Archive for September 14th, 2011

MakerBot in the Wild: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid


Under the guidance of Professors Alberto Valero PhD and Juan Gonzalez PhD, students at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid have been taking advantage of an optional seminar, which focuses on the study of 3D design and printing. Using Open Source tools, this new program is the first of its kind in Spain, and the early returns have been tremendous.

Studying OpenSCAD for designing, and building a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic (named Madre) for printing, students have been looking at how to create and improve upon robotic mechanisms. Inspired by items on Thingiverse, the students have been printing their designs for over three months, eight hours per day, and to date, have gone through over 12kg of plastic! They have even been using it more than their industrial 3D printer. Professor Valero summed it up pretty well: “THIS IS PLASTIC VALLEY.”

You can see a sampling of their work on Thingiverse, under the tag, UC3M. One of the more challenging projects for now and for the future has been to take obijuan‘s MiniSkyBot and make adjustments to make it capable of moving through a sand box.

After a successful introduction to 3D design and printing, the university will soon be expanding to include even more classes, and MakerBots! One class in particular, “Designing and Printing of Mechanical Parts with Open Source Tools’ for the Robotics and Automation Master program looks very promising. Based on what we’ve seen so far, we have high hopes for the program’s future!

This is a printable caterpillar robot with gear wheels and links -kind of tank-like ;) . This is part a project developed in the UC3M university in which we are designing printable robots. Here, we have together all the pieces that form this robot, but you can have a look at the different parts pages to see some other people modifications -specially at the links. Take into account that this is a work in progress.Though this robot works as it is designed now, it can be improved a lot -and this is in what we are working right now. Some of the pieces -in their own pages- are parametrized, while others are still pending. Designers: Olalla Bravo thingiverse.com/olalla Daniel Gómez thingiverse.com/dannynoc A special thank you to Obijuan thingiverse.com/obijuan for printing us the pieces, providing useful advice and remarking us some obvious design mistakes and, in general, leading us into the nerdy way =p . Another thank you also to our other professor Alberto, for his advice,patience and invitations to have some coffee. Individual pages for the pieces: Gear wheels and links: thingiverse.com/thing:7209 Chassis: thingiverse.com/thing:7681 Parametric gear wheels: thingiverse.com/thing:7794 UPDATE: We've got a video of the robot in motion!!youtu.be/gRsKRrQQHos Update 4/13 23:52 The chassis now includes four drills in order to hold the PIC with the micro that controls the servos above the chassis. Also, the hole that it had so that some material could be saved has been removed in order to sustain better the PIC. Update 4/14 14:08 Added the parametric version of the gear wheels that we are using in the design. Update 4/20 00:28 The comments of the links scad file have been translated into English. I hope this will help to understand better the code and that it will make easier modifications of the file.
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Bre Pettis Bioloid Head by Skimbal – in Action!

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The apotheosis of the Bre-scan mashup has finally arrived, thanks to a collaboration between Michael Curry (Skimbal), Michael Overstreet (I-Bioloid), & Luis E. Rodriguez (Luis). While much of the magic here is indeed below the neck, it is remarkable how well Curry’s implementation of the head “reads” dramatically and brings the whole robot together. I thought it worth posting again to share this video. I’m looking forward to seeing Boomer/Bre Bot in more detail at World Maker Faire 2011.

I learned two things from this video. One, the head scan really sells me on the robot as a character. Two, I am really scared of my boss now.

Curry writes in his Thingiverse release: “Bre Pettis’ head adapted to match the Bioloid bracket system and artfully grafted onto a new, superior, robot body. I for one welcome our new robotic CEO…”

Bre Pettis' head adapted to match the Bioloid bracket system and artfully grafted onto a new, superior, robot body. I for one welcome our new robotic CEO... Video of Bre Bot in actionmike-ibioloid.blogspot.com/2011/09/brebot-10.html Bre Bot is a derivative of:thingiverse.com/thing:9010 &thingiverse.com/thing:5192 Is a collaboration of: Michael Curry (Skimbal) Michael Overstreet (I-Bioloid) & Luis E. Rodriguez (Luis) And is brought to you by the letter: C
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New Museum MakerBot Challenge!

Showcasing the endless possibilities of the Thing-O-Matic, the New Museum MakerBot Challenge is open to the entire creative community. Embodying the New Museum’s mission of “New Art, New Ideas,” this interactive and experiential Challenge aims to push the concept of the “derivative,” by improving on or personalizing established design conventions. From the banal toothbrush to complex bicycle gears, how can 3D printing help to develop the world around us?

Prizes

The winning design will be printed on a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic on display in the New Museum’s window. The winning designer will receive a New Museum Deluxe membership ($400 value), a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic® Kit ($1299 value), and a special invitation to the New Museum MakerBot Challenge launch party.

Five runner-ups will have their designs printed by MakerBot and sent to them.

How to enter

- If you are not already registered, sign up for an account at Thingiverse.com

- Upload your 3D files, and tag them with NewMuseumChallenge by October 31st, 2011

- In the description, write a statement about your design. What is the design a derivative of? How does it improve on or challenge existing design conventions?

Rules

- Designs may be one single part or multiple parts that are each smaller than 4 x 4 x 4 ¾ in (100 x 100 x 120 mm) and printable on a MakerBot Thing-O-Matic.

- Different parts can be made in white, yellow, orange, red, UV reactive red, UV reactive nuclear green, camping green, blue, black, and glow-in-the-dark.

- The design may require multiple builds, however no more than three builds are allowed.

- Designs may include other parts like screws or LEDs but keep in mind the jurors will be looking for designs that utilize 3D printing’s ability to empower everyone to download, print and use the design.

Who’s in the jury?

A team from both MakerBot and the New Museum will select the final designs. The jurors are looking for designs that utilize the unique ability of 3D printing to personalize and improve on the world around us.

And last, here are a few existing Thingiverse items that we think belong in this challenge:

I made this specifically because my brother wanted something that wasn't easily molded with an injection molding machine. The undercuts on the bollards and the jack port should make it impossible, if not unrealistically expensive to make that way. The picture is pretty self explanatory. Put earbuds in, wind and then push the jack end into the hole provided. EDIT: This only seems to work with the new iPod / iphone earbuds with the volume control buttons on the cord. Thanks to all those who tried with other earbuds.
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The instructions for this soap dish are embedded into the part itself.
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These are the files for the Reddit Upvote/Downvote Button Enclosure I built to fit a project I was working on. This is just barely big enough to fit a Teensy development board and a couple of buttons. I've included the code and better instructions on the project itself on my blog here: thenewhobbyist.com/2011/07/am-i-doing-this-right-reddit-upvote-button/ I've also included in the images for this thing my wiring diagram if you'd like to take a shot at making your own. Being able to print a project box to my exact dimensions was as expected, awesome. Here's a video of it in action:youtube.com/watch?v=yNkKHRwk3MA&feature=player_embedded New Museum Challenge Notes: The ability to 3D model and print the enclosure and buttons for this project allowed me to make design decisions that would not have been possible using conventional methods. The arrow buttons for example, are not available through any distributor I could find commercially. Additionally the enclosure itself is the exact size (down to the millimeter) to fit my electronics. I believe the conventional idea of using off the shelf parts and fitting your designs into them is coming to an end. The ability to translate my vision for this project to a physical object would not be possible without access to a 3D printer.
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Iterating on the previous 'plain' hairclip (see comparison image), this new SLIM version disposes of the need of a 3rd spring, and trims down the size significantly without reducing strength or function. I personally find this version to be even more secure to wear, but feedback on how it fits on other people's hair would be very welcome indeed! This particular rainbow version, I printed using a welded-together string of several colo(u)rs of ABS - coming to a total of 79cm (31") of 3mm filament. The Nyan-Cat add-on, can be printed separately, painted, and glued on with hot glue. Nyancat YouTube video: youtube.com/watch?v=QH2-TGUlwu4
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i modified the original by making the cone snap in and out as well as chopping off the hard corners. print it with exterior support this is still a work in progress, it works but i can make it better the large cone i printed failed half way through so i glued it to another cone i had to make a super mega phone cone. the straight one with the small cone is pretty damn loud i drilled out the hole so its not the correct size for slip in fit. this is a video of the sound differenceflickr.com/photos/zgbot/5516445973/
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We can rebuild him

Bre Pettis Bioloid

Bre Pettis Bioloid

Thanks to Skimbal we now have a cyborg CEO.  Now all we need is cyborg talk show host.

Bre Pettis' head adapted to match the Bioloid bracket system and artfully grafted onto a new, superior, robot body. I for one welcome our new robotic CEO... Video of Bre Bot in actionmike-ibioloid.blogspot.com/2011/09/brebot-10.html Bre Bot is a derivative of:thingiverse.com/thing:9010 &thingiverse.com/thing:5192 Is a collaboration of: Michael Curry (Skimbal) Michael Overstreet (I-Bioloid) & Luis E. Rodriguez (Luis) And is brought to you by the letter: C
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The Talking Head - Stephen Colbert Edition Have you ever wanted Stephen Colbert to personally read you the News? Spread the truthiness from a place of honor at your very own kitchen table? Well now he can. Last seen Closing the Colbert Show!
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