The Future Is Here Today...Robots, Genetics, AI, Longevity, Singularity

Stratasys and HP Will Bring 3D Printers to the Mainstream

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by Aaron Saenz on January 27th, 2010

Among the many promises of Star Trek is the ultimate manufacturing device: the replicator. Just ask for an object, and the device produces it for you out of thin air. The first baby-step towards that scifi dream is the 3D printer. We’ve had these machines for many years now; they typically use a steady layering of plastic to build models you’ve designed. Your average 3D printer is expensive, well over $20k, but industry leader Stratasys (NYSE: SYSS) was able to get that down under $15k with the uPrint. That price may drop even further. According to a recent press release, Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) has partnered with Stratasys to develop a line of HP branded 3D printers for global sales in 2010. The two companies hope that the partnership will help bring the technology into the mainstream, making 3D printing a staple for businesses around the world. If successful, HP and Stratasys could ultimately bring their cheap 3D printing into homes.

uprint from stratasys

uPrint, Stratasys' inexpensive 3D Printer, may be getting a new HP label this year.

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Cool New Vid of MakerBot Visiting Google NYC

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by Aaron Saenz on September 11th, 2009

Zack Hoeken (left) and Bre Prentiss (right) and the CupCake CNC (lower left) made a great presentation at Google's New York office.

Zack Hoeken (left), Bre Pettis (right) and the CupCake CNC (lower left) made a great presentation at Google's New York office.

I’m pretty jealous of my friends at Google because they get to hear some of the most interesting people in the World give talks just for them. Luckily, the big G is friendly enough to share videos of those talks with the rest of us. As part of the Innovators at Google program, Bre Pettis and Zack Hoeken, two of the founders of MakerBot gave a cool presentation earlier in the year. MakerBot is an open source desktop 3D printing company and community that lets users design, share, and create their ideas in plastic. They are very cool guys and we have their Google presentation with Q&A session for you below.

3D printing is interesting in its own right – you can make all sorts of cool objects. MakerBot’s Cupcake CNC printer is small enough to fit happily on your desk but still powerful enough to build models, cogs, and jewelry. The really cool possibilities, however, begin when you consider self replicating machines. Working alongside other teams, such as RepRap, MakerBot is helping edge their way closer to creating a machine that can build other machines. Once we have that capability our world may see every form of technology become available to everyone. That’s a distant goal, but people like Pettis and Hoeken are helping to take the first baby steps in its direction.

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Makerbot is Asking You to Help Make More Makerbots

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by Aaron Saenz on August 17th, 2009

So here’s a situation we’ve all been in. You just started a new company that builds and sells table top 3D printers. To save money, and be a badass, you use your 3D printers to make parts so you can build more 3D printers. Then, too late, you realize that you can’t keep up with your production schedule because your printer is too popular. Man, if I had a nickel…

Spawn More Makerbots!

Spawn More Makerbots!

Well, rather than encouraging others to point and laugh, Makerbot has decided to turn a problem into a cool opportunity for all of you do-it-yourselfers out there. A critical pulley is slowing down production, so Makerbot is asking owners of their 3D printers to create a few of these pulleys and get paid for their trouble. That’s right, Makerbot is introducing the world to crowdsourcing, a way of decentralizing production over a large set of independent individuals. Not satisfied with merely being open sourced and community minded, Makerbot is now seeking to turn customers into freelance builders.

We’ve been impressed with Makerbot since we started covering desktop 3D printers. Their Cupcake CNC, the first printer design, is fairly robust and is able to produce almost any shape you can draft that is less than 4″ x 4″x 6″. The plastic extrusion process is similar to industrial 3D printing techniques used by other companies. Check out an introduction to Makerbot’s CupCake CNC in the video from Rocketboom Tech after the break.

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3D Printing and Self Replicating Machines In Your Living Room – Seriously!

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by Keith Kleiner on April 9th, 2009

Imagine having a machine for $500 in your living room that can take your computer based specification for a 3D object and print out a plastic replica of the object in a matter of minutes.  Imagine furthermore that all of the specifications for the machine are completely open source, completely shareable and modifiable by anyone in the world, and that there is a worldwide community of volunteers working feverishly to support you and anyone else to troubleshoot and improve the machine.  Imagine no longer…this machine, called a Reprap, is reality!  Best of all, these machines are ultimately designed to self replicate themselves, bringing us within tantalizing reach of a long envisioned era of self replicating machines.

Students Union Reception
Above: The Reprap Machine Connected To A Computer With A 3D Specification

The Reprap machine works like this:  Reprap consists of a roughly cubical half-meter frame enclosing its fabrication workspace, motors, electronic circuitry and an extruder.  The extruder is a device that can squirt out complex three-dimensional patterns of molten plastic filaments that will ultimately solidify into the shape of your 3D object.  Software on a PC takes design files produced by 3-D drawing programs and turns them into instructions that are sent to the Reprap over a USB connection.

This is really about as good as it gets if you are a geek.  Its like having a mini factory in your own home.  I personally can’t wait to get my hands on one of these little miracles.  So what can you make with a Reprap machine anyway?

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