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Monday, April 11, 2011

Roboweek Day Three - Self Replicating Printers

RoboTechEd’s third #robotofnote for Roboweek isn’t a stereotypical robot. It doesn't walk, talk, or really have much user feedback. But what it lacks it makes up with it's ability to create. Makerbot is a stationary robot that is completely open platform, and arduino controlled - pretty sweet if you need a 3D printer (you guessed it, Makerbot is a 3D printer). A Makerbot kit costs a small price of $1,300 but is way cheaper than a commercial 3D printer. And the best part is that once you have one, the Makerbot can self replicate!

Also available online is a huge amount of CAD files that are known to work on the Makerbot, from coffee mugs, to nuts and bolts. The Makerbot is able to make these things by melting plastic into the desired shape - anything up to 4”x4”x6”. To find out more on the Makerbot, click HERE and make sure to check out the video below to see it in action. And if anyone makes or buys one of these let me know, selling copies of the original may be somewhat fruitful (no...for real, a self replicating 3D printer is pretty sweet)!

Are you celebrating Roboweek? If you're making something cool, would you use a Makerbot to help?less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply



Are you celebrating #roboweek? What are you doing to celebrate? A good idea would be to download the RoboTechEd Chrome App! Check it out, and tweet @roboteched or @roboweek with any #robotofnote!

1 comment:

  1. Hi,

    Fantastic blog. Do you have an email I can grab you on? Have a few questions.

    Thanks
    Ryan
    rgibson@farnell.com

    ReplyDelete