Research hardware describes physical objects developed as part of or for a research process. It is usually available as tangible prototypes whose documentation and design quality vary greatly. While being recognised inside the UNESCO recommendation for open science, the participatory potential of open source hardware development practices needs to still be properly fostered in academia. One main issue is that there are low incentives and a lack of harmonised practices to foster sufficient hardware documentation and dissemination.
The OpenMake project aims at modifying the landscape of research hardware towards the mission of reproducibility. Therefore, we are presenting a consolidated Minimal Template that serves as a toolkit to create your own guideline for hardware documentation, as well as a review and publication platform for hardware called RePub tool. On top of providing recognition for peer-reviewed hardware designs, the platform will also support raising the quality of designs and their documentation.
Hardware that is well documented and reusable thanks to open source hardware licenses can thrive faster, are legally compliant and enable more effective knowledge transfer mechanisms, as no patent or other intellectual property rights of originators (aside from branding) are guarded against infringement. Rather the hardware is disseminated for rapid radical open innovation by industrial players within complementary competition and for societal benefit.
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