The Free Universal Construction Kit

The Free Universal Construction Kit

24 March 2012

The whole point about Lego, Duplo, Blocksm is not to build amazing Star Wars spaceships or any other super-complicated spaceships, megabuildings or structures…. but to create your own universe and personal paraphernalia where to place your toys and play with.

But when you’re a kid and have to play with 3000 pieces from 4 different systems, say Lego, Tente, Meccano… or else, you never get to build your wild dream… because you simply can’t mix all those pieces!

Thank god the people at FAT (Free Art and Technology Lab… sort of another Media Lab but for Pop culture) just unveiled earlier this week the “Free Universal Construction Kit”, a set of nearly 80 adapters for you to mix & mash 10 of the most popular construction games out there:  Lego, Duplo, Fischertechnik, Gears! Gears! Gears!, K’Nex, Krinkles (Bristle Blocks), Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, Zome, and Zoob

Yes, you kids will go as crazy as those in the clip, for sure. “Hybrid constructive play” is what the kit promises, enabling some weird creations and previously impossible designs.

The Kit in use, connecting four different systems together
The Kit in use, connecting four different systems together

 As a lab which mixes open source & pop culture the Universal Construction Kit was conceived precisely to eliminate that proprietary barrier all the aforementioned construction toys have… maybe the manufacturers of those toy companies won’t be as happy as of this week; more info and downloadable models on their page. Have fun!

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