MakerBot Industries

Bre talks to BoingBoing about the community-created clock he demoed at TED 2012. 

Earlier this week, Bre and 24 of his fellow-TED-Fellows inspired and delighted attendees of the TED Conference 2012, where the world’s boldest and brightest gathered in Long Beach, California. “This year–there’s a spirit of solutions in the air,” wrote Forbes’ Steven Rosenbaum, who listed Bre’s talk on the power of collaborative innovation as one of four ‘earthshaking’ moments from this year’s event.

“We may really be printing out everything we need in the future,” gushed Mariella Moon of Tecca. Moon’s list of 11 Radical Ideas Worth Spreading From Ted 2012 also includes autonomous flying robots, electronic toy kits, a brain recording kit, and a ‘clip from TED2023′  imagined by Ridley Scott in the much-anticipated Prometheus.

Finally, GOOD: education asks, If Schools Kill Creativity, Can Toys Bring it Back to Life? Heck yeah! Here at MakerBot, we’re firm believers in the learning power of play-time. Give a kid a Replicator, and she can make the stuff of her imagination come to life. She can learn science, mechanics, and problem-solving while creating awesome toys of her own invention. Most importantly, she can discover  that nothing is impossible – all she needs is her mind, her MakerBot, and a little help from her friends.

MakerBot = toM Baker?!

I have never hidden the fact that I’m a complete Doctor Who fanboy. ¹  But, there are some coincidences that are almost too much to take.  It’s like Slumdog Millionaire, where a kid’s entire life was leading up to just that one moment on a game show – all the little random things that went into making him who he was.  3D printing is like that for me – a strange brew of just about everything I’ve ever been interested in – computers, robots, origami, math, design, sculpture, art, drawing, little fiddly plastic toys, making, and, of course, a British cult sci-fi series.

Now I’m definitely going to need to print up a set of MakerBot letters for my desk.

1. Photo courtesy of MakerBot’s own Ethan Hartman [↩]

Material Connexion, a global materials and innovation consultancy, is currently featuring 3D-printed objects and designs in an exhibition at its NYC headquarters. “Print/3D” includes an impressive collection of 3D-printed objects from an array or artists, designers, and manufacturers, including MakerBot’s Rocket Playset, as well as objects from Thingiverse like the skull bowl, pirate ship, and stretchy bracelet.

Not only can visitors see a wide range of 3D-printed pieces, but they’ll have the chance to see a Thing-O-Matic live printing objects as part of the installation!

Material ConneXion
Open to the public from 9am-6pm
60 Madison Avenue, 2^nd Floor
New York, NY 10010

“Print/3D” has already been written about in these fine publications, click the links for full articles:

NY1
New York Mag
NY Times
Core77
Domus

It’s time for TED2012!  MakerBot’s CEO and co-founder, Bre Pettis, is among the TEDFellows speaking at the conference in Long Beach, California this week.

Bre’s talk today focused on the importance of  community and co-creation in making something that seems impossible, possible. Case in point:  the open-source collaborative design phenomenon where 3D printed clocks were developed collectively  by MakerBot’s Thingiverse users. Remember the Clock-a-Thons? Well kids, we successfully made a clock!

Thingiverse users from around the world began uploading their designs for the pieces of a clock, and the final stages of construction happened here in MakerBot’s Brooklyn workshop, with clock mastermind, Syvwlch himself in attendance, over a meeting of minds and some shared food.

Want to make a clock of your own? Download the files from Thingiverse, get your bot warmed up, and start printing! The clock does have a few necessary non-printable parts, but fear not – MakerBot is selling these parts in our online store! In the kit, you’ll even get a laser cut wooden shelf stand signed by Bre Pettis himself!

For the inside scoop from TED2012 follow Bre on Twitter – @bre!

Are you cooking up a wild and wacky new iPhone accessory in your brain skillet? Serve it up for a chance to win your very own Replicator!

Together with our friends Adam and Josh over at  Engineer vs. Designer, we’re kicking off the Absurd iPhone Accessory Design Contest! Slap on that thinking cap and upload your oddest, awesomest iPhone accessory design to Thingiverse and tag it ‘EvD’ to enter. Submit your design by March 19, 2012 and see it (and you!) featured on the Engineer vs. Designer blog.

Details after the jump!
Read the rest of this entry »

Right now in the BotCave, the chirping of dozens of Replicators on the Q&A bench contends with the dolphin squeal of packing tape. Also the chatter of the production team hurrying assembled bots through to the testing process before handing them over to the shipping team for boxing and labeling. There is excitement building in the air … as well as the scent of  grease and lemony cleaning products.

Meanwhile, around the corner in the BotLair, the R&D team who developed and delivered the MakerBot Replicator product that is the origin of all of this activity are still hard at work testing and re-testing elements of the bots before passing off data to the documentation and support teams. Staff photographer Dave Neff spent the afternoon touring around the facility catching a few members of the R&D team who were on-site today, namely injection molding designer Aljoša, BotTech extraordinaire Ben, electrical engineer Alison, and the captain for the R&D team for this project, Charles. There are a few notable omissions, namely Jeremy who spent his summer designing the MightyBoard and Taylor who managed the extensive revisions for the lasercut case.

General Assembly’s Start Making campaign launched this week, including this video of Bre discussing the early days of MakerBot. The Start Making series raises awareness for General Assembly’s soon-to-be launched free online learning program, aimed at helping empower people to start the entrepreneurial endeavors and projects they’ve always imagined. The series also features videos from Mayor Bloomberg, Mario Batali, and David Kelley.

Support Start Making by sharing the video via Twitter or Facebook, or even better, download and print this keychain from Thingiverse on your MakerBot. Put it on your keyring or give one to your friends and family!

Join SolidSmack‘s Josh Mings and cadjunkie‘s Adam O’Hern in the latest installment of ‘the dankest product design podcast on the block,’ Engineer vs. Designer. The fellas ask Bre why he thinks open-source is so darn important, wonder what kind of living object he would 3D print if he could, and discover what inspires him most about his community of fellow hackers, tinkerers, and geeks.

Each week the folks at Engineer vs. Designer serve up all the latest in digital design, with useful tips & tricks, designer Q&As, and one very special guest. Find more episodes of Engineer vs. Designer here, and don’t forget to follow Adam and Josh on Twitter @EvD1 or Facebook.

Download this podcast for free.

Roger Yu explains the explosive growth of 3D printing among entrepreneurs and hobbyists in USA TODAY Tech.

Bonus: This awesome video interview with Bre Pettis from inside the Botcave!

Crain’s New York Business just featured MakerBot in an article on the growing presence of 3D printing in NYC. The story looks at the expansion of the industry and the potential that it offers the city.

A sneak peek from the article: “The technology is transforming industries such as jewelry-making, medical devices and architecture. New York City, with its robust design trade, may be a natural home for 3-D printing. Indeed, the Bloomberg administration is betting that the technology will create new businesses and help existing ones be innovative and more competitive.”