In Hunts Point, Bronx, one might catch a glimpse of a graffiti-covered trailer home and think nothing unusual of it. The small, defaced home could be one of the many in this impoverished neighborhood ridden with high crime, a poor educational system, and environmental degradation.

On the front of the trailer, fat yellow block letters read “FAB LAB!”. The trailer is smothered in neon orange clouds, and a silver robot gives his thumbs up. This particular trailer hosts the product of a partnership between Massachusetts Institute of Technology and non-profit organization Sustainable South Bronx. SSBX recently presented a collection of their latest project ideas at ADB and Behance’s Make Good Happen event.

Fab Lab (Fabrication Laboratory) brings the powerful resource of “digital fabrication” to communities. Inside, computers containing special programs designed by MIT, allow community members to design ideas and then execute their ideas in the physical world. According to MIT’s website, “A Fab Lab can give its users around the world the ability to locally conceptualize, design, develop, fabricate and test almost anything—for example a Fab Lab puts communication technologies within reach of almost anyone, anywhere.” Part of the trailer is dedicated to teaching sessions, where the technical jargon can be broken down into comprehensible lessons.

Once a student understands the software, the possibilities and practical applications of Fab Lab can be ground breaking. MIT has setup Fab Labs worldwide, and here are a few examples of what other communities have created as posted on MIT’s website: At the Ghana Fab Lab, students are working on low-cost designs for mobile refrigeration and TV antennas. In Pabal, India, Fab Lab users are making replacement gears for out-of-date copying machines, reliable tools for testing milk content and for diagnostics on human blood. Boston Fab Lab users make jewelry, toys and crafts using recycled materials from the community.

In addition to performing design, Fab Labs can digitally share ideas with other labs. Every lab contains the same equipment and has the same capabilities. Through another MIT designed program, users share their files and experiences. As a result, the program encourages users to learn from each other rather than rely on the program’s curriculum.

Fab Labs are an educational outreach component of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, which is funded by the National Science Foundation. The SSBxFab coordinator is Jon Santiago.