Project number 2...

Over the summer we will be starting a project with Don Schoendorfer of the Free Wheelchair Mission, helping him refine a second generation wheelchair.

Need to be inspired to do good things? Take a moment and read about Don's story here

This will be a summer of growth for OneLab...bigger space, bigger teams, bigger dreams...


I have no idea where this is going or what it will look like in the end, but I know it feels right...

Our new home...

We stumbled onto a great little community workshop in Columbus called "The Idea Foundry" founded by some local engineers.

"The Idea Foundry is a community workshop, learning center, and occasional art gallery located in Columbus, OH. We are a collection of students, professionals, artists, engineers, and general creative enthusiasts who wish to bring imagination to reality. "

Thom and I stopped in to see what it was all about and noticed some key features right away:

#1 - a well stocked workshop with all sorts of tools...




#2 - A computer lab...


#3 - Pet rats...



and last but not least....HEAT!!!!!


Needless to say, Thom and I were all in, and are pleased to announce that this will be the new home for the OneLab Initiative! We look forward to working side by side with others in the community who want to make a difference, and are excited to contribute to the positive energy this place has!

100% yield!?!

During late March, Erv from CTI (in the black hat) visited our little workshop.




During the visit, we broke out in to a brainstorming session (sidewalk chalk and the garage floor) and threw around some ideas for reducing the number of "brokens" (cracked grain). Erv flew back to CTI headquarters and got right to work building some of the ideas. Apparently, one of the ideas produced a 100% yield (no brokens) which is a pretty big deal! If this is the case, and we can successfully implement this on a device, the thresher would allow villages to produce 70% more grain from the same amount of land! Not bad for 4 guys freezing in a garage!

Millet shortage...

Our original goal was to ship the thresher prototype to Mali at the beginning of May for testing. However, it seems that all the millet in Mali has been threshed since last falls harvest, so there was not much material to test. CTI decided to postpone the ship date until the fall, which will give the team the summer to further refine the prototype, as well as save our pennies so we can hopefully tag along!

Back in the saddle...

I am back in the saddle after some much needed time off. This was the first two week vacation I have ever taken...by the middle of the first week, I had forgotten what time/day/week it was...

I am amazed at how long a day is when not measured in Outlook meeting requests...