MAS.S60

MAS.S60. Often referred to as the "Crash Course" or "How to Make (Almost) Anything," it is a renowned, intensive workshop offered during the Independent Activities Period at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The course is a flagship offering of the MIT Media Lab and its associated research groups, providing students with a rapid, hands-on immersion into the realms of digital fabrication, computational design, and physical computing. Its pedagogical philosophy emphasizes learning through making, challenging participants to conceive, design, fabricate, and program functional devices within an extremely compressed timeframe, thereby democratizing access to advanced manufacturing tools and fostering a culture of rapid prototyping and innovation.

Overview

The course serves as a cornerstone of the maker movement within academia, bridging the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application in engineering and design. It is strategically scheduled during the Independent Activities Period, a special term at MIT dedicated to unconventional learning experiences, workshops, and lectures. The curriculum is designed to emulate the fast-paced, project-driven environment of a modern research and development lab or startup company. Participants gain direct, supervised access to a suite of industry-standard fabrication tools, transforming the MIT Media Lab and affiliated spaces like the Center for Bits and Atoms into a high-tech workshop. The course's reputation for intensity and transformative learning has made it a highly sought-after experience, attracting a diverse cohort of graduate students, researchers, and occasionally professionals from across MIT and collaborating institutions.

Course Content and Structure

The syllabus is a whirlwind tour of contemporary fabrication and electronics techniques, typically structured as a series of daily skill-building modules followed by a sustained final project sprint. Core technical modules consistently include computer-aided design using software like SolidWorks or Autodesk Fusion 360, laser cutting on systems from companies like Epilog Laser, 3D printing with Fused deposition modeling and Stereolithography machines, and computer numerical control milling for both printed circuit board creation and larger-scale subtractive manufacturing. Electronics instruction covers embedded system programming on platforms such as the Arduino or ESP32, sensor integration, and actuator control. The pedagogical arc culminates in a final project, where students, often working in small teams, must integrate multiple fabrication and programming modalities to create a novel, functional device, presenting their work in a final showcase reminiscent of a science fair or design review.

Instructors and History

The course was originally conceived and developed by Neil Gershenfeld, a professor at the MIT Media Lab and the director of the Center for Bits and Atoms, whose seminal book *Fab: The Coming Revolution on Your Desktop—from Personal Computers to Personal Fabrication* laid much of the intellectual groundwork for the global fab lab network. Gershenfeld has been instrumental in shaping the course's vision and content since its inception. Instruction is typically led by a team of experienced researchers and doctoral candidates from the Center for Bits and Atoms and related groups within the MIT Media Lab, such as alumni of the course who return as teaching assistants. This creates a self-perpetuating community of expertise. The course's model has been highly influential, inspiring similar intensive workshops at other institutions worldwide and serving as a direct precursor to the broader Fab Academy program, a distributed educational model operating through the global network of fab labs.

Student Projects and Impact

Student projects from MAS.S60 are celebrated for their creativity, technical ambition, and occasional prescience regarding future technological trends. Past projects have spanned a wide spectrum, including wearable haptic feedback devices, interactive musical instruments, novel human-computer interaction interfaces, and specialized scientific instrumentation. Many projects have evolved into published academic work at conferences like CHI or UIST, formed the prototype basis for startup ventures, or contributed to larger research initiatives within MIT. The course's primary impact lies in its empowerment of individuals, providing them with the confidence and skill set to prototype almost any physical idea, thereby lowering the barrier to entry for hardware innovation and contributing significantly to the pipeline of talent for the technology industry and the maker movement.

Related Courses and Programs

MAS.S60 exists within a broader ecosystem of related courses and programs at MIT and beyond. It is a direct inspiration and feeder for the Fab Academy, a more comprehensive, semester-long digital fabrication diploma program coordinated by the Fab Foundation. Within MIT, related coursework includes MAS.863 (How to Make Something that Makes (Almost) Anything), which focuses on machine building, and various other project-based courses offered through the MIT Media Lab, the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and the MIT Sloan School of Management. The course's philosophy also aligns with initiatives like the MIT D-Lab, which applies design and engineering to challenges in global development. Internationally, its structure has been adapted by numerous universities and fab labs, influencing curriculum design in design thinking and rapid prototyping worldwide.

Category:Massachusetts Institute of Technology courses Category:MIT Media Lab