We are fascinated by big interdisciplinary challenges and we see it as our duty to inspire others. We believe that success originates primarily from discipline, attitude and ability. In that order. At Octanis, we incubate small hobbies into big, successful and open-to-all projects.
Work on a projectA project begins with a suggestion from a member. Usually this happens during an Octanis Makers Night on a Tuesday evening. This formal proposal can be a simple presentation or a prototype "show-n-tell". If other members are convinced, ressources can be allocated to the project and the project is given 18 months time to grow up. It is expected that the person who first presented the project will be the projects lead. This process is our form of incubation. N.b.: student members can directly apply for funding via our Minigrants!
All our projects are fueled by our belief in our founding values:
We are fascinated by big interdisciplinary challenges and we see it as our duty to inspire others. We believe that success originates primarily from motivation, attitude and ability. We are enlightened by the UNs Global Goals.
We use off-the-shelf affordable components wherever we can. It's not worth trying to build something for everyone if nobody can afford the parts to make it. Even in mass production, things that don't have to be custom, shouldn't be.
Everything we produce is published in a way so that anyone can reuse or build upon our work. On the other hand, we understand the confidentiality of some items we deal with and make sure to stay within the bounds.
Not only are we learning a great deal ourselves in every project we do, but we also commit to educating willing persons on practical and theoretical subjects, so they too are enabled to build something with little help.
We are a diverse bunch of people from a variety of backgrounds. A lot of us attend or have attended one of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology. We all contribute in different ways to different projects within Octanis. Most members have one work area that they do very well and another that is a bit crazy and experimental! We all like to challenge each other and sometimes we stay late or come in on weekends. After all, there's an unlimited supply of coffee!
The Comittee serves the members by providing direction, guiding projects, organising workshops and events, and taking care of administrative duties.
A robust and reliable phone that can be used without treating it with any caution and that requires charging once a month. Link to Wiki page
An anti-procrastination box which locks away your phone while you're studying.
No food waste on campus anymore!
Experimenting with a particle detector used for detecting ionizing radiation.