3D Systems has acquired My Robot Nation, technology which provides a game-like experience for creating content that can be 3D printed.
While the initial use case is pure entertainment -- allowing people to design and create their own colorful robot toys -- the My Robot Nation site's mission is really all about giving people with no experience or knowledge of 3D CAD tools the ability to easily create their own designs that can be output by 3D printers or 3D printing services.
The content creation piece is one of the primary bottlenecks standing in the way of widespread 3D printer adoption, My Robot Nation officials will tell you. Despite the influx of more reasonably priced 3D printer hardware, they said the reality is that people need to be fluent in complex CAD software in order to design the 3D models they aim to output.
My Robot Nation’s proprietary, browser-based platform lets average consumers quickly and easily personalize an object in 3D, then order their unique creation as a full-color 3D print delivered to their door. (Source: My Robot Nation)
My Robot Nation initially hooked up in a partnership with ZCorp, but ZCorp was acquired by 3D Systems last November in perhaps the biggest deal in its prolific string of acquisitions. Now, with its latest acquisition of My Robot Nation, 3D Systems is adding to an already impressive portfolio of end-user-oriented 3D printing technology, including Cubify.com, an online community and content site, and the Cube, a $1,299 personal 3D printer for the home market.
In fact, 3D Systems officials said they expect to integrate the My Robot Nation platform and experience into Cubify.com, the goal being to enhance the site with hundreds of new, easy 3D creation and printing capabilities, in addition to merging the growing developer community. Mark Danks and Sarah Stocker, the developers of My Robot Nation and experienced game industry veterans, will join the 3D Systems team as a result of the acquisition -- a move 3D Systems is touting as a conduit for enhancing Cubify.com with even more consumer-friendly and engaging technology, including play spaces, social capabilities, and game-like user interfaces.
And instead of having to leverage 3D printing services to output your My Robot Nation creation, the tight integration between the content creation piece and the Cube low-cost printer could be a compelling enough bundle to entice buyers to finally bring 3D printing technology into the home.
That seems to be how 3D Systems' President and CEO Abe Reichental is positioning the My Robot Nation technology. He called the technology a "disruptive capability" that would make the firm's Cubify platform more appealing to new users, "including kids from the ages of 8 to 80."
"We believe that this investment will accelerate the gamification and democratization of the entire Cubify experience and at the same time, facilitate our expansion into 3D hosting, publishing and the production of licensed content for other global consumer brands," he said, in a press release.
Your raise a good point, Naperlou. Not all engineers can think creatively from both a problem solving standpoint and a creative design standpoint. That said, This particular technology is really more to whet the appetite of the consumer/hobbyist/do-it-yourself market for 3D printing, inclusive of some enterprising engineers, I would think.
The content creation piece is one of the holes, however. Even as these 3D printers get cheaper and easily to use and maintain, the software to build the 3D models of what's printed is still more sophisticated than the average Joe. That's where technology like Robot Nation comes in. It doesn't require knowledge of CAD or any other sophisticated 3D design tool.
Chuck, I remember the Tandy, and a lot of other models of PC that have gone into history. I think at the height there were about 25 different brands, all proprietary, from 25 different manufacturers, that all worked differently. It was a nightmare. Given that environment it's easy to see the appeal of MS-DOS.
I agree about MS-DOS, Ann. I'll never forget when IBM announced the PC. It seemed like the announcement was nearly a year before they (and their clones) started to deliver the PC. All of the models except for Apple disappeared almost instantly. The way I remember it, businesses knew they had to start investing in personal computers, but they were nervous about what to buy. Once IBM announced the PC, they put off all their purchase plans until the first PCs arrived. Killed the market for everybody else. Except for Apple.
That's the way I remember the sequence, too, Rob. Except that MS-DOS was really awful for anyone but an engineer to use. I had several hours of training and could not remember much when it got down to making anything work. The cryptic error messages and text format made it really hard to have any idea of where you were or what had just happened, or what to do next. The Mac's GUI is what made me want to use computers--intuitively obvious, just like they said.
You are certainly right about that, Ann. I can't believe how much code I had to learn just to keep the computer going. All I was using was word processing and a database. But if you didn't learn the code to repair thye crashes, you couldn't keep your PC going.
That sounds pretty awful. The only DOS machines I had to use were those of employers. I had no interest in buying a PC until the Mac came out, I used it at work, and was amazed at the difference.
I had a bunch of PCs, Ann. At the time I owned a publishing company, and the only practical computers to own ($$ matched against function) were PCs. Interestingly, when we brought production inhouse we had to buy Macs. They were far ahead of PCs when it came to graphics. Much of the advanced graphic software wasn't even available on the PC. That started a long-standing division in publishing companies that still exists to some extent -- editorial uses PC and art uses Apple.
I have been watching this technology for awhile now. All of the 3d printing. It seems to be just plastics and modeling. I would like to think they could adapt this to print liquid metals such as aluminum. Then you would be able to make actual useable parts. Now that would be something!
I will say though, that even at this point I would love to have one. So the act of making them affordable to everyone is a good one. Although I doubt most would want one I know anyone into 3d modeling and CAD would love to own one. If even just to show what they can make!
@cadmanLT: Actually, I think they've come a way in terms of offering alternative kinds of materials other than the plastics. Some of the 3D printing services like Shapeways specialize in metal material choices--they're big in for consumer-oriented innovators like jewelry makers.
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