The MakerBot 3D design team is building a Robot Petting Zoo to bring to this year’s Maker Faire. In this video you’ll get a behind-the-scenes look at how they conceptualized, designed and created these amazing DIY robots! To see the robots in full-effect meet us at Maker Faire Bay Area on May 19th and 20th, 2012. Hope to see you there!

You’ve heard about Michael Curry’s Rocket Playset and the MakerBot Astronauts who live there. So you must know that these astronauts love adventure – over their lifetimes they will be traveling to the farthest reaches of Thingiverse to discover the unknown. Follow along on their adventures or take them on adventures of your own.

What lands will your astronauts traveling to? Take some pictures of your MakerBot Astronauts in the wild and show us what kinds of adventures they’ve been having!

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As a special treat for CES this year, MakerBot posed a set of provocative questions:

Remember the playsets, dollhouses, action figures, army figurines, and plastic ponies you played with so passionately in your youth? Dreaming up secret worlds — or creating narratives with friends, neighbors, classmates, and siblings?

Well, what if you could produce these tools of imagination with the push of a button? And what if you could roll up your sleeves and invent your own characters, furnishings, and buildings — and share them not only with your children, nieces, nephews, neighbors, or friends, but also, and instantly, with the rest of the world?

Handcrafted dollhouses are nothing new to the serious Maker, but MakerBot is taking steps to make this practice easier and more widely adopted than ever before. For the rest of January, MakerBot and a squadron of Makers will be introducing the MakerBot Playsets to the Thingiverse: 1:18 scale dollhouses as full of imagination and mischief as craft, modeling techniques, and cleverness.

MakerBot’s own design superstar Michael “Skimbal” Curry, creator of such Thingiverse megahits as the Turtle Shell Racers and Gothic Cathedral playset, starts the ball rolling by architecting a pair of MakerBot Playset buildings. Introducing two new Thingiverse superstars: Cushwa and PrettySmallThings are doing a tremendous job furnishing these playsets with their imaginations.¹

So without further ado, straight from the soundstage backlot of Annelise’s Replicator music video, The Right Heart, we present you with the MakerBot Fairytale Castle Playset and the Damsels!

The MakerBot Fairytale Castle Playset and Damsels

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1. We will be introducing new Thingiverse superstars over the next few weeks. [↩]

Tonight at 9pm EST sharp (6pm PST) on Make: Live, hosts Becky Stern and Matt Richardson will direct their attention to the world of DIY 3D printing.

This short 30-40min episode will feature lots for the MakerBot world to love! Catch segments with MakerBot staff such as an interview with CEO Bre Pettis, a Tinkercad demo by hacker/educator Liz Arum, and a teardown of the Turtle Shell Racers from the MakerBot Raceway at World Maker Faire 2011 with modeler/maker Michael Curry !

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Update: Bre here, Skimbal is an awesome designer who has just really impressed everyone in the MakerBot community. I’m excited to announce that we just hired him to make awesome projects and document them here at MakerBot Industries full time. He’ll be moving to Brooklyn to design, make, and document awesome MakerBottable things. To say we’re excited at MakerBot to bring him on board is an serious understatement. Be prepared for more Skimbal awesomeness coming soon to a MakerBot near you!

Turtle Shell Racer – High Power Edition by Skimbal

We got a glimpse of Skimbal’s Turtle Shell Racers in a recent photo from the Detroit MakerFaire, but a picture is even better.  If you ever had a doubt about the raw potential and power inherent in the humble MakerBot Cupcake CNC, please allow such misconceptions to be thusly dispelled.  Besides the incredible amount of work that went into designing and printing these, Skimbal obviously put a lot of work into the documentation as well.  He’s included all the STL’s files you’d need to print one, a list of materials, a PDF of how to assemble them, and, of course, a few videos of them in action!  Well done, sir!  Well done!

Go download the files for the Turtle Shell Racers at Thingiverse. Bonus! Download the awesome instructional booklet!

Michael Curry's display at Detroit Maker Faire 2011

It’s little wonder that Michael Curry, of the Cowtown Computer Congress, was the recipient of an Awesome Award at this year’s Detroit Maker Faire for showing off his Mario Cart racing cars (with remotes!), Christmas Lego men, Bathtub U-Boat, and a Portal sentry turret.

Thanks to Jon Speicher for the photo!

Bathtub U-Boat by Skimbal

Michael Curry, also known as Skimbal on Thingiverse, was recently interviewed by NPR regarding his incredible designs on display at Maker Faire Kansas City.  Michael discusses how his MakerBot 3D printer has been a creative outlet and even how it has also helped his career in this down economy.  If you haven’t seen Michael’s work yet, you definitely need to take a look at his “Designed Things” page on Thingiverse.  His designs are usually large multi-print pieces, incredibly intricate, and seem to always push the boundaries of what’s possible with a single 3D printer at your disposal.

Check out the link for the full audio interview along with some photographs from the event!

Does Bre Pettis dream of electric sheep?

MakerBot Cupcake operator and Thingiverse champion Skimbal has done it again. ¹  This is not a guy who does anything half way. ²  While not a prolific designer, his works have easily become some of the most epic and memorable pieces ever printed on a 3D printer. ³

Skimbal’s latest work, in collaboration with Jestin Stoffel of the Cowtown Computer Congress, created this multi-print job Bre Pettis talking head.  See if you can tell the difference between the one Skimbal printed and the original:

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1. I hesitate to claim he’s outdone himself simply because his work is always SO epic. [↩]
2. Well, I guess the VW bus would be the exception? [↩]

3. • VW Bus
   • Gothic Cathedral Play Set
   • Spider Pumpkin of DOOM
   • Rubber Band Gear Mechanism
   • CD-ROM Motor Pump
   • Christmas Lego Men
   • Bathtub U-Boat
   • Bre Pettis Talking Head

   [↩]

The Great Hall, Union Station

You may already remember Michael Curry, aka Skimbal on Thingiverse, from his epic Cathedral Play Set or his rubber band design challenge winning rubber band gear mechanism.  Well, you’re going to love his latest design – Christmas greeting themed oversized Lego people.  My favorite part is the slide show of his twenty Lego people touring Kansas City.

This year instead of sending Christmas Cards I decided to use my Makerbot to make something unique for my friends. And naturally the project took on a life of its own.

The final result was 20 Lego Men at 4x the normal size. Each inscribed with a holiday greeting.

Before dispatching them off to the world, I decided it would be nice to take all 20 brothers on a photographic tour of Kansas City.

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Happy Holidays to all of the Thingiverse Community.

-Michael Curry