It’s a superhero movie staple — the futuristic laboratory alive with the buzzing of automated machines as scientists and creatives alike work in step with the beat. It’s another busy day at UCLA’s newly expanded MakerSpace, where a 3D printer churns out filament like a baker’s piping bag, creating vital parts of a model rocket, and a sewing machine taps rhythmically as an oven mitt is stuffed with old denim resembling blue cotton candy.
(Left image) Eden Yu. Madeline Adamo
“It doesn’t matter your major, whether you live on or off the Hill — any student has access to this space,” says Charly Melikidse, the manager of MakerSpace, a UCLA Residential Life Learning Center, where even novices can learn to use smart machines to “print” everything from…