Social project Makeathon “TOM: NUR-SULTAN” started at Nazarbayev University

On October 25, 2019, Nazarbayev University holds the second stage of the IХ TOM Makeathon. At this stage, the seven teams of 35 participants meet a month after PreTOM with a completed idea and its implementation into a prototype.

The Makeathon is a 72-hour marathon that brings the “makers” and the “need-knowers” together to work to create solutions.  At the event, inventors, developers, engineers and doctors (i.e., makers) will design devices to make life easier for disabled people (i.e, need knowers). It is noteworthy that earlier Makeathons took place in the Pavlodar region, Karaganda, Shymkent, Almaty, and Nur-Sultan.

On September 20, during the first stage of the PreTOM Makeathon, the teams met and collaborated with the need-knowers for the first time to generate ideas and methods for translating them into a prototype at the upcoming event.

At previous Makeathons, Kazakhstani makers proposed such solutions as an exoskeleton for the rehabilitation of individuals with musculoskeletal disabilities, a bracelet designed to help the hearing-impaired go about tasks in their everyday lives, smart shoes for the visual-impaired and  etc.

Thanks to the Fab Lab Digital Prototyping Laboratory of the NU Innovation Cluster, the Makeathon’s participants will have unique access to materials, cutting-edge equipment and machines, and 3D-modeling software for creating their technological developments.

The TOM: NUR-SULTAN Makeathon project is organized by the NURIS Nazarbayev University Innovation Cluster, Astana Zhastary Youth Resource Center, Association of Friends of Tel Aviv University in the Republic of Kazakhstan and Nur-Sultan mayor’s office.