The Building Process

On Tuesday we had our second full day of designing and building our prototypes. Most of the groups had started 3D printing and using the Shop Bot to begin the building process. Out of the 7 problems that we chose to innovate solutions for, my group worked on the waste management and the walkways leading up to and in front of the informal settlement homes. We manufactured a walkway using recycled plastic water bottles in order to reduce the amount of waste and to provide a cheap and easy solution to the settlement residents. It was a very productive day spent in the FabLab and by the end we all had a better idea of what our finished prototypes were going to look like.

By Wednesday morning each group had developed their first prototype and was making slight adjustments to improve upon their first models. My group in particular spent the majority of the day building a life-size model of our prototype and a smaller portion of time on a scaled version for our whole group prototype. In the afternoon we attended a lecture given by two representatives of the RSU, Responsabilidad Social Universitaria, who talked about academic social responsibility and about the program they offer in Peru where they help you to develop marketing and business development techniques. At the end of the day each group had contributed a part to the almost complete prototype of the house and the several different solutions we strived to solve. After a long day we were looking forward to relaxing and eager to continue with our projects the next morning.