Mechanical Lab
The mechanical lab is where materials are mechanically converted into products. The range of tools range from a wide
variety of analogue tools that still play an important part in materials fabrication processes, to digital tools such as the class
of tools called computer numerical control (CNC) equipment. This is also the room in which products that straddle
mechanical and electronic (or mechatronic) domains, for example robots and drones, are partially built.
Rapid Prototyping (3D Printing and Laser Cutting)
Rapid prototyping is the process of moving from a computer aided drawing or design to a physical model using additive
manufacturing, more commonly known as 3D printing. The Lab in the UniPod will also have laser cutting on offer, which is a
subtractive process and delivers primarily 2D parts, though they can be used to make 3D parts quickly.
Audio-Visual and Augmented Reality/Visual Reality (AR/VR) Lab
This is an excellent tool for creating simulations that can be examined and even explored visually in manner that is much
closer to real life (i.e. in 3D) than 2D representations used in typical videos. Thus, this technology plays a critical role both as
step within the iterative design process, and also for enabling the remote experience of imagined or simulated realities. VR
and AR technologies are also powerfully used for training, and remote guidance by an expert in a variety of processes.
Green Tech Lab
The Greentech Lab enables users to experiment and design with plastics recycling (sorting, cleaning, shredding and injection moulding), green
energy especially solar power. Note that the other workshops described above make possible the manufacture of additional equipment that maybe
desirable for a given project. Soil analysis kits are also be availed towards improved farming practice.
Wood Working Lab
The wood working workshop is where carpentry is taught and practiced, As is the case with metal work, both analogue and digital tools are used,
from saws, planers and drills to CNC routers.
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Electrical and Electronics Lab
Many modern products today include an element of electronics in order to make them adaptive or responsive to their environment, or controllable
through an integration between electronics and coding into such products. This is true of many industrial and other processes as well, and has given
rise to new areas of academic and R&D pursuits including fields such as embedded system and control systems. The areas of our lives impacted by
such technologies are broadening daily as we shift deeper into the 4th 12 industrial revolution. These technologies sit on a base of electronics and are
animated by coding. This workshop will make possible the realization of a range of prototypes based on such, including the capacity to test the
prototypes and also to make printed circuit boards (double sided), from the dark room to populating the board with components.