Proposal 2012

1. Abstract

Abstract: This is a proposal for deploying the GVCS by year-end 2012 and within a $2.4M budget. This document explains the nature of the GVCS, its relevance to the progress of humanity, and makes a case for funding its development. The audience for this proposal includes collaborators, funders, and developers who are interested in open-sourcing a set of critical, distributed production and infrastructure technologies for global economic resilience.

Abraham Lincoln once said that the future of America depends upon teaching people how to make a good living from a small piece of land.

Foreword and Disclaimer – The nature of this proposal is highly interdisciplinary, in that best practices in agriculture, technology, enterprise creation, organizational development, and many other topics are considered for the creation of resilient communities as enabled by the GVCS. Because this proposal draws from best practices in many disciplines, infrastructure solutions arise from synergies and efficiencies that emerge from an integrated approach. Such solutions are otherwise impossible to conceive of if one is approaching the problem from a disciplinary perspective. Specialists and subject matter experts may doubt or under-appreciate the claims stated in this proposal. Because of this, we encourage the reader to evaluate the validity of the claims by independent, critical analysis from a scientific approach based on first principles – as opposed to believing the 'gospel' – ie, the limitations of possibilities presented in a disciplinary approach. A critical approach based on first principles is desirable for the highly-integrated and creative development path undertaken by the GVCS (ie, [1] developing all the requirements for building resilient communities from scratch based on proved principles and proven technologies – as opposed to trying to build resilient communities based on retrofitting into existing economic, financial, and governance infrastructures, which are largely dysfunctional.

Collaboration Notes. This proposal is being developed collaboratively. Please download the latest copy of the proposal from the wiki. If you are invited to the Proposal Writing Team, please go to the Google document and edit from there. There is a number of links and supporting material to be filled in to support this work. Older supporting graphics may be gleaned from Linz Slides, Linz Presentation. Key questions, to be updated, are at OSE FAQ. The underlying design principles are at OSE Specifications. Old work on Pattern Language for hardware design is here. The closest educational curriculum to the future GVCS curriculum is the Ecovillage Design Curriculum from Gaia University.

A significant amount of editorial work and supporting graphics are desired for all the descriptions. The initial phase of the proposal, until January 15, 2011, is to provide a throwdown of all the necessary concepts, which can then be wordsmithed and backed up with further references and basic accounting to verify the costs/ergonomics involved in village creation. Translations, to be started as soon as the document or at least some given sections stabilise, are also desired into: Spanish, German, French, Dutch, Portuguese, Polish, and Chinese, among others.

2. Introduction

Open Source Ecology is a network of farmers, engineers, and supporters that has, for the last four years, been creating the Global Village Construction Set - an open source, low-cost, high performance technological platform which allows for the easy, DIY fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a sustainable civilization with modern comforts. The GVCS lowers the barriers to entry into farming, building, and manufacturing and can be seen as a life-size lego-like set of modular tools that can create entire economies, whether in rural Missouri, where the project was founded, the mountains of Oregon, or in the heart of Africa.

Key Features of the GVCS:

Open Source - we freely publish our 3d designs, schematics, instructional videos, budgets, and product manuals on our open source wiki, and we harness open collaboration with technical contributors.

Low-Cost - The cost of making or buying our machines is on average, 8 times cheaper than buying from an Industrial Manufacturer, including labor costs of $15/hour for a GVCS fabricator.

Modular - Motors, parts, assemblies, and power units can interchange, where units can grouped together to diversify the functionality that is achievable from a small set of units.

User-Serviceable - Design-for-disassembly allows the user to take apart, maintain, and fix tools readily without the need to rely on expensive repairmen.

DIY - The user gains control of designing, producing, and modifying the GVCS tool set.

Closed Loop Manufacturing - Metal is an essential component of advanced civilization, and our platform allows for recycling metal into virgin feedstock for producing further GVCS technologies - thereby allowing for cradle-to-cradle manufacturing cycles.

High Performance - Performance standards must match or exceed those of industrial counterparts for the GVCS to be viable.

Flexible Fabrication - It has been demonstrated that the flexible use of generalized machinery in appropriate-scale production is a viable alternative to centralized production.

Distributive Economics - We encourage the replication of enterprises that derive from the GVCS platform as a route to truly free enterprise - along the ideals of Jeffersonian democracy.

Industrial Efficiency - In order to provide a viable choice for a resilient lifestyle, the GVCS platform matches or exceeds productivity standards of industrial counterparts.

2.1 What is the GVCS?

The GVCS is an open source construction set for creating civilization with modern day comforts. The GVCS includes machines, equipment, tools, components, and other infrastructures for creating a complete economy: food, fuel, energy, building materials, transportation, materials, and fabrication. Since most of the GVCS is a machine of some kind, we generally refer to the GVCS as a set of machines, even though the GVCS includes items such as Bakery, Dairy, and Agricultural Nursery.

The GVCS aims to simplify, modularize, and make transparent the critical technologies used by humans. The scope of this is to make technology user-friendly to the extent that all of our technology base functions like a life-size Lego set that people can use, play with, adapt, and maintain. Thus, the central question of this work is the development of an unprecedented user-friendly interface to common technologies, which to date have been operated and maintained by specialized 'wrench-turners' or technicians. We are demonstrating the limits of modularization and simplification of technology – without compromising performance – towards the goal of creating user-friendly modules or 'black boxes' of functionality. It is not required that the user know the inner workings of these modules, but it is critical that the user understand the resulting functionality, range of use, and other properties that allow the user to combine these modules into working wholes – in the nature of a life-size Lego set for real technology. This applies to mechanical devices (ex., cars and bulldozers), electromechanical devices (ex., windmills and solar turbines), electrical devices (ex., renewable energy equipment and laser cutters), computer automation (ex., computer-controlled machining and robotic arms), and materials processing (ex., induction furnace and hot metal rolling). The goal is to reskill people towards self-sufficiency, without giving up the advantages of the division of labor and the trappings of modern civilization (ex, internet and airplanes).

One of the central themes in this work is that we are in the Age of Substitutability (ref). This means that scarce and strategic resources may be replaced by ubiquitous and common resources – under the assumption that we have access to the enabling information and to energy. Substitutability further implies that any toxic, centralized, industrial process has a completely benign, closed-loop, small-scale, open source, ecological variant.

2.2 GVCS Components: 50 GVCS Technologies

This section outlines the 50 components of the GVCS; related problem statement; project status and development needs; development budget requirements.

The comprehensive list is this (Table: item, sector (ag, fab, etc, specific products and services provided, ease of development?)

LifeTrac; MicroTrac; Bulldozer; Power Cube; Multimachine: CNC Mill, Drill, Lathe, Surface Grinder, Cold Cut Saw, Abrasive Saw, Metal Bandsaw; Ironworker Machine; RepTab (CNC Torch Table; CNC Router Table); RepRap; 3D Scanner; CNC Circuit Mill; Robotic Arm; Laser Cutter; MIG Welder; Plasma Cutter; Induction Furnace; Metal Hot Rolling; Moldless Casting; Wire Extrusion; Forging; Modern Steam Engine; Gasifier Burner; Steam Generator; Solar Turbine; 50 kW Wind Turbine; Extraction of Aluminum from Clay; Pelletizer; Universal Seeder; Tiller; Spader; Microcombine; Universal Auger (String Trimmer, honey extractor, posthole digger, tree planting auger, slurry mixer, washing machine); Materials-moving Auger; Hay Cutter; Baler; Hay Rake; Loader; Backhoe; Chipper/Hammermill/Stump Grinder Trencher; Open Source Car; CEB Press; Dimensional Sawmill; Cement Mixer; Well-drilling Rig; Nursery; Bakery; Dairy; Inverter; Electrical Motor/Generator; Hydraulic Motors and Cylinders (50 total)

An initial list of subject matter expertise required to deploy the above projects is here.

Project status is defined based on these necessary steps: (1) Conceptual design – schematics, diagrams; (2) Recruitment of Subject Matter Expert (SME) engineer or designer ;(3) Model of concept; (4) CAD design and fabrication drawings; (5) peer review; (6) Identification of SME fabricator or prototyper; (7) fabrication; (8) field testing; (9) iteration up to 3 prototypes prior to Full Product Release. A summary table for project status is shown in the section following the definition of the 50 technologies.

Pattern Language

A pattern language is a structured method of communicating good design practices within a field of expertise. The authors point out 3 salient pattern languages that contribute to the design of the GVCS: (1), mechanical equipment pattern language; (2), power electronics pattern language, and (3), flexible fabrication pattern language. By understanding these languages, the user gains the capacity to understand, design, build from modules, modify, and adapt any tools associated with the particular pattern.

The mechanical equipment pattern language is a set of patterns that underlies the mechanical infrastructure (LifeTrac open source tractor and others). It may be described as these main patterns:

• Interchangeable power units (Power Cubes) can power any device (tractor, car, microtractor, bulldozer, sawmill, power generator, and any other implements)
• Modularity – functional modules, such as power units, motors, and implements – function as modules that can be put together in various combination to create functional devices.
• Hydraulic power is used throughout. This allows for plug-and-play interchange of hydraulic motors and cylinders, as well as control valves – between different devices. This allows one to compose a mechanical device from a number of building modules.
• Design-for-disassembly – bolt-together design allows for the modification of devices, for easy repair and replacement of parts, and for disassembling a device for shipment.

The power electronics pattern language is the language that allows the composition of a Universal Power Supply – a device that powers any electrical devices such as: induction furnace, welder, laser cutter, plasma cutter, inverter, converter, charger, wind turbine charge controller, electric motor controller, and others. The Power Electronics Construction Set (PECS) is the set of techniques and tools for building such a Universal Power Supply. The pattern involved is:

• Allowance for quick-connect input and output of electrical power of any magnitude, including DC and AC of any frequency
• All functionality occurs via plug-in 'black boxes' of functionality
  • All control of current, voltage, frequency, and timing occurs internally via a number of modules with quick-connect inputs and outputs
• Current and voltage magnitude scaling is achieved by plug-in addition of components
• Repair of sensitive components is achievable via plug-in of components
• Mechanical clamp-down secures sensitive components and heat sinks
• Scalable cooling mechanism is achieved via plug-in fans or liquid cooling.

The flexible fabrication pattern language allows one to understand and to perform on-demand fabrication of anything from scrap steel as a feedstock:

• Induction furnace followed by hot metal processing allows for the generation of virgin raw metal, alloys, and forged or cast parts
• Surface grinder generates precision metal from raw virgin metal
• 3D scanner or CAD produces toolpath files for CNC metal fabrication and 3D printing in plastic
• Cutting and ironworking prepares stock metal for assembly, via welding or fasteners such as bolts
• Manual or robotic (torch table or robotic arm) welding and torching produces components and assemblies
• Circuit mill produces circuits for electrical devices
• Precision parts, structural assemblies, electronics, and plastic components are assembled from open source plans to produce any mechanical or electromechanical tool or device, including CNC machines, cars, tractors, or laser cutters.

Tool Selection Process

Take each need of an advanced civilization infrastructure. Think of the easiest way to provide that need. Think carefully about OSE Specifications for hardware. Then limit yourself to 50 tools to provide the whole set. You will find then that you will come up with a very similar list, if not identical.

2.3 Salient features

• Open Source
• Minimal but sufficient set
• Equipment costs are ~8 times lower
• Capable of producing modern day comforts
• Allows one to eliminate a need to 'work' if one uses tools to provide needs
• Can be used to create modern civilization from scrap steel
• Can be used to extract aluminum from clay – advanced civilization
• Reduces the cost of living to zero
• Relies on local resources

2.4 Cost and Comparison to Existing Options

Open source economic development has demonstrated significant cost reduction (~8) of open source products (ref) compared to off-shelf counterparts, under the assumption that DIY assembly is feasible. For example, a commercial 3D printer costs $10k (ref), while the open source counterpart, RepRap, costs $400 in parts (ref).

It may likewise be shown that power electronics devices, such as induction furnace power supplies, cost approximately 10-20 times their component cost.

Thus, if the intellectual property of such devices is open-sourced, and if the devices are redesigned for flexible manufacturability as opposed to mass production – then users end up with significant cost reduction for such products.

The vision of Industry 2.0 via flexible fabrication relies on such cost reduction, and flexible fabrication facilities such as TechShop may become the new productive engine in society.

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