Makers Making Change
Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith has 30 years experience in the Information Technology Industry as a programmer, systems analyst and project manager. A lifelong tinkerer, he threw himself into the growing maker movement after retirement and is currently the president of Crashbang Labs, the Regina Makerspace. Kevin came out of retirement in 2017 to become the Regional Coordinator, Prairie Region, for the Makers Making Change initiative of the Neil Squire Society. He has built a number of 3d printers from scratch, is a licensed balloon pilot, qualified sailor/navigator and restorer of british sports cars.
More Maker Info
http://www.makersmakingchange.com/More Event Info
More Project Info
http://www.makersmakingchange.com/
What inspired you to make this project?
Makers Making Change leverages the very best parts of the maker movement: creativity, social awareness and inexpensive, local manufacturing. Disabled people quite often require specialized devices that are customized for them individually and that is something that makerspaces excel at.
One of the key elements in the high cost of assistive devices is that they are manufactured in small amounts and so are unable to take advantage of economies of scale. Using buildathons with local volunteer labour to manufacture small runs of devices allows Makers Making Change to offer assistive devices for much lower cost that other commercial options.