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iMakr 3D printing store opens in London, carries Solidoodle and more
The notion of a physical store dedicated to 3D printing is still new to us, and Solidoodle's Asia-focused plans didn't give much reassurance that we'd see more shops in English-speaking countries all that soon. iMakr may have just come to our rescue by opening what it claims is the world's largest 3D printing store in London's Farringdon area, occupying 2,500 square feet across two floors. The showroom has both workshops as well as printers to buy on the spot, including the Solidoodle 3; we've reached out to get the full selection, although iMakr's online channel already sells MakerBot's Replicator 2 and a few less immediately recognizable brands. We're still far from having a 3D printing store on every corner, but the London store gives the retail concept some legitimacy.
Visualized: A walk through the Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo
We didn't find much in the way of news at the Inside 3D Printing Conference and Expo here in NYC (and, we're sad to say, our press badges were just old-fashioned 2D printed), but there was plenty to look at, thankfully. Between the slew of business and consumer devices and the boatload of printed objects, the event was part business conference, part art show. And while the real star was the still-fresh world of desktop home printers, plenty of companies brought out their big-gun industrial devices (including at least one really sweet giant 3D scanner). Peep the gallery below to check out some of the eye candy from the event.%Gallery-186504%
Notre Dame students highlight method for 3D printing skeletons of living animals
Can you really claim to love your pet if you haven't printed out its skeletal structure for your mantle? Sure everyone expresses themselves in different ways, but the "3D Printing of Preclinical X-ray Computed Tomographic Data Sets" outlined by a team of Notre Dame students and a rep from MakerBot certainly beats getting your pet's face printed on a sweater. The researchers have outlined a method for CT scanning live mice, rats and rabbits and printing out their skeletal structures in plastic. There are some cool research applications for such functionality, but more importantly, who could ask for a creepier gift for the pet owner in your life?
You can totally 3D print your own Ouya case
If you're from the future and have your own 3D printer, you can customize your Ouya console with a 3D-printed case.Ouya posted a 3D model for the console on Thingiverse, allowing 3D printer users to customize the box with whatever materials and colors they have, and print their very own. You could even try to edit the model to add features to the thing. The designs are "optimized" for the MakerBot Replicator 2, a device that really exists and that people can buy.If you're at GDC this week, you can see the results of this art project for yourself. Meanwhile, Ouyas will begin shipping out to Kickstarter backers tomorrow.
MakerBot and OUYA join forces to let you print your own console enclosure
How to pass the time as the first OUYA consoles start shipping to backers? Well, if you've got a 3D printer at home, you can spend the hours printing your very own enclosure for the Android-based console. The gaming company has joined forces with MakerBot on a 3D printing development kit that'll let you customize your case at home. The plans, which were apparently optimized for the second generation Replicator, let you go crazy with custom designs and patterns, because while the rest of the world will get their chance to pick up a console this summer, yours can still be a special snowflake. You can check the plans out on Thingiverse in the source link below.
Makerbot and Adafruit selling special edition 3D printer: Raspberry Pi, other kits included
We honestly hadn't given it much thought, but now that it's been brought to our attention, Makerbot and Adafruit really do make an awesome duo. Think about it: one makes 3D printers, the other sells Arduino boards and pretty much everything else a tinkerer could possibly want. So it makes sense that the two companies are teaming up on something: we just heard they've started selling a limited edition version of Makerbot's Replicator 2 3D printer, which will come bundled with three DIY kits you'd normally buy on a site like Adafruit. These include the Raspberry Pi, which you all know very well, along with the Timesquare DIY Watch Kit and MintyBoost, the open-source hardware charger. You might wonder why someone might need all that in one box, but the idea is that you can use the printer to create the sorts of custom parts that don't necessarily come with the kits -- something like a band to go with your Timesquare watch, or a case for the MintyBoost. All told, you'll need $2,296 before you can make this your next impulse buy. Don't get too put off by the price, though -- the Replicator 2 by itself would cost $2,199 without any kits included.
The Engadget Interview: Bre Pettis talks MakerBot's Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner
The job of kicking off this year's South By Southwest Interactive conference fell firmly in the hands of none other than MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis -- and really a show like this couldn't ask for a better, more enthusiastic evangelist for emerging technologies. And certainly the fact that Pettis' company has firm ties to the event doesn't hurt matters either. Pettis spent much of his talk espousing the "next industrial revolution," a phenomenon in which he sees desktop 3D printing playing a pivotal role -- MakerBot's 3D printing specifically, if he has his way. The company took a big step in that direction with the announcement of the Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner. Still in its early prototype stages, the device is an attempt to do for 3D scanning what the Replicator and its ilk have done for printing -- i.e. democratize the process in such a way that makes it affordable and user-friendly enough to make it an appealing prospect for hobbyists and, later, consumers. It's hard to say just how realistic that dream is at this point, of course -- the device is set to go up for order in the fall, and Pettis is the first to admit that the company still has a long way to go before the Digitizer is consumer-ready. But if anyone's going to convince us that such a dream is close to coming true, it's the MakerBot co-founder. Click through after the break to hear him discuss the device.
MakerBot unveils prototype Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner, promises easier 3D printing
Well, that was quick. Bre Pettis just started delivering South By Southwest's opening remarks and may well have taken the wraps off the biggest news of the show. Of course, we'll still have to hang out in Austin for a few more days just to, you know, totally make sure, but this really does feel like a doozy. As the MakerBot CEO puts it, "It's a natural progression for us to create a product that makes 3D printing even easier" -- but, let's be honest, few of those who don't have a vested interest in moving some 3D printers are running around calling the whole process particularly "easy." And while consumer-facing devices like the Replicator, CubeX, Solidoodle, et al. have gone a ways toward making the technology more accessible for laypeople, there's still a fundamental breakdown: the creation of models to be printed. The maker community has helped on that front, as well, with MakerBot's Thingiverse serving as an unparalleled resource for 3D images, meaning that, once your printer's all set up and calibrated, you can download and print to your heart's delight -- but what if, say, you want to print up something that some kindly soul hasn't designed for you? You could learn a CAD program -- or you could invest in an industrial 3D scanner. The latter option has lead to something of a land rush of companies and individuals looking to break things wide open with an affordable, consumer-facing offering. And while MakerBot still seems a ways away from the final product, the company used SXSW as a platform to unveil a prototype of its MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner.
Live from MakerBot's SXSW Keynote
South by Southwest Interactive kicked off this morning in Austin -- well, sort of. Can you really say a show like this has "kicked off," before a 3D printing CEO has given the opening remarks? Debatable. Thankfully, MakerBot's Bre Prettis is set to take the stage shortly to get this show started right. Join us, as the bespectacled exec talks about his company's role in "the next industrial revolution."
Visualized: NASA's MakerBot Replicator
Between this and the Arduino, you'd think NASA's Swamp Works was a hackerspace -- though, perhaps in a sense, the research facility kind of is. And really, between the organization's on-going fascination with the potential of 3D printing and a desire to meet budgetary concerns, we probably shouldn't have been all too shocked to see a first-gen MakerBot Replicator on a table of the former Apollo-testing facility. The printer wasn't actually in use during our visit, and the Hazardous Operation tag could probably be taken to be a bit tongue-in-cheek -- though, when it comes to space travel, you can never be too careful.
The shape of things to come: A consumer's guide to 3D printers
CES 2013 proved to be something of a coming out party for consumer-facing 3D printers. Sure MakerBot earned a fair amount of attention at last year's show with the announcement of the Replicator, which snagged its share of awards from various press outlets. This year, however, saw a relative deluge in 3D-printing representation, with strong showings from 3D Systems, FormLabs, MakerBot and the cloud-based 3D printer, Sculpteo. Even with so many companies rising to prominence, the dream of truly mainstream 3D printing still feels a ways off -- if that is indeed where we're inevitably heading. These nascent days are an exciting time, with a diverse array of companies and organizations vying to be the first to bring the technology to our homes. In a sense, many roads lead back to RepRap, the open-source, community-fueled project aimed at creating a self-replicating machine. As such, the same basic technology underlies many of these devices. At their core, these 3D printers are not unlike their 2D counterparts, offering a way to translate images on computer screens into real-world analogs -- only in this case they're objects you can hold in your hand. Most of these work by melting plastic (largely Lego-like ABS or biodegradable PLA) and squirting it out through extruder heads. The heads operate along the X and Y axes, while the build platform (generally heated in the case of ABS and unheated for PLA) moves downward, allowing the glue gun-like extruders to build up the thin layers of plastic. Some printers rely on other technologies, many of which are rooted in the world of rapid prototyping, a category of fabrication that has been around for decades and used by companies like Boeing and Ford to created scale models of concepts. There are a surprising number of companies and organizations currently invested in the space, be it through pre-fabricated models, kits or open-source, downloadable plans. We pulled together a list of some of the most prominent, which you can check out after the break.
Making the virtual a reality at CES 2013
Microsoft's decision to drop out of CES prompted a lot of questions with regards to the future relevance of CES, not the least of which was how much the industry really needed an in-person tech trade show in an age where business is primarily done online. Of course, there's still a fair amount of value in offering members of the media and buyers the opportunity to actually interact with the technology in person. And while software companies have long been a staple of the show, their presence is most often an acknowledgement of hardware partners. It's fitting, then, that many of the show's offbeat highlights came in the form of companies looking to offer hardware solutions to our increasingly virtual world. Parrot's always-amusing CEO, Henri Seydoux said it best while showing off the latest additions to the company's AR.Drone on our stage. "Today, the kids have video games," he told us. "They've replaced toys, because it's a much more interesting experience. With the drone, we've tried to make toys as fun as video games." And it's easy to see how such a product can be taken as a real-world answer to smartphone gaming, with video from the built-in camera being overlaid with AR content.
How hardware startups changed the face of CES
It was all bad timing, really. Just ahead of CES 2012, Microsoft announced that year's event would be its last, blaming product schedules that just didn't match up with the annual show. There was no question that the tech giant's absence would be felt the following year, the first time in recent memory the Consumer Electronics Show wasn't kicked off by a Microsoft keynote. It signaled, perhaps, a slight shift away from the days of huge companies dominating the event's headlines -- a phenomenon helped along by the recent attention-grabbing successes of a number of crowdfunded projects, many of which were present at the show. The move from Bill Gates to Steve Ballmer was one thing, but a CES without Redmond? That was just unheard of, a specter that loomed over the show, even as the CEA happily announced it had sold out the company's floor space in "record time." In the end, of course, Microsoft was still at the show, albeit in a less overt form, by way of third-party machines from Sony, Samsung and the like, and in the form of a cameo by none other than Ballmer himself -- a sort of spiritual baton-passing to the company's keynote successor, Qualcomm. Heck, even the Surface Pro reared its head backstage at the show.
Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with MakerBot's Bre Pettis (update: video embedded)
Yep, it's a big year from 3D printing, and no company's got a bigger piece of the spotlight than MakerBot. The company used last year's show to announce the release of the first generation Replicator, releasing its successor a few months back. We've asked the company's CEO Bre Pettis back to our stage to discuss the 3D printing revolution. January 9, 2013 5:00 PM EST Check out our full CES 2013 stage schedule here! Update: video embedded
MakerBot Replicator 2X eyes-on
You might remember that way back in September Makerbot took the wraps off its next generation of Replicators. Sadly, when the company invited us out for a sneak peak, the cutting edge Replicator 2X was no where to be seen. Thankfully Bre Pettis decided to swing through CES with the dual-extruding, ABS optimized version of its 3D printer in tow. Aesthetically there's not much different about the 2X -- it's the same black body and a Stepstrudder that form the heart of the device. Though, there's quite a number of tweaks to the basic feature set here. For one, instead of PLA (the corn-based plastic manufactured by MakerBot), the 2X goes for the ABS plastic favored by most other additive manufacturing devices. Since it has a tendency to crack and warp when exposed to extreme temperature fluctuations, the Brooklyn startup has brought back the heated build platform. The gaps in the frame have also been filled with clear plastic, and a pair of coverings have been added to the top and front to help keep the temperature inside stable. MakerBot also announced an update to its MakerWare package that enables dual-color printing and the addition of an API to its Thingiverse. The new developer tools will allow customers to tweak and produce completely unique products on their desktop. The Replicator 2X should, hopefully, be available soon for $2,799. For more check out the gallery below. %Gallery-175389% Billy Steele contributed to this report.
MakerBot showing off Replicator 2X 3D printer later today
The year of 3D printers? It's sure looking like it from where we're sitting. There are more companies at CES 2013 promoting consumer versions of the technology than ever before. Of course, MakerBot's not going to sit idly by and watch this all go down. The Brooklyn-based company is set to show off its Replicator 2X Experimental 3D Printer -- the dual-extruding "big brother" to its recently released second-gen printer -- at a press conference tomorrow. Hopefully pricing and available will be arriving on with it.
Solidoodle 3 is an $800 3D printer that you can stand on, we go hands (and feet) on (video)
Companies will go to fascinating lengths to demonstrate their belief in a product, but there was still something refreshing in watching Solidoodle founder Sam Cervantes climbed atop his company's latest creation, beaming. After all, the announcement of a $500 printer back in April left us wondering what sorts of corners the company would have to cut to offer a product at a fraction the cost of what Cervantes' former employer, MakerBot, has brought to the market. Asked whether Solidoodle had to make any compromises to hit such an impressive price point, the one-time aerospace engineer stood by his product's build quality. And then he stood on it. Announced in November and due out next month, the company's latest product doesn't quite hit that price point. Solidoodle had to drive cost up a fair amount to double the last generation's build platform to 512 cubic inches. Still, $799 seems like chump change for entrance into the nascent world of home 3D printing, particularly for a device that is built as solidly as Cervantes claims. The team popped by our New York offices to drop off and stand on the Solidoodle 3. Cervantes was quick to point out that the printer is still firmly in prototype mode (in fact, it's the first prototype to leave the confines of the company's headquarters), with his team doing its damnedest to get the product in the hands of customers by early next month. A quick glance at the rear of the printer confirms this -- there's a fair amount of exposed wiring back there and the spool of plastic hangs on an exposed PVC pipe.
Visualized: Keepon family reunion
Oh, the many faces of Keepon -- well, one face, really, in a variety of different shades and textures. Various iterations of the beloved dancing robot smiled (or whatever the closest approximation is for their mouthless sort) for the camera on our recent visit to BeatBots in San Francisco. Pictured above are the original Keepon Pro, the retail My Keepon, a special blue Keepon commissioned for a German facility, a stuffed doll created by a friend of the company, a moveable wooden model designed by Keepon co-creator Hideki Kozima as a gift and two 3D printed models made by Shapeways (large) and MakerBot (small). And check out Keepon posed next to Zingy below, a sibling created by BeatBots for a UK-based power company. The family resemblance is uncanny.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: rotating house, desktop 3D printer and a Star Trek-style warp drive
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Mid-September is a busy time of year in the world of design as the Solar Decathlon Europe takes place in Madrid and the London Design Festival kicks off -- and Inhabitat has correspondents on the ground at both events bringing us a steady stream of photos and updates. At the Solar Decathlon, Team Portugal designed an innovative house that can actually rotate to follow the sun in order to increase energy production and adjust interior daylighting. Team Valencia developed a modular home that can grow or contract depending on the family's needs. And the team from Tongji University produced an eye-catching house that embraces both Western and Daoist principles. In the competition, Rome's super-efficient MED in Italy house jumped out to an early lead -- but it's still too soon to call the winner so stay tuned.
MakerBot Store tour (video)
After the news-filled event MakerBot held, just down the street from the Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn, we found a fleet of cars ready to ferry us back to Manhattan. The cars weren't there to return the press to their various offices, instead they shuttled us en-masse to the brand new MakerBot Store that opened today in NOHO. The small shop sits on Mulberry St., just half a block north of Houston -- number 298 to be specific. Out front is a small discreet sign that reads "MakerBot." What will really draw people inside is the six-foot tall 3D-printed track that guides giant ball bearings through a maze of curves and spirals in the window. Step inside and the sculpture becomes interactive. You spin a large wheel (also printed) and a magnet slowly moves the orbs up the wall before depositing them at the starting point and sending them hurtling through the multi-track course (video after the break). Almost everything in the shop, down to the posts and locks on the display cases, is also printed out on the company's flagship product, the Replicator 2. In addition to buying the printers and compatible spools of plastic, you can also pick up trinkets created with them, such as the MixTape. If you want a less expensive example of the Replicator's wares, there's a gumball-style vending machine that dispenses toys when you insert a $5 token and give the knob a satisfying twist. For more, check out the gallery below. Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.
