FUBAR Labs hit me with technology

Three-dimensional printing with plastic, robotic mice and bartenders, “lasers” cutting Lucite, and voiding the warranty by taking apart printers! “There’s a lot of mad science going on here,” says Fair Use Building and Research (FUBAR) Labs president Phil Gillhaus. Last Saturday, curious ‘Parkers had the opportunity to peek inside this weird science laboratory at the FUBAR Labs open house.

Lest the knowledge that FUBAR is New Jersey’s first hacker space cause you to quake in your virtual boots, the fact is these folks won’t be trying to nose around your computer or Facebook account, or even the Pentagon mainframe. Whatever you’ve heard about hackers, here’s a chance to get out from behind the curve, and possibly pick up some technological skills yourself.

FUBAR is a non-profit space for do-it-yourself (DIY) “hackers” — people who like to take things apart and learn how they work, or reassemble them in new ways. In the FUBAR community space, DIY’ers can find each other and share knowledge and tools.

By day, Gillhaus is a Web developer and programmer with a Rutgers degree in Information Technology and Informatics. He decided that Central Jersey needs a hacker space after reading a few articles in Make magazine and 2600: The Hacker Quarterly. “I had the tools and equipment for what I wanted to do,” he says, “but most of us can’t afford these things individually. None of us uses it 24-7, but because it’s here, we can use it.”

FUBAR vice president Rick Anderson established the Continuing Studies’ Information Technology Department at Rutgers and created a virtual Rutgers for the online world Second Life. "Fair use building and research is exactly what we're about," says Anderson. "Open source hardware, software and the Open Source movement," meaning that there are no royalty or licensing fees and designs can be shared and adapted freely without ownership battles. There are open source designs for such things as 3-D object designs and robotic parts, for example. "Our goal is to replicate, use, and share designs," says Anderson.

Alice Zelman is a Cook College plant science graduate who heads up the FUBAR  bio-hacking contingent, applying the DIY approach to living organisms. Others in the group have interests in science and technology, or digital and electronic art. They began planning for the space a year ago, held meetings in diners and at a New Brunswick comic book store, and moved into the current space at 403 Cleveland Avenue in May.

On Thursdays, during Open Hack Night, members bring their projects to the two-room FUBAR offices and work on them or help each other, using the tools belonging to the collective. At the open house, Anderson and Gillhaus provided an overview of several projects, as members tinkered on laptops or with machines they were building, including:

• a robotic bartender they planned to have up and running for a party later Saturday night;
• the MakerBot 3-D printer, extruding plastic to "print out" three-dimensional objects that have been shaped and designed in a computer file;
• a hydroponics garden set-up awaiting some plants (Gillhaus says he'd love to grow some food in it, while acknowledging they need to do something about the minimal natural light available);
• a pair of robotic mice, who were likely grateful that building a robotic cat has not yet made it onto the group's agenda;
• modified Nerf guns, ultimately to be transformed into laser tag weapons.

Currently, many of their projects are focused on using microcontrollers, or arduinos. They offer workshops on how to make your own arduino, which is the first step toward physical computing. Some members work on up-cycling surplus and outdated equipment, transforming them and giving them another useful life; others have been teaching kids about robotics and electronics, or working with artists on reactive art projects.

“We’re not just a bunch of guys sitting around talking about comic books and software,” says Gillhaus. Indeed. The scope of this membership-driven group is ambitious, as they offer free or low-cost workshops and informal study groups, research how to effectively make their own solar cells, and consider how to close the digital divide between men and women, at least at FUBAR.

Visit FUBAR's Web site at fubarlabs.com to find out about workshops and how to join.

Next up: Apocalypse Survival or Nowtopia?