MakerBot Industries

Green into red? Madness!!!

I’m a big fan of bar codes. ¹  I really like the idea that you can have something physical instantly transformed into something digital. ² In a way, a bar code is the opposite side of a MakerBot coin.  I realize that print resolutions, thing shapes, and QR code size requirements would preclude this, but it would be so cool to have each object printed from Thingiverse to have a little QR code built into its side.  If you wanted to give a copy to your friend – just flash the QR code on the bottom at their phone/webcam/MakerBot and they can have one too.³

An interesting factoid about QR codes is that the size of the QR code box is related to the amount of information being encode into it.  The longer the URL, the larger the QR code needs to be.  By using a URL shortening service⁴ on a Thingiverse URL⁵ along with a QR code generator you can essentially compress the data required to reach a Thing on Thingiverse into a smaller QR code.

Using a 3D scanner to duplicate an object will basically guarantee the digital version of that object will be rougher than the original.  However, using a built-in QR code, you could have duplication without generational degradation.  It would be like stamping everything on Thingiverse with the DNA necessary to build a duplicate.

Semi-random thoughts:

1. Can all of the DNA in a human be expressed as a long string of text?
2. If so, it would be very interesting to me to try to encode that long string of text as a QR code.  I wonder how large it would have to be?
3. One way out is to link to the Human Genome Project, run their link through a URL shortener, and then create a QR code from that.  Now you can print people!

The Human Genome Project

1. Photo courtesy of Mario Caruso [↩]
2. Zach’s recent Tweet got me thinking about this post. [↩]
3. Then again, at that point it might be easier to use image recognition software to match the printed thing with the Thingiverse catalog. [↩]
4. I like YOURLS, but that’s because I like open source stuff, rolling my own versions of things, and the idea of having my own URL shortening service. [↩]
5. Or link to someone else’s STL. [↩]