[p2p-research] open structures' modularity revolution

[Michel Bauwens]

Hi Eric,

could you also discuss the following for our blog:

see


*= The OS (OpenStructures) project explores the possibility of a modular
construction model where everyone designs for everyone on the basis of one
shared geometrical grid.* It initiates a kind of collaborative Meccano to
which everybody can contribute parts, components and structures.

URL = http://www.openstructures.net/pages/1


[edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Open_Structures?title=Open_Structures&action=edit&section=1>
] Discussion

Glyn Moody on why this project is important:

"If the stuff to hand isn't modular, you can't really share, because your
stuff isn't compatible with other people's stuff. If it isn't modular, you
can't share out tasks and scale. If you can't share out tasks, you can't
have people working independently, at their own pace and in their own way,
which means the project isn't really open. If it isn't modular, you can't
swap in some new elements while leaving everything else untouched, which
means no "release early, release often", no experimentation, no rapid
evolution. Modularity is indispensable.

I think that's why open source hardware has singularly failed to take off.
It's difficult to make bunches of atoms modular in the way that bunches of
bits are (at least until we have general 3D printers, in which case we're
done...)

But could there be a way of introducing that modularity at a higher level so
as to enjoy the benefits outlined above? I do believe there is, and with
hindsight, it was pretty obvious (er, so why didn't I think of it?). It's
called OpenStructures:


- The *OS (OpenStructures) project explores the possibility of a modular
construction model where everyone designs for everyone on the basis of one
shared geometrical grid. It initiates a kind of collaborative Meccano to
which everybody can contribute parts, components and structures*.


As you can see, the clever people behind this project have the magic word
"modular" in there. Specifically, they have devised a very simple grid
system that ensures that things fit together, even when they're made by
different people at different times and for different purposes.
Significantly, the grid is based on binary multiples and subdivisions:


- *If you choose to apply the OS grid for the dimensions of a part, at least
one of the measurements of this part (length, wideness and thickness or
height) should correspond to either 0,125cm / 0,25cm / 0,5cm / 1cm / 2cm and
multiples of 2cm in order to be compatible with other parts*.


What's really impressive about this project is not just this insight into
the modularity of elements, but the completeness of the vision that results.
For example, there is an explicit hierarchy of elements, starting from OS
Parts, which combine to form OS Components, from which are made OS
Structures, and finally OS Superstructures.

It's an amazing vision, and I think it could have a major impact on the
world of open source hardware, at least of this particular construction-set
type." (
http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2010/03/open-sources-not-so-secret-sauce.html)



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