*Chapter Spotlight Project*

Learn about the e-NABLE chapters around the world that are making things happen! This regular installment will cover 6 topics: Site & Community, Tech & Specs, Team & Specialities, Design & Process, Projects & Collaborations, and Research

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ROBOTEL| Istanbul, Turkey | January 2021

Chapter Spotlight also available in Google Docs

Site & Community


  • Active e-NABLE members since 2014
  • Based in Istanbul, Turkey
  • Over 100 device deliveries to children

Robotel Türkiye is a chapter based in Istanbul, Turkey with volunteers all around the country.  The team has founded two related social entrepreneurship institutions focused on the maker movement:

  • ‘Maker Çocuk’ (Maker Kids) for STEAM education
  • ‘Maker Atölye’ (Maker Space) for 21st Century Skills

The team joined e-NABLE in 2014 as partners of an experience design company.  The first hand was printed for a social responsibility project in support of Mehmet Ali Toprak.  The projects with kids began at the end of 2015 and took off with the help of mainstream news coverage and social media.  As the volunteer community grew, they decided to expand all around Turkey.  With more recognition, requests for devices increased as did people offering to help.

In the first weeks of 2017 the team formed an official NGO called Robot El Derneği. In addition to organizing volunteers and helping cases, they also collaborate with corporations and other civil organizations.  Today, Robotel supports its own unique community that balances education, design, entrepreneurship, social activism, and technology innovation.  They continue to work independently as well as in cooperation with the regional maker community through a number of projects.


Tech & Specs


  • Lab with 8 FDM printers
  • Models include Makerbot, Prusa, and ZAXE
  • 3 oversize printer beds (by KEMIQ and BAYER)
  • 600 3D printers in the chapter’s national printer network

The lab is located in a workshop zone of İstanbul and includes conventional maker tools for electronics, robotics, coding projects, and STEAM materials along with access to laser cutters and CNC machines. Volunteers can also register personal printers within the chapter system of all different types and brands.

The team does not have exact numbers but has delivered e-NABLE prosthetics to more than 100 children. Some recipient volunteers have received more than one hand over the past 4 years as they grow. The first recipient (Yağmur) recently began using her 4th e-NABLE hand.


Team & Specialities


  • Zeynep Karagöz | Founder, Architect (Pro-maker)
  • Serdar Okumuş | Architect (Pro-maker)
  • Hakan Pakten | Mechanical Engineer (Pro-maker)
  • Almost 3000 registered volunteers in chapter system

The chapter manages a large number of volunteers, although not all are active at the same time. Volunteers include high school students, university teams, and corporate teams.

Skills range from technical professionals and engineers with IEEE memberships to 3D designers, teachers, and professors.


Design & Process


The team has printed and tested most of e-NABLE’s models. For the children they serve, the Phoenix Hand has been used for most cases with wrist movement, and the Unlimbited Arm for cases with only elbow movement. Through trial and error, they have developed a process for recipient volunteers with support from e-NABLE documentation, some of which they have translated into Turkish and further developed to meet local needs. The team continues working on local documentation like their Volunteer Guidelines, which was begun by a volunteer and recently updated. As part of these guidelines, they require volunteers to complete 2 successful test devices before handling a real case.


Projects & Collaborations


Robotel is tightly connected with the maker movement in Turkey as well as academic research. Since becoming a recognized NGO, the chapter has built alliances with other NGOs, several universities and high schools, businesses, 3D printing networks, and personal connections.  Alliances and partnerships have been made with medical brands, manufacturing, and software companies including Santafarma, BRİSA, BNP Paribas Turkey, and YENASOFT. Collaborations are maintained through social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Meetup (see Public Presence section for details) as well as traditional mailing to communicate with the local community.

Before the pandemic, monthly meetings were held in Istanbul as well as regular volunteer gatherings in Ankara and İzmir. University teams were encouraged to hold meetings and maintain their chapter-like community initiatives in their schools. Since February 2020, they have not been able to meet face-to-face but have managed online meetings with the team and engaged with other online communities.

Robotel has taken an active role in contributing to pandemic efforts. They have published articles on how best to work with COVID-19, led local maker movement efforts, printed adapters to convert diving equipment into aspiration masks, and joined a national campaign to provide 3D printed masks to healthcare personnel. For more information, please check the Robotel pandemic survey submission on the Hub along with their earlier contributions on Enabling the Future.


Research


The team has partnered with Dr. Melike Şahinol, Senior Research Fellow at the Orient-Institut Istanbul and head of ‘Humans, Medicine, and Society’. In her project “Additive Manufacturing: Enabling Technologies in the Childhood” Şahinol examines technological development processes of e-NABLE devices designed for children from a perspective at the intersection of the sociology of the body, sociology of technology (or Science and Technology Studies, STS) and Disability Studies. Şahinol published one article related to her project and gave several presentations, one in 2019 at the 4S (Society for Social Studies of Science) Annual Meeting Innovations, Interruptions, Regenerations, titled “Crippling the Transition to the Extraordinary: Enabling Technologies and Extra-Ordinarity“. A project description with related publications and presentations can be found here: https://melikesahinol.wordpress.com/additive-manufacturing/

Robotel has contributed to student graduation projects with universities as well as almost a dozen post-graduate theses and research papers as either Robotel or as a part of the Maker community using Robotel.  Several have been published, others are still in process.


Funding


Robotel covers expenses like part-time executive staff and facility rent through personal donations and annual corporate donations.  The team organizes service projects with company teams, training them on making devices, building test hands, and connecting them with real cases. Other fundraising activities include campaigns, events, and workshops. Resources like materials, tools, printers, workforce, and contacts are shared between Maker Kids projects and the Maker Space. While community members do initiate collaborations with outside organizations, most sponsorship opportunities are brought to Robotel by companies who value the project and align with their goals.


Public Presence


Website: www.robotel.org

3D Print Dünyası / 3DPD

facebook.com/robotelorg/

twitter.com/RobotelTR

instagram.com/robotelturkiye/

The chapter remains active internationally through social media as well as local traditional media outlets (radio, newspaper and TV coverage). Without a media consultant, the team relies on their community of local people to get the word out via NGO networks, events, meetups, and personal connections.

Chapter founder Zeynep Karagöz has participated as a keynote speaker with 4 TEDx talks as well as other conferences in Turkey to speak on social technology and design for good, maker tools, STEAM, social entrepreneurship, and NGO work. She has also remotely contributed to e-NABLE conferences.

Chapter success is defined by the amount of people they have reached, through the number of donated devices, by the growth of their volunteer community, and by the impact they have had on Turkish culture. Robotel increases awareness on the subject of disability and empowerment. By emphasizing that those with limb difference are equally valued, they can overcome discrimination. Some need glasses to see, others need devices to grab.