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2012-09-26 12:34:37
By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter
When Karl Marx predicted a revolution putting the means of production in the
hands of the workers, he probably didn't imagine it to be fought by an army of
DIYers.
But increasingly tinkerers and hobbyists are proving they are more than equal
to the corporate world, and their efforts are challenging the traditional
methods of manufacturing.
From the 15-year-old high school student who created a pancreatic cancer test
using Google to people making money from home-made electronic devices, citizens
are most definitely doing it for themselves.
The availability of cheap components, from microcontrollers such as Arduino and
Raspberry Pi, coupled with the plethora of crowdsourcing models to allow the
sharing of everything from ideas to funding, means that production can move out
of the factory and into the home.
Garage band
HP's restored garage Firms such as HP famously began life in garages
"Things that 10 years ago you needed to be in a big company to make are now
possible from individuals," said Dale Dougherty, founding editor of Maker
Magazine and the Maker Faire.
Maker Magazine has become the Das Kapital of the maker movement showcasing what
people are making while the fair offers a real-life meeting point for what is
often a very diverse community - "from embroidery to robotics" as Mr Dougherty
puts it.
Started in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2006, the Maker Faire has now grown to
60 events around the world each year in locations as diverse as India, Tokyo
and Newcastle.
There is also an independent African Maker Faire, and this is a continent where
the maker movement can have real impact thinks Mr Dougherty.
"They are realising that they don't need things that a large Western company
has. In the past they have got hand-me-downs from the West which are difficult
for them to maintain or repair," he said.
Instead they can make their own devices, custom-made for medical,
communication, farming or other needs.
Laser cutters
Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired magazine, is so convinced that the
maker movement will bring about the next industrial revolution, that he has
written a book about it.
The parallels between the current phenomenon and the beginnings of the digital
revolution are remarkable, he told the BBC ahead of the launch of his book:
Makers, The New Industrial Revolution.
Thing O-Matic, 3D printer 3D printers are the killer app of the maker movement
"There is a sense that this is the PC movement over again. All the ingredients
that led to the digital revolution out of the west coast of the US in the 70s
and 80s are coming together in manufacturing," he told the BBC.
"The difference is it is not going to take 20 years because unlike 1977 we
already have the web," he added.
If the garages in which the computer revolution was born was all about
computers and code then the makers' garages are filled with laser cutters and
3D printers.
And this time you don't need a computer science or business degree.
For those starting out there is a huge web community of amateur experts waiting
with tips and advices. For those with ideas but no clue how to turn it into a
product, there is cloud manufacturing sites on hand to help with pretty much
every part of the process from making to marketing.
And for those with neither tools nor ideas there are physical hackerspaces
where they can go to get both.
The evidence of the revolution is in "just about everything you see on
Kickstarter", said Mr Anderson.
Take the Pebble smart watch which received huge amounts of interest and money
on the crowd-funding website, grabbing the limelight from a very similar
product designed by Sony.
"In the public perception it outcompeted one of the biggest electronic
companies in the world," said Mr Anderson.
A wood craftsman Makers have been around for a long time
Despite the gathering media circus around makers, Mr Dougherty urges caution
when predicting how they will change the world.
"Makers have always been out there, they just didn't have a name for
themselves. People often tell me proudly how they had a family member who was a
maker, they see it as a tradition rather than a trend," he said.
Democratising design
He agrees that there is some sort of revolution in the air though.
"We are undergoing a creative rather than an industrial revolution," he said.
"It is not replacing large scale manufacturing but people can go quickly from
an idea to realised design so it means that people are thinking differently,"
he added.
Drone factory People are setting up their own factories to make a variety of
things, including home-made drones
What is new, argues Mr Anderson is the way that corporations are facing a new
threat to the old ways of doing things from what he calls "an army of
micro-manufacturers".
Large-scale organisations are definitely sitting up and taking notice of the
Maker movement. Intel is one of the sponsors of the Maker Faire and big tech
corporation are beginning to hire makers for their research and development
teams, according to Mr Dougherty.
Autodesk, a leading CAD (computer aided design) software firm makes the
majority of money from clients in the building, construction and aerospace
industries but increasingly it is keen to adapt its industrial products for
consumer use.
Cash creators
It is what Autodesk describes as the "democratisation of design software".
The firm has recently bought Instructables, a website which offers blueprints
for a whole range of products. It is also an investor in TechShop, a physical
workshop which gives people access to tools and equipment.
It is little wonder that corporates are sniffing around at the edges of the
maker movement because is making one very important thing - money.
Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade items, has already surpassed $500m (
307m) in sales this year while 3D printer manufacturer Makerbot has sold 13,000
units of its affordable 3D printers.
Chris Anderson with his grandfather Chris Anderson became a maker with a little
help from his grandfather
3D printing may be the killer app of the maker movement and Mr Anderson
envisages it spreading its influence into a diverse range of industries, from
robotics, computer electronics and even jewellery.
For the time being though 3D printers are largely being bought by parents "for
their kids as a tool to inspire them", he said.
His own children love theirs.
"The boys make boardgame figures and the girls dolls' house furniture. Dolls'
house furniture may not seem like a major industry but it feeds into the idea
that it is all about kids playing with something and hoping to become the next
Mark Zuckerberg.
"Regular people are designing extraordinary things and some may even be able to
build a company around it," he said.
If Karl Marx had been born in the web age, he might have had to adapt his
famous call to arm slightly - "Makers of the world unite".