Fab Academy 6Months

Fab Academy is a 6-month diploma program, from Jan to Jun. You will learn how to envision, prototype and document your ideas through many hours of hands-on experience with digital fabrication tools.

How to Make (Almost) Anything

The Fab Academy teaches principles and applications of digital fabrication. It was developed to teach hands-on skills in fab labs, which began as an outreach project from MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, and has grown into a global network of more than 500 labs. Fab Academy instruction is based on MIT’s popular rapid-prototyping course How To Make (almost) Anything, both taught by Prof. Neil Gershenfeld. 

Students at the Fab Academy learn project development and management; website development tools; version control protocols; modelling with 2D and 3D software; laser cutting; design and programming circuit boards; interpret and implement programming protocols; interpret and implement networking protocols; the use of sensors and output devices; 3D printing and scanning; CNC machinning in small and large scale; mould design, construction and casting; mechanical and machine design; integration of techniques into a final project.

 

Everyone can take the Fab Academy course! Our students come from highly diverse backgrounds and age ranges, making the Fab Academy experience ever richer. We do ask our students to be proficient in English, both written and spoken.

If you have little to no experience in 2D and 3D modelling, digital fabrication, electronics programming and web design and development the course should be considered a full-time dedication program. If you rate your proficiency between High and Expert, you can consider the program to be part-time.

Learn to Turn Codes into Things

Just as communications and computation went from analog to digital, resulting in PCs and the Internet, the digitization of fabrication is leading to personal fabricators that will allow anyone to make almost anything, anywhere. The development of digital fabrication is based on creating codes that don’t just describe things, they are things, much as proteins are coded in molecular biology. This research roadmap is ultimately aiming at a Star Trek-style replicator, but prototype versions of these capabilities are already available in field fab labs. </P

At the Fab Academy, you will learn how to envision, prototype and document your ideas through many hours of hands-on experience with digital fabrication tools.

We take a variety of code formats and turn them into physical objects. The Fab Academy Diploma consists of a 5 month part-time student commitment, from January to June. The Fab Diploma is the result of the sum of Fab Academy Certificates. Progress towards the diploma is evaluated by a student’s acquired skills rather than time or credits.

The Fab Academy is a fast paced, hands-on learning experience where students plan and execute a new project each week. Each individual documents their progress for each project, resulting in a personal portfolio of technical accomplishments. #What you’ll learn

  • All the basic course materials.
  • 16 hours a week (minimum) of Fab Lab access and personal instruction (in schedule determined by labs)
  • 1 free assessment and evaluation within the cycle the student enrolled
  • 1 diploma + shipment
  • 1 certificate of completion
  • Personal space in Fab Academy Archive with lifetime access and maintenance
  • Live access to the Fab Academy Video Conferencing system and faculty
  • Access to all recorded lectures and reviews
  • Free software licenses for selected Autodesk and Solidworks software packages during the course
  • Lifetime membership to the Fab Academy Alumni group
  • When Graduated, free access to the Annual Fab Conference and Diploma Award Ceremony (in the year in which the student graduated)

Course fee is $5,000/- (exclusive of taxes). Fill the for below to get detailed structure of this program in your mailbox.

The Fab Academy Diploma is comprised by 20 Certificates:

  1. principles and practices
  2. project management
  3. computer-aided design
  4. computer-controlled cutting
  5. electronics production
  6. computer-controlled machining
  7. electronics design
  8. molding and casting or “wild card week”
  9. composites
  10. embedded programming
  11. 3D scanning and printing
  12. input_devices
  13. interface and application programming
  14. mechanical design
  15. output devices
  16. networking and communications
  17. machine design
  18. applications and implications
  19. project development
  20. invention, intellectual property, and income

Scholarship conditions

  • Students with scholarships must have full dedication to the program
  • Students with scholarships must attend to 80% of classes and all Regional Reviews; if for some reason (professional or personal) they cannot attend regularly, they must inform this to Coordination and to the Local Instructor, and arrange a schedule to work off regular hours.
  • Students with scholarships must finish the course in the 1st Evaluation Round (July)
  • Students with scholarships must comply with all payment deadlines
  • Students with scholarships cannot defer their grant for following years
  • If students discontinue the course, the scholarship will be terminated

NOTE: Students may have their scholarship terminated upon failure to meet performance requirements as outlined above.

Check Fab Academy for more details on the scholarships available.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • How long is the program?
    Fab Academy is a 6 month diploma program.
  • Where will this program be held?
    It will be held at Workbench Projects Halasuru facility.

 

Any other queries? Drop us an email at make@workbenchprojects.com

My background is in technical and by that I mean I am an electrical engineer. But during my college days I didn’t get a chance to work practically and understand things. So till 2014, I can say I was an engineer but just for the name sake. My interest in technology increased after I opted for fab academy,  wonderful course equipped with global help and teamwork. Fab academy is the best example of ‘Learning while doing’ like ‘Vigyan Ashram’. In fab academy we learned, designed, made and broke again with a 100% of hands on experience. I was filled with excitement and enthusiasm after making CNC plotter machine within 3 days under Nadiya Peek workshop at Barcelona where we jumped from machine to machine. FAB Academy + STEAM=Love of Making,

After fab academy course I have decided to aware everyone about digital fabrication and I tried to replicate digital fabrication things from school level, so initially I have started conducting FABed camp on weekend especially for rural kids and I had very great time to work with kids in FAB LAB. As on date I work with more 100 rural and urban students school level and undergraduates in Fabed camp with the help of Dr.Yogesh Kulkarni and Vigyan Ashram IBT team. Also I have run workshop for School instructors under STEAM education,now awareness of Digital fabrication replicating in rural India widely. I am happy that I can became part of it after my fab academy.Now a days I am working as Supernode for Indian labs. Special thanks to Sherry, Pamela, Neil, Vigyan Ashram and all fab academy coordination team and wonderful instructor Francisco Sanchez.

Pradnya P Shindekar, Fab academy 2014

For more success stories visit: http://academany.org/alumni/

Program Partners

Prof. Neil Gershenfeld

Instructor

Prof. Neil Gershenfeld is the Director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, where his unique laboratory is breaking down boundaries between the digital and physical worlds, from pioneering quantum computing to digital fabrication to the Internet of Things. He’s the founder of a global network of over one thousand fab labs, chairs the Fab Foundation, and leads the Fab Academy.

Ready to apply?

Applications for FabAcademy 2021 are now open.