'll start
understanding what the cost is going to be.
Any other questions? >> [INAUDIBLE]
There's different versions of open source.
Yes. >> [INAUDIBLE]
So the question, if I could paraphrase, is, what kind of
open source license would we be using under this project?
So, on our website, in fact maybe I'll just go to the
website, I actually have a pile of different licenses that
people can use for their particular project.
So, under tools and licenses there are four main open source
license schemes that you could apply to your project.
And one of the things that we're looking for for ours is a
creative commons. So it would providing everything
for free for non-commercial use. Because one thing that we don't
want to do is release everything and all of the sudden we have
one of the big aviation companies coming along and
taking that design and then creating their own commercial
one, and then basically they're cutting the whole community out
of what we're trying to do. So, the IP and copyright and all
of that, particularly for the MakerPlane derived stuff, will
reside back with MakerPlane as an organization but creative
commons that everyone can use for non-commercial use.
And then commercially, of course, if we're selling the
kits and we're selling the avionics then if someone else
wants to do that then they would have to come back to MakerPlane
and ask us if they wanted to derive a commercial product from
that. And then, of course, that goes
back into the community. So that's one of the ways that
Adafruit Industries works as well and also the Arduino
community. So it's very important that we
get the licensing right so we have the protection for us as a
collaborative group that we don't get someone coming along
taking the ideas, commercializing it, patenting
it, and then saying we can't use it anymore.
Okay? That's not very nice, but that's
the reason. So there's four different
licenses. So if you're starting you own
project, then you can read and use one of those licenses that
I've got up here. And we're probably looking at
the CERN open source hardware license which is the top one.
But, again, once we actually get our design and build process up,
then we're going to figure out which specific one, but they all
do the same thing. They're all sort of creative
commons non-commercial use licenses.
Each one's got its own little nuance.
Any other questions? Well, we'll leave it at that
then. I want to thank every one in the
audience for listening to me, and thank you for your
contribution. Even though you're sitting here,
you're contributing. So, thank you very much for
listening, and I really appreciate your support.
Thank you. [APPLAUSE]