$ openlab --help

Build more with what you already have.

OPENLAB is an open catalogue of STEM projects — physics, chemistry, biology, electronics, robotics, computing, maths and environmental science — with every component priced, every step written out, and real code and CAD files you can download. Tell it your budget or your parts drawer and it tells you what you can build.

01 search the catalogue

Titles, tags, components and steps are indexed. Prefix and fuzzy matching, so “spectrometr” still finds it.

02 I have ₹___

The cost-down engine swaps expensive parts for cheaper or salvaged ones that keep the project working, and ranks every project by what it costs you.

₹

03 what I already have

List your parts; synonyms are understood (LDR = photoresistor). See what is buildable now, what is one part away, and what to buy next.

The problem

why this exists

No money

A “simple” Arduino project on most tutorial sites lists a ₹2,000 bill of materials because it assumes a kit. Most of that cost is in two or three parts that have working substitutes.

No equipment

Schools have a drawer of odd parts: a servo, some LDRs, a broken toy motor. Nobody knows which projects that drawer already covers, so it stays a drawer.

No idea what exists

Free designs are scattered across forums, PDFs and videos with no structure: no component lists, no safety notes, no adaptations for a blind or low-vision student.

The catalogue

browse everything →

Browse by subject

Activity

this browser, real events

Recent catalogue changes

from resource version histories

    How it works

    read the docs →

    resource = repo

    Every project is a structured record: components with quantities and unit prices, tools, ≥ 6 steps, code, CAD, safety, accessibility, license and a version history. Totals are computed, never typed.

    cost-down

    Components carry ordered alternatives with a functionality-impact score. The engine replaces the most expensive lines first, keeps anything that would break the core function, drops optional parts last, and reports exactly what changed.

    community, locally

    Submit projects, fork and adapt, propose improvements, rate and report issues. Everything is stored in this browser and flows through a moderation queue — no accounts, no server, no pretending.