MakerBot Industries

Nancy Kleinrock put together her notes from the most recent TTI Vanguard Conference. Here’s what she said about Bre’s MakerBot Presentation:

The Robot that Sharing Built—Mr. Bre Prettis, Makerbot
• The low-cost MakerBot 3-D printer (kits range $750–$950) generates user-designed physical objects
that are built up in successive layers as the machine lays down heated plastic extruded from a nozzle
that functions like a hot glue gun.
• Beginning with a model created in 3-D graphics software (e.g., Blender), the MakerBot software
analyzes the model by taking cross-sections and determining the proper distribution of solid and
open space in each layer; the hardware then executes the design, building it up layer by layer.
• “It’s kind of magic—you start with nothing and end up with something.”
• An unabashed outgrowth of hacker culture, MakerBot is only available in kit form; Pettis maintains that it
is “a little harder to put together than Ikea furniture.”
• The MakerBot community is indeed a community, with participants freely sharing designs at
www.thingiverse.com, making components for one another, and gathering in hackerspaces to learn,
teach, and share with one another.
• Not only object designs, but the complete design of the MakerBot 3-D printer and all its component
parts are released under the Gnu Public License (GPL), making them forever available for others to
use, copy, and modify; all modifications must be GPL licensed.
• The best way to get started is to download someone else’s design, print it, tweak the design,
and print again; or attend a hackerspace and gain experience face to face.
• Demand for the MakerBot has shot up it was since first released in early 2009, and the user
community is teaming up to supply MakerBot-made parts for new units.
• The company gives back by providing physical upgrades for an initially brittle component by sending
the upgraded design code to owners by email.
• A user-submitted improvement to the plastic extruder (Plastruder) will be included in new units; user-
improved temperature control software was distributed to MakerBot community members.
• “Hackers make great alpha testers.”
• The MakerBot business model: “Bits should be free; atoms you should pay for.”
• “Objects over IP is about as close to teleportation as it gets.”
• Pettis envisions a day soon that, when people need a new object (e.g., a doorknob or a 13/16″
measuring spoon or a whistle or an engagement ring), they won’t think of going to the store to buy
it, but rather will amble to the desk, fire up the MakerBot, and make it themselves.
• Whether this dream is realistic in a culture full of people who no longer cook their own dinner nightly
is questionable, but the dream is part of the journey.
• In the meantime, Pettis and his friends are designing a 3-D scanner to collect dimensions from
already-made objects.
• “Next year you can get the washer/dryer combo.”
• Pettis’s bottom line: “If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong.”