Cambridge, MA. MIT Professional Education today announced additional details on a new course, “Rapid Prototyping Technology”—part of the university’s summer Short Programs offering. Running July 20-24, 2015 on MIT’s campus in Cambridge, the course will provide participants hands-on exposure to processes commonly used to rapidly fabricate prototypes.
The course presents an introductory-level review of principles that govern rapid prototyping technologies, design for manufacturing, and best practices. Additionally, professionals will work in groups to model and design components for subsequent fabrication during lab time, providing a start-to-finish hands-on technical experience. Lab time will include fabrication guidance by MIT faculty and assembly of components, followed by measurement and inspection of the resulting parts. The course materials cover 3D printing, laser cutting (polymers), waterjet cutting (metals and polymers), CNC milling (metals and polymers), thermoforming (polymers), foam cutting, silicone molding, and use of a CNC router (wood and/or foam). Students will keep parts that they create during the class.
“Rapid prototyping technology is a key enabler for rapid design cycles and other creative engineering and artistic projects,” said Professor Martin Culpepper, director of the MIT Precision Compliant Systems Laboratory. “Program participants will take part in lab sessions that provide a hands-on experience with a variety of state-of-the art rapid prototyping technologies.”
The course is geared for professionals who need to understand what dominates and limits the capabilities of the rapid prototype fabrication processes. Professionals seeking knowledge and insight on selecting the right processes and technologies, and on making good design, fabrication, and assembly decisions will also benefit. The course is appropriate for designers, design engineers, directors of engineering, technicians, researchers, makers, model builders, and hobbyists. The lessons learned are highly useful in fields related to design, manufacturing, the arts, architecture, and R&D.
Enrollment is now open to qualifying U.S. and international professionals through the MIT Professional Education website.
About the Author
Rick Nelson
Contributing Editor
Rick is currently Contributing Technical Editor. He was Executive Editor for EE in 2011-2018. Previously he served on several publications, including EDN and Vision Systems Design, and has received awards for signed editorials from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. He began as a design engineer at General Electric and Litton Industries and earned a BSEE degree from Penn State.