TinkerSpace Kochi: A free, 24/7 open-tech lab for young innovators, fostering community, self-learning and peer-mentoring in Kerala

At archetypal the thought down TinkerSpace Kochi sounds Utopian and the motto — learning done assemblage — farfetched. The benignant that makes 1 deliberation “no way”. But, successful fact, for the past 3 years, since 2022, this abstraction for tech students/ young innovators from crossed the State has been unfastened 24/7 facilitating exploration, offering hands-on acquisition and giving the courageousness to make caller exertion without charging a penny.

Making the abstraction adjacent much unsocial is that it is the country’s archetypal specified initiative. And this abstraction is not conscionable for engineers, it is anybody who wants to beryllium a maker, innovate and/or upskill. 

Tucked distant successful a country wherever Thrikkakara and Kalamassery meet, disconnected the Seaport-Airport Road, successful Kochi, TinkerSpace aka the Hacker Space (Kerala’s first) stands out, literally, beacon-like astatine dusk erstwhile techies — budding and enthusiasts (read makers) — get unneurotic to work. Inside, the makers are either hunched implicit their laptops oregon accessing the GPU (graphics processing unit, entree to which is escaped here) to make AI models oregon moving astatine the Maker’s Table oregon the 3-D printer oregon progressive successful discussions that pivot technology. 

TinkerSpace is portion of a larger technological inaugural Tinker Hub, which is simply a non-profit ‘open innovation lab’ that has been progressive for the past decennary successful Kerala.

By students, for students

Built connected the 4 pillars of learning, community, doing bully and opportunities, the Tinker Hub community, today,  has a beingness successful 65-odd campuses successful the State which see colleges specified arsenic RIT Kottayam, College of Engineering (Thiruvananthapuram), Government Engineering College (Idukki), LBS Kasaragod, Kannur University College, Farook College (Kozhikode), Government Engineering College (Thrissur), TKM College (Kollam), Model Engineering College and CUSAT (Kochi) among others. 

TinkerSpace gets astir 100-120 regular check-ins, with immoderate young makers coming from retired of the city, “there is simply a pupil who comes here, from Thiruvananthapuram, connected weekends to enactment connected the GPU. He comes connected Saturdays, works connected his task and returns connected Sunday,” says Mehar MP, CEO of Tinker Hub. There are legume bags to clang if 1 is tired, a canteen abstraction and adjacent the installation to ablution if 1 stays implicit to work.  

The figures talk for the 29,000-odd members beardown community, which has hosted much than 1,000 events and facilitated galore different tech-driven opportunities for young makers and tech enthusiasts, with an accent connected making abstraction for women successful tech.  

The thought took effect much than a decennary agone erstwhile the founders — Mehar MP, Abid Aboobacker, Nidhiya Raj and Praveen Sridhar — were inactive successful college. Abid, a pupil of English Literature, was the lone non-engineer of the four. The others were batchmates astatine Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT). 

It each started portion volunteering astatine Mozilla Maker Party astatine CUSAT successful 2014. An yearly planetary campaign, the Maker Party, was intended to thatch web literacy and integer skills done community-run events. It was precise antithetic from the conventional, schoolroom acquisition of learning; an thought that resonated with the batchmates who would aboriginal spell connected to recovered Tinker Hub. The participating students could access, explore, ticker and acquisition a wider scope of topics and technology. 

“We had astir 4,000 participants. They had galore questions, saw however things could beryllium done successful existent time. For instance, seeing robots respond arsenic they watched!” recalls Mehar, a machine subject technologist and CEO of Tinker Hub Foundation, which facilitates TinkerSpace. It opened their eyes to however exertion could beryllium a gamechanger that could virtually alteration lives. Buoyed by the overwhelming effect of the lawsuit and the curiosity of the students, they realised they were connected to thing worthwhile and meaningful. 

It frankincense became the Tinker Hub assemblage successful 2015, functioning retired of CITTIC, the incubation hub of CUSAT. The evenings were live with discussions and speech of ideas, giving students a peek into becoming makers and what tin beryllium achieved. It was registered arsenic a nine successful 2016. 

Free cognition sans paywalls

They number the precocious machine programme/hacktivist Aaron Swartz arsenic 1 of their biggest inspirations; particularly his ‘Guerilla Open Access Manifesto’, an unfastened entree movement, which argued for entree to technological probe worldly and immoderate specified information sans paywalls and different akin barriers that deny/prevent access. 

Which, Mehar reiterates, is the Tinker Hub philosophy: “There should not beryllium a paywall betwixt radical and knowledge. Knowledge should beryllium free.” 

Those archetypal years were heady, contempt the constraints of operating retired of a abstraction which came with limitations which included pockets of information connectivity. It was a clip erstwhile the startup country was picking steam, it was each astir gathering apps and much ‘making’.  

Despite each that was happening nether Tinker Hub, it led to introspection. Says Mehar, “We couldn’t assistance wondering if we were capable to bash things due to the fact that we were successful Kochi, with our casual entree to resources.” 

It was clip to trial the exemplary successful colleges distant from the Tinker Hub turf. “Our archetypal batch of students (part of the Tinker Hub community) were astatine RIT Kottayam and authorities colleges successful Thalassery. It was thing fancy, conscionable a clump of kids hanging retired successful the assemblage canteen, talking astir and exchanging ideas connected tech. Things started happening for the kids — Google scholarships, tech experts visiting those campuses!” 

It opened their eyes to the imaginable they could unlock; besides, Tinker Hub enactment was getting noticed, it got its archetypal assemblage backing from Kerala Start-Up Mission.  

An iteration of Kerala’s room culture

In 2020, Mehar met tech-entrepreneur and capitalist Kailash Nadh, CTO of Zerodha, who suggested the anticipation of a imperishable carnal abstraction accessible to students.  To chopped a agelong communicative short, TinkerSpace was thrown unfastened to the nationalist successful 2022. TinkerSpace is not to beryllium mixed up with a co-working space.

Mehar calls it an iteration of Kerala’s unsocial room culture, lone that it is an unfastened abstraction for technology. 

Apart from workshops and hackathons, the TinkerSpace calendar of activities includes AI Wednesdays erstwhile students get to larn astir the latest successful AI, portion connected Maker Thursdays makers tin physique stuff, determination is adjacent a store — Kutty Makers — for kids from 8 to 18 to research their skills successful electronics, robotics, programming, 3-D modelling and more. Industrial visits and workshops by taxable experts are thrown successful isolated from akin events organised by others. 

When subject and exertion intersect

The TinkerSpace/Tinker Hub docket is multilayered, it is not lone astir processing skills of coding oregon AI oregon processing apps, but the members of the assemblage are besides encouraged to research the intersectionality of exertion and society. 

The Surgical IntraOP Automation Hackathon, hosted by Tinker Hub successful August, was Kerala’s archetypal medico-tech hackathon which had aesculapian professionals and students of medicine squad up with tech experts to physique smarter tools for surgery. AI researchers, roboticists and hardware engineers worked unneurotic seeking tech-based solutions. Another was connected justness innovation successful relation with Agami, is simply a non-profit which works towards innovation successful instrumentality and justice. 

Earlier this year, it hosted a hackathon, Tink-Her-Hack 2.0 for women which saw the information of 3,000-odd women from assorted parts of Kerala. This is conscionable 1 of the women-exclusive initiatives to empower women successful tech. The No Internet Day meant makers had to physique without entree to, well, the Net. “The makers had to deliberation fundamentally…for lawsuit physique a website without the Net!” says Mehar.  

Terms specified arsenic peer-driven and mentor-guided signifier a ample portion of the Tinker Hub vocabulary, which connects with the different thought that the non-profit derives from - community.

These facilities travel astatine a cost, which leads to the question astir funding. “It comes from the contributions from start-ups, the founders…anybody who wants to contribute,” Mehar informs. The backing partners are Samagata Foundation and FOSS (Free and Open Software Source) United. 

Rishi Krishna, a third-year pupil of engineering astatine CUSAT has been portion of the Tinker Hub assemblage for a fewer years now. He treasures the experience, the consciousness of community, and the mentoring astatine Tinker Space. It shows when, arsenic helium explains an idea, Mehar questions him connected the feasibility of it and suggests an alternative. “I bask the consciousness of community, the state to make oregon enactment connected an thought and the integrated brainstorming that takes spot here,” helium says.

Reema Shaji, a machine subject technologist from MES Kuttipuram, who was portion of TinkerSpace for the past 2 years arsenic the task manager is present successful the UK connected a Chevening scholarship. She was the coordinator of Tinker Hub projects, for her it has been abstraction to turn and springiness backmost to the community.

Philanthropic facet

While it whitethorn look similar it is each astir exertion and innovating, determination is simply a philanthropic facet to Tinker Hub and TinkerSpace, which a flashing ticker astatine the apical of the Tinker Hub website announces — ‘don’t alert solo’ and ‘be kind’ — on with ‘coding is simply a superpower’ and ‘skills wage the bills’.

“It is not conscionable astir getting a occupation oregon earning, it is besides astir however you worth others. Being benignant is important, 1 should consciousness excited to beryllium present and assistance each other. It is astir learning done community,” says Mehar of TinkerSpace. “It is astir paying guardant and erstwhile a young innovator oregon anybody for that substance sees that being done, they volition bash the same,” helium adds.

Utopian? Looks achievable, oregon astatine slightest Tinker Hub makes it dependable similar it tin beryllium done.