Prototyping Facility and Design Studio

The Qualcomm Institute offers specialized resources in systems prototyping to support researchers, as well as student groups.

The Prototyping Facility is a set of labs that act as a dedicated design consulting service. Its goal is to help researchers in designing and building physical prototypes of a wide variety of systems. The facility employs professional staff consisting of mechanical engineers as well as trained student interns. They can build a design for you, or work in collaboration with you, whether you are a faculty member or student. The space includes work benches, tools, machining and measurement equipment, and a shared lab environment that encourages system building, experimentation and tinkering. Current and past clients include PIs from across the UC SanDiego community as well as external clients, including industry collaborators, startup companies and tenants in the QI Innovation Space incubator.

The Prototyping Facility’s resources include:

• Mechanical design and prototyping services, with staff engineers providing specialized design services on recharge
• Student interns trained in prototyping
• Access to machining and prototyping equipment, including design software for mechanical systems (3D-CAD), soldering stations, hand tools, and 3D printers, as well as a dedicated machine shop with a computer numerical control (CNC) mill, gantry router, laser cutter, and bandsaws
• Workbench space for users to work on their prototyping projects in collaboration with Prototyping Facility staff