by Brian O’Connell, Doctoral Student in Mechanical Engineering
With the support of the CEEO Innovation Fund, Ph.D. student Brian O’Connell set out to develop a way to understand better and utilize the makerspace resources at Tufts University. With the assistance of William Dolan, they combined a range of open source hardware and software components to track attendance at the various makerspaces as well as usage of the individual stations within a central database. With 302 registered users in the database and over 2000 logged instances of use for the spaces and equipment, the added information allows for better control and oversight of the space and equipment and gives us insight into how students are making use of the creative resources they provide. Sign In/Out stations at Jumbo’s Maker Studio(JMS) at the CEEO, JMS at 574, and in the Crafts Center already exist along with equipment terminals in JMS. The system will be implemented fully in the design spaces of Bray Lab over the upcoming summer.
The system consists of a central database which the RFID-based terminals wirelessly communicate with to confirm user permission statuses and log use. The database lives on a Raspberry Pi Model B+ and is developed using PostgreSQL, an open source object-relational system. The main facets of the database are the user, station, and permission tables. The user information links to the maker profiles on Jumbo’s Maker Network (JMN) at http://maker.tufts.edu. Another project this summer will be to live update the maker profiles with user information such as current permissions or hours experience on certain equipment. The basic intelligence within the system currently works to clean and monitor the database but eventually will incorporate some machine learning approaches to become a digital assistant for the network, automatically assisting users in their creative endeavors at Tufts.
The RFID terminals serve as the eyes and ears of the system. Each contains an RC522 RFID card reader, an Arduino development board as a processor, an ESP8266 WiFi module, an LCD, and indicator lights. Workstation terminals also contain a means to control data or power transmission to the equipment. Users interact with the terminals with an open-source encryption standard RFID tag, MIFARE Classic. They either use a Charlie Card from the MBTA or a provided RFID sticker or keychain. The terminal checks the unique identifier within the RFID to connect the user’s permission status in the database, either allowing the equipment to function for them if they have the proper permissions or denying them access but directing them to where they can get the training necessary to use it. Power interlock terminals use the SparkFun Beefcake Relay Control Kit to interrupt power when the equipment is not in use. The project developed a custom USB interlock for data interlock terminals.
The raspberry pi also hosts a web page to serve as interfaces to the system. Here, administrators can check the usage logs, update permissions, add stations and request new terminals, and see what and who are in each location. An analytics page was recently added to provide graphic trends for use of the system. Online training quizzes for the spaces and equipment also live here, giving students the option to sign in and take the training online, gaining access to some of the safer fabrication options without taking up staff time but still maintaining a training log for safety oversight.
In the coming months, this project expects to grow and see more use. The summer plans include integrating the terminals into more spaces on campus. Upcoming research intends to utilize the databases and interfaces to see how courses and curriculums use the makerspaces and how the added realtime data from the RFID terminals informs instruction. Eventually, the system will begin to expand into spaces outside of Tufts and utilize more interesting ways to encourage interaction and collaboration between users. Until then, the team continues to improve and stabilize this technology as well as continually integrate stakeholder feedback to make it a more useful tool for the makerspaces at Tufts University.
