Right to repairIn a market that designs closed objects and provides little to no replacement parts, the possibility to open up our electronic devices and easily swap damaged is fundamental. To accomplish this, planning while making the first steps in development is vital. We must allow users to dismantle their devices and re-use parts in future projects repurposing lithium cells, PCBs, wires and connectors or simply just for encouraging the recycling and sorting of the materials for the correct disposal path.

It is fundamental to repair a product. However, it is even more important not to need any repair thanks to the product design itself. In fact, it is vital to combine good design choices with good electronics choices. The engineering process and the design process must work seamlessly together to create an outcome that is both safe and extremely reliable to use.

When designing open hardware or software, the designer intends to distribute its work with a free licence, encouraging possible modifications and further distribution. There are many open-source licences, but the one I have been using the most, both for software and 3D printing projects, is Share-Alike. This licence enables the original work to be remixed and republished but only under the same original licence. The goal is to keep the project open even if a company could want to implement and modify it to satisfy its needs. Furthermore, this ensures that all future developments are public and accessible to everyone. Since I strongly believe in collaboration, I think the only way to keep it alive is to be sure that the project remains open. What does it mean, practically, to have access to an open-source project? Thanks to technological advancements, more efficient components will be soon available on the market. The users must access the source files to adapt their old devices to the newer components, even if the project is not supported anymore by its founders. Furthermore, the aims of this project are multiple. I want to provide a system for makers and DIY users while proving this can be implemented on a large scale industrial market. I believe a producer would be tempted by an open-source modular battery project that provides proof of operation and is free for adoption.

Powered by new and more complex means of production, it revolutionized the way we produce at home. Through sharing on online platforms, innovation has been made faster and products more advanced, creating immense libraries of free projects that strongly compete and pose a threat to closed-source traditionally manufactured ones.D.I.Y. links everything together and is implicit in every step I took while developing this project. To look at things with a D.I.Y. perspective means to create easy to assemble (and disassemble) objects. These products need to be easy to repair, made with readily available materials and whose plans are open for everyone to use. To design with Do it Yourself in mind means democratize design and make it accessible to everyone independently of their economic situation. It means to create products that, since their birth, are thought to be user friendly because they can be assembled by users in everyday’s contexts.