Why Kids Are Key to Unlocking the Potential of 3D Printing
Carolyn Conner Seepersad | March 1, 2016
Known in technology circles as "additive manufacturing," 3D printing has grown into a $4 billion industry since it was first commercialized 30 years ago by 3D Systems. For most of its history, though, it has been out of the reach of typical consumers. Most industrial-scale 3D printing machines cost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and fabricate parts with materials that cost orders of magnitude more than those used in most consumer products.
Many parts could be made with another method (machining, molding, carving), but the 3D printer allows students to make the parts themselves with minimal training, fewer safety risks, no extra tools and, in some cases, much less time.
Children are likely to magnify that effect. They are even more excited to make things themselves and even more willing to overlook mistakes or imperfections.
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| RepRap is humanity's first general-purpose self-replicating manufacturing machine. Source: http://reprap.org/ |
<more at http://phys.org/news/2016-03-kids-key-potential-3d.html; related links and articles: http://reprap.org/ (+Video) (RepRap website) and http://www.fabathome.org/ (fab@home website)>
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