Open Source Hardware
South Africa
South Africa
This site serves to document projects I've undertaken in open source hardware, and to add to the growing knowledge tree of open source hardware projects.
Spurred on by the knowledge sharing that the internet has inspired and the ever increasing cost pressures placed on South African tertiary education institutions ( this introduction is being written as the #FeesMustFall movement is running around my university shutting it down), open source hardware offers both a solution as well as opportunity to develop in house the hardware needed in tertiary institutions.
This has been made possible primarily by low cost electronics, low cost 3D printing and the internet allowing cross discipline knowledge sharing, so that even a Mechanical Engineer such as myself can figure out how to use a microcontroller.
The hardware focus for this project will be on devices needed in Mechanical Engineering research, as that is my work area. There are currently a number of other initiatives to build open source hardware, but at least for now they seem to be focused on the genetics/microbiology sphere ( See Other Initiatives ).
The first project I've undertaken is an open source data acquisition (DAQ) device. In particular, I'll be focusing on a system that links to a cheap DAQ and allows for subsequent data logging, control and automation of laboratory type projects. This would thus serve as a open source version or replacement for Labview.
Bradley Bock
bradley.bock@up.ac.za
Lecturer - Department of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering
University of Pretoria
South Africa
Updated 7 Dec 16