Slashdot Mirror
3D Printer For Your Kids
kkleiner writes "Two developers from Shapeways and i.materialise have designed a 3D printer for your ten-year-old. The prototype, named Origo, would allow children to easily design objects in 3Dtin and then print them safely in their home with minimal adult supervision. Could it be the last toy you ever have to buy for your kids?"
If I already have a 10-year old kid, why would I want to print more of them? And what's wrong with the old fashioned way, even if I wanted more?
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
I want one for myself!
Print me a six-foot blonde chick.
Copies: 3
That is absolutely brilliant.
I have a mental picture, though, of the really smart geek in grade school... you know the one, stays in at recess to draw pictures of soldier robots...
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
I can finally make those pieces I've always needed to finish my lego builds!
My abilities are only limited by my imagination
Of course it'd be the last toy. You'd never be able to afford more after HP gets into this 3D ink business.
For that matter, who wants their kid printing off shit without supervision. I never let anyone get near my 2D printer, much less a 3D one that could produce velociraptors.
Right now, I am just an idea. I will be as easy to use as an Xbox or Wii. I’ll be as big as three Xbox 360s and as expensive as three Xbox 360s. I will sit on your desk and quietly build your ideas, drawings and dreams.
So, now we are measuring dreams in XBoxen?
What could possibly go wrong?
Sounds like a fair trade.
Have gnu, will travel.
Could be the last toy you ever have to buy for your kids?
Close, but no cigar. Not until it can make something with wheels that turn :-)
Even if it is expensive, this would be a very awesome thing to have.
I sculpt on occasion, and being able to fast sculpt a primitive form digitally, then finish up with hand tools would greatly expedite the process.
Throw in a 3d stereoscopic scanner, and keep the pricetag under 2k, and I'm sold.
Can you use it to replace that one lost Lego block (most likely went up the vacuum cleaner) that you need in order to complete your masterpiece?
(\(\
(^.^)
(")")
*This is the cute bunny virus, please copy this into your sig so it can spread
This is pretty neat, but I'm not sure this is even down in FAO Schwartz kid territory. I've got a MakerBot, and while it's fun, it's complicated. Designing things isn't going to be easy. You have to take things into account like the angles of overhangs. Printing is fun to watch, but it can take a LONG time. The smaller the object, the faster it is, but it's still never going to be a 5 minute process. It's going to take 30-90.
Good luck, they'll have a LOT of challenges.
Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
how long until little Bart and his odd friend Beavis makes models of
a) explosives
b) dildos
c) guns
and brings them to the first school day after Christmas?
and then the think-of-the-chillren lobby gets all versions---not just for children----but every device in the category banned? They might include 5-axis milling machines.
I can't tell you how many times I have had to throw away something because some little plastic part broke.
If this thing can print out decently strong parts, I'll want one too.
Hopefully, I can make more of that little nylon clutch that broke in every one of my Gardner-Denver wirewrap guns. I threw all the broken guns in a drawer hoping one day I would be able to bring them back to life. They were damm handy little tools, and I haven't seen anyone else make them that had the right feel to 'em.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
http://www.techi.com/2011/07/3d-printer-makes-working-tools-with-moving-parts/
When kids start making little plastic replicas of their favorite cartoon heroes, the copyright and trademark thugs will be all over this thing. I can already see Disney's lawyers salivating.
My three pre-teenish kids are totally able to use our MakerBot Thing-o-Matic to do this already. It's only slightly over 1K$ and can print anything (almost) from thingiverse.com or things they make themselves in Google Sketchup.
So what makes this new thing better?
No. Well...maybe. Actually, yes. It really just depends.
Looks interesting, but isn't lego a faster means to express their imagination
with less mess ?
This is new, cool and has creative possibility. An MIT Open Courseware entry for architecture had this:
"Students will learn various methods of representation for their ideas, and will work in model form and both freehand and hard-line drawings. Students will be encouraged to remain away from digital means of representation until late in the semester."
Playing with Tinker Toys and Legos seems like a good first step before paying for a 3D printer.
http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/vm.html
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
The implications of individuals, especially kids, having access to 3D printing is a pretty well-explored scifi trope. Cory Doctrow's Makers, and Bruce Sterling's Kiosk are both based on the concept, reasonably good, and make a solid starting point for implications.
Technically, you sell one 3D printer and it's pretty much over. Kid #1 prints out two printers, gives them to two other kids, and so on. Since this isn't happening, I have to assume 3D printers are nothing but scams that print out misshappen globs of cheap plastic that can not be used for much besides cursing yourself for being so gullible.
I want to be a father some day, and I think this is a reasonable way to get kids involved in Mechanics and Computer Science.
That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
Could this be a cost effective way to supplement my miniature fantasy figure collection? I suspect not, but it can't hurt to ask.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
When I was a kid we had the Thing Maker. It is nice to see something that truly advances that concept.
"Could be the last toy you ever have to buy for your kids?"
No. they'll probably want the 4D printer coming out in two years......
#include bier;
Whatever happened to playdough?
Would be the ability to melt down previously-created toys back into feedstock material, so that they can be re-used to create new toys.
Otherwise, either the parents get tired of buying more toy-making plastic (at which point the toymaker machine is no longer usable), or the house fills up with endless piles of old toy-printouts as the kids experiment and refine their designs.
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
then when puberty hits, they'll be using them to print dildos...
I was thinking of buying from Makerbot and had realized my kid would probably like it more than me. Then I started to wonder what they'll do with that $10M investment - probably make a better thing-o-matic. So it seems I should wait a year or two and now there is yet another player to watch.
On another note, has anyone tried doing this using a delta-bot instead of an xyz system?
Built a Makerbot Cupcake with my daughter, now age 12. We print a lot of stuff. I do robot parts. She learned the basics of Solidworks, and does doll house furniture, cookie cutters, gift boxes, and parts for robots that we build together. A 3D printer is great for kids in many ways. Since she was little, I've always told her: "The best toys are the ones you build yourself." and I'll spend much more freely on supplies at the craft store than crap from Toys-R-Us. 3D printers are just an extension of that theme.
Add 2 x Microsoft Kinnects and you can not only scan the subject/item in 3D but make a copy of it and you can do all this with FOSS software.
Imagine in 10 years you break your car wing mirror, no worries scan it in and print a new one for $2 using recycled bottles with no shipping fees.
Explain to me the capabilities and limitations of 3d printers, relevant patent holders, and why these stories aren't front-page news? As far as I can tell, 3d-printing technology completely revolutionizes manufacturing, no?
who could seriously consider making a kids job of cutting up paper all over the floor automated?
Nothing says I love you like the second hand vapor of air hardening plastic spray. Sleep Tight! I won't let any one of those horrible cigarette smokers near you my love.
Slashdot, where armchair scientists get shouted down and armchair theologians get modded up.
Until some kid prints a sharp object and impales himself.
Shows no results of the printer. And no workflow either.
It presents a kid playing around with an intuos 4 magically gifted with a screen, wirelessly connected to nothing. Intuos4 tablets lack a screen, and when connected connected to nothing, they DO nothing. They don't even have a power source.
I don't know if this is a "how it could be" video or what, but what it shows, is false. If I gave this people money, what the video shows would still be impossible.
You can get a reprap mendel for $500. It has a much larger build volume and it's cheaper.
With about 6 years development behind it the RepRap is a self-replicating 3d printer that has it's design released under GPL.
Checkout reprap.org to get instructions.
"Origo printer creates it in an hour or so". Kids have to wait an HOUR?!
Will be replaced by 10 year olds using up Dad's entire 3D printer cartridge in a single afternoon to print dildos.
I don't know if it's the last toy I ever have to buy for my kids, but I do know that it'll be the last thing needed to insure that the planet's landfills will swell to bursting with 3D "coasters" that'll be here long after the human race is extinct.
I’ll be as big as three Xbox 360s and as expensive as three Xbox 360s.
Worst. Marketing. Ever.
I wonder if they will take my kids as trade-ins?
"Get in the car, kids. We're going to town now!"
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
Anyone else reminded of the "Disney in a Box" 3d printer from Cory Doctorow's book Makers?
Kinects don't play well together because of their projected pattern. Just use one.
It says it takes an hour to print something. I doubt most kids would wait that long
What happened to:
- knotting / macrame --- a few lengths of small stuff, some beads (which can easily be whittled, see below) and one can make all sorts of things --- http://www.amazon.com/Ashley-Book-Knots-Clifford-W/dp/0385040253 ::grr::) --- still furious w/ my father that he sold his anvil. Next project at home is a lathe (since it's the one tool in a metal shop which can reproduce itself and be used to make other tools: http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/lathe1.html / http://www.amazon.com/Charcoal-Foundry-Build-Metal-Working/dp/1878087002/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1318508452&sr=8-2 )
- whittling / carving / carpentry --- I used to make all manner of things w/a pocket knife (and saws, planes and drills from my father's tool box) when I was a kid --- http://www.amazon.com/Carving-Kids-Robin-Edward-Trudel/dp/1933502029 / http://www.amazon.com/Carpentry-Children-Lester-R-Walker/dp/0879519908
- making ceramic pots and other items --- I built a small kiln in the backyard so that I could fire the things which I made of a natural clay deposit in the field next to my house --- modern materials like Sculpey mean that one needs nothing more than a toaster oven (if that, some are air-drying)
- solutions &c. for basic chemistry --- made black powder using saltpeter collected from under the cow manure in local farmer's fields, sulfur from sulfur candles purchased at a local store and charcoal which I made in the afore-mentioned kiln --- http://chemistry.about.com/library/goldenchem.pdf
- basic metalworking --- used to grind basic tools --- a teacher actually took one of my screwdrivers, heat treated it (and kept it
That kids don't do these things is a arguably a big part of why manufacturing jobs are going overseas.
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Nope because no doubt some scumbag will simply say it has to print these approved designs and each one costs $5!
Just like dealers, the first hit's free, the rest and the good stuff is gonna cost ya!
bad news
http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/21/hp-molds-itself-an-entry-into-the-3d-printer-market/
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
We'll know that these things make economic sense when car companies start purchasing them, placing them in every dealer's service department, and instead of shipping a replacement part to the dealership, the dealer will download the CAD file for the part, and 3D print it (loading the 3D printer w/ the right pigments to match the customer's car).
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
This is just a concept, which the 'inventor' is trying to sell before any prototype exists. This came up about a month ago on BoingBoing or something. It's not a bad idea, but it's just an idea: a 3D printer ----- for kids!
Apparently the kid on the right got caught in the machine, seared her upper lip right off
Meh. It will save on cheap plastic/foam sword expenses ... and the home blackmail videos that you can show to their future significant others will be much more entertaining.
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!