Get started in circuit design with MKI x ES Labor. Developed in collaboration with Dr. Shalom D. Ruben, teaching professor of engineering at the University of Colorado, Labor is a fully-featured circuit design playground and a powerful electronics learning tool – all in one. Created as a universal platform for electronics education, Labor enables users to explore a wide range of topics, from fundamental concepts to advanced design techniques. Whether you're a beginner learning the basics or an experienced engineer refining your skills, Labor offers a versatile platform for experimentation and discovery. Build your own filters, oscillators, envelopes, sequencers – or anything else you can imagine. Or start with the fundamentals by following along with our series of educational DIY kits.

Features

Built-in dual power supply with Eurorack-compatible voltages and overcurrent (short-circuit) protection for safe experimentation
Modular interfacing section with 16 slots for potentiometers, jacks, and switches
Pulse/triangle/sine oscillator (audio and LFO range)
Multi-mode envelope generator controlled by a Cherry push button
Buffered variable control voltage source
Output amplifier with adjustable gain
Dedicated headphone output and line-level output for recording, processing, and analysis
Expansion slot for installing specialized prototyping tools (e.g. Labor Scope)
Protective lid to cover the breadboard and preserve your circuit

The EDU DIY Labor Basic Kit includes:

Labor
Power supply (wall wart)
Jumper cables
Selection of interfacing elements (potentiometers, jack sockets, switches)

The EDU DIY Labor Full Kit includes:

Everything in the Basic Kit, plus a wide assortment of essential components (resistors, capacitors, ICs, transistors) so you can start building right away

Note: Labor is a prototyping environment for experimenting with electronic circuits. As the manufacturer, we cannot provide support for user-designed circuits. We will only respond to support requests related to clear malfunctions in the factory-assembled parts of the Labor unit. For other cases of malfunction (or help with DIY circuit design), we recommend consulting experienced users on forums such as this one. Keep experimenting – keep trying!

We ship Labor as a partial DIY kit. While many parts are pre-assembled, others require manual assembly and soldering.

Be sure to download template files for Labor Switch and Potentiometer boards -
LABTEMP1.zip – an archive containing assembly and Gerber files. The assembly files include the board dimensions and the connector placement.
Important note: the connector placement is indicated as viewed from the top layer of the board, even though the connectors themselves are physically located on the bottom layer.

The Gerber files show the same information but also allow you to generate the board files if you don’t use KiCad.

LABTEMP1_KiCad.zip – an archive with KiCad project files. It includes a README.txt file with instructions to rename one of the files.