The FabLab (Fabrication Laboratory) is an innovation lab created to stimulate creativity and knowledge through hands-on practice, turning ideas into reality. Its goal is to promote professional qualification for young people and adults, as well as digital inclusion for children and adolescents enrolled in public elementary schools, through learning in robotics, programming, and basic to intermediate technology skills. Through this initiative, Ramacrisna seeks to bring inclusion, innovation, and cutting-edge technology beyond regional, social, and economic boundaries.
FabLab Ramacrisna features a 500 m² area and will offer state-of-the-art and advanced technology, with tools and materials for the rapid production of objects through prototyping. The space is equipped with six 3D printers, five virtual reality headsets, a CNC Laser Cut Router, 18 tablets, computers, and eight LEGO kits for Educational Robotics practice. These resources will enable the launch of new professional training courses, all offered free of charge and in high demand in the job market.
With this technological training in digital fabrication, programming, and electronics, project beneficiaries will be able to provide services or start their own businesses. They will have multiple opportunities to work with 3D printing, production and preparation of materials using a CNC Laser Cut Router, digital file cutting and engraving, software, digital manufacturing processes, and hands-on laser projects using CAD systems.
The perfect combination of technology and programming places robotics at the center when it comes to preparing children and adolescents for life.
Inventing, programming, assembling, and making a small robot move are activities that enhance logical reasoning, encourage collaborative work, and promote interdisciplinary skills, among other educational gains.
But it goes far beyond that. As students have fun with programmable kits, software, protoboards, wires, sensors, boards, and motors, they begin to shape their future without even realizing it. By developing an interest in programming, they prepare the ground for their future entry into the job market, which shows an ever-growing demand for these skills.
The use of programs such as PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Paintbrush, Publisher, and others helps expand the inventive and recreational capacities of children and adolescents. Educational and research software is used to enrich content and teaching processes. Video games have been adopted as a learning tool, as games present a series of challenges that constantly require players to evaluate, organize, and prioritize information and, based on it, make strategic decisions in both the short and long term.
The purpose of virtual reality is to simulate a reality that does not exist. This technology allows students to interact with three-dimensional objects and environments. For example, teachers can use tablets to guide students to remote or otherwise inaccessible areas of the real world, such as swimming with sharks or visiting outer space, or transform the classroom into a museum without leaving its physical location.
In this type of experience, students become active participants and are therefore able to enhance their learning process in a way that feels more immersive and closer to reality.
The 3D printer promotes activities that encourage collaboration, creativity, and sharing. To use this technology, students create their models in the Paint 3D application (Windows operating system) and then use the Simplify3D software to translate their 3D models into instructions that the 3D printer can understand.
