Fiscal Policy Observatory for FUDECEN

AV-2023-266CNC · Manufacturing

CNC roughing pass of the Bitcoin-Nahua Calendar in solid cedar

Bitcoin-Nahua Calendar carved in cedar

Problem: The 21bitcoiners collective arrived with the Bitcoin-Nahua Calendar — the story of Bitcoin and El Salvador told in 21 blocks, inspired by Nahua culture — as a 3D model, and a date that wouldn't move: the Adopting Bitcoin 2023 conference in San Salvador. Three pieces from the same carving were needed, in solid cedar, finished and ready for auction.
Build: We sourced the cedar and split the 3D model into depth layers to generate the CNC toolpaths: roughing and detail per layer, the same 45 cm carving executed three times. Each piece was hand-finished with cedar tint and matte varnish.
Result: Three pieces delivered on time. They were among the most talked-about items at the expo: two were auctioned and sold fast, and one — as we later heard — was gifted to a high-ranking official in the context of the Bitcoin Law.

CAD/CAM · CNC · CEDAR · HAND FINISHING

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AV-2024-133CNC · Design

Detail of the layered PVC adapter between the POS terminal and payment kiosk

Adapter for parking POS terminals

Problem: A systems integrator was rolling out automated parking payment across Grupo Agrisal plazas — Torre Futura and Plaza Mundo among them — and hit a problem measured in millimeters: the POS terminals the bank provided didn't fit the payment kiosks' housing. The bank wasn't going to modify its terminal and the kiosks weren't going to be redesigned — what was missing was the piece between the two.
Build: We received a terminal and the housing's measurements, and modeled the adapter in 3D, iterating the design until the fit was validated. From the model came the CNC cutting profiles in PVC sheet, laminated in layers to reach the exact required size. Eighteen units produced to the same geometry.
Result: The bank's terminals were installed on time at every plaza, with no modifications to the POS or the kiosks. Eighteen identical pieces, invisible on purpose, in operation since 2024.

CAD · CNC · PVC · CUSTOM FIT

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AV-2026-0233D Printing · Reverse engineering

Render of the enclosure's reconstructed 3D model

Enclosures for refrigeration controllers

Problem: A supermarket chain in the country ran its refrigeration equipment on controllers whose original enclosures were damaged — and the manufacturer no longer offers the spare. The equipment works; what was falling apart was its body. Replacing entire controllers over a broken enclosure was not a reasonable option.
Build: We scanned an original enclosure with a 3D scanner, repaired the model digitally, and printed corrected replicas in ABS. Fifteen units, at roughly three days of printing per piece.
Result: All fifteen enclosures are installed and the controllers remain in operation. The spare part the manufacturer no longer makes now exists again.

3D SCANNING · 3D PRINTING · ABS · REVERSE ENGINEERING

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AV-2020-004Software · Platform

Lector home: digital library with books recommended by grade

Lector: educational reading platform

Problem: In 2020 the pandemic left Salvadoran students out of their classrooms and families cutting costs — and GlobalBooks, an educational book distributor, watched its market fall from one year to the next. Their answer was an idea: "Why don't we build something like Netflix, but for books?" Digital access to school content, at a better price, aligned every year with the MINEDUCYT curriculum.
Build: We built Lector: a reading platform for students from 7th to 11th grade, launched on Laravel and deployed on AWS for the 2021 school year. It hasn't stopped growing since: a full redesign with a React frontend in 2023, and in 2025 Lector Infantil — its own brand, for 1st through 6th grade, on the same backend. Today the platform brings together books and audiobooks, a micro-LMS with tests, reading-speed assessments with age-appropriate parameters, assignments and announcements, and analytics for teachers, institutions and administrators.
Result: More than 6,000 active students across more than 25 institutions in the country read on Lector today. Five years of continuous development, a crisis launch turned into educational infrastructure — and one of several projects we keep building with GlobalBooks.

LARAVEL · REACT · AWS · EDTECH

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AV-2022-227Machinery · Automation

Complete Yummy Ice machine during its internal server boot

Yummy Ice: automatic minuta machine

Problem: Clients who knew us for 3D printing and prototyping arrived with an ambitious idea: fully automating a minuta — the Salvadoran shaved ice with flavored syrups and tamarind jelly you find on every corner on a hot day. Machines existed to shave ice; none existed that did the whole process, from on-screen selection to a served minuta, with no person in between.
Build: We designed a prototype and three production versions — two fully autonomous and one compact semi-autonomous for events. The machine makes shaved ice on the spot from an internal purified-water reservoir, doses syrups and jelly to the customer's touchscreen selection, dispenses the spoon, protects the interior with an automatic door and takes cash payments. Everything came out of the shop: mechanical, electrical and electronic design, four degrees of freedom, up to ten dosing pumps, hardware-revision-aware firmware in C, and a Linux mini server with a React frontend, remotely reachable over WiFi or cellular for analytics, maintenance and updates. The system is patented at the Centro Nacional de Registros.
Result: Seven machines built and delivered: one exported to the United States, four for Salvadoran malls and two compact versions working private events. We keep maintaining the machines in operation. A street-corner treat turned into an engineered product — with its own patent.

MECHATRONICS · FIRMWARE · CNC · 3D PRINTING

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AV-2021-029Software · Research

A species catalog page in Padiush, with taxonomy and geographic distribution

Padiush: a platform for ethnobotany research

Problem: Ethnobotany research produces a kind of data that's hard to organize: what a person says about a plant — its local name, its uses — has to end up linked to the correct scientific species, without losing what was said in the field. Mercedes, an Avalon partner and biologist, lived this in her thesis: dozens of interviews and thousands of use reports being typed by hand into Excel, with hours of transcription and room for error in every row.
Build: We built Padiush, a web platform for ethnobotany research. It designs interview instruments, captures the responses, and — the part Excel doesn't do — reconciles each name reported in the field with its scientific taxon against authorities like World Flora Online and GBIF, always preserving the original name for traceability. From there it calculates the field's quantitative indices (use value, cultural importance, informant consensus factor, among others) and exports tables, charts and matrices ready for R. Laravel and React on the web; a field-capture app is in development.
Result: With Padiush, Mercedes processed her thesis data — 89 interviews and 2,457 use reports — and the platform was cited both in her thesis (2025) and in a peer-reviewed scientific article (2026). Together we presented Padiush at the VII Latin American Congress of Ethnobiology (SOLAE) in Tlaxcala, Mexico (2022), and facilitated a course at the VIII Congress, in Antigua Guatemala (2025). We saw the tool was useful beyond ourselves, and wanted to put it within reach of other researchers.

LARAVEL · REACT · RESEARCH · DATA

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AV-2024-275Metal structure · Fabrication

MOPT bike station installed in Plaza Gerardo Barrios

Centro Histórico bike station for MOPT

Problem: The Ministry of Public Works and Transport wanted to install bike stations — bicycle lending points — at tourist sites around the country, with one design condition: the structure had to be able to come down and go back up anywhere. We took part in the process to build the first one and were selected — it would be installed right in Plaza Gerardo Barrios in the Historic Center.
Build: This time the drawing arrived ready: the design was MOPT's, and our job was everything that comes after the drawing. We sourced the materials and fabricated the complete structure in our shop — square-tube structural frames, expanded-metal doors, pillars, rails and bike racks — and assembled it on site with waterproofed roofing, a false ceiling, technical flooring, panels, lighting and the electrical system. The ministry provided the bicycles.
Result: The station was delivered and MOPT received it to full satisfaction through a formal acceptance certificate in 2025. It has operated in the heart of the Historic Center since, well received by the public — the press covered its arrival. A structure designed to move, built to stay as long as needed.

METAL STRUCTURE · FABRICATION · ASSEMBLY · PUBLIC WORKS

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