www.gizmag.com: Startup company Future Make 3D is developing the Polyes Q1, a 3D pen with a slew of safety features that aims to make it fun and safe for everyone – children included – to sketch out three-dimensional sculptures made of plastic. The cordless, USB-charged pen will come with standard, glow-in-the-dark, transparent and temperature-changing inks and is set to hit Kickstarter sometime next month.
17 comments:
This is probably one of the coolest things I have seen in a long time. I am sure that there are thousands of innovators out there in the field of 3 dimensional printing who took one look at the light-hardening technology of this device and thought to themselves "Doh! Why didn't I think of that?" . Just as described in the article and in the video, the safety features of this pen open up a huge market of prepubescent and even toddler users. One of the most constant truths of nature is that the youth is the future. If an industry or any singular company wants to grow it's customer base, the best way to do it is to engrain the product into the developmental period of a consumer's life. This way, the product in question will forever have a sense of familiarity and comfort in the mind of the buyer. I remember laughing at fake/candy cellphones when I was younger, thinking this must be the stupidest idea ever. Now when I see every person clinging for dear life onto their phone I see the secret mission of all those confectionary cell phones: brainwashing.
This is actually not the first 3d-printing pen article I've seen, but the different target demographic is really cool. If we can get people from a very young age to harness this technology, what sorts of ideas will they dream up when they come of age. I feel that only extraordinary results will occur by exposing young minds to devices and technology such as this. Good on Future Make for trying to make this new technology accessible to a sometimes forgotten demographic. Stuff like this is almost the new legos of the current generation. To be able to flesh out idea in your head so easily in 3d space is pretty darn awesome. I look forward to reviews of this product on its release.
I've seen similar products like this before, but the improvements mentioned make this one seem much more practical, and usable than others. The safety aspect of the 3D pen is extremely interesting as 3D printing in of itself is not a very safe process for children. If this product works up to its potential, it could be extremely useful in the model making world, or just for the sake of fun. Although, it does seem slightly expensive to run, and the batteries only last for 1 hour at a time...
The Idea of the 3d printing pen is intriguing because for it do be a 3d printing device I would expect it to be able to acurratly print in the Z axis but this is less capable at doing so. yes you can 3d print the different sides and use the pen to adhere the pieces together. Either way this is an impressive product. The use of a liquid state polymer instead of melting ABS plastic like the 3Doodler or regular 3d printers is a fantastic way to minimize the footprint of the pen and allow for more freedom. I had not considered the potential hazard of the heating elements in the 3doodler. However I personally have to disagree with any potential use for toddlers to be using such a device. A device that creates small plastic parts is prime for children to try and swallow and the UV Light unsupervised (while less hazardous) still is not a toy to be handled without consideration.
I guess I've just been out of it when it comes to 3D printing since this is the first pen I've heard of. But if what they claim turns out to be true, I agree that having kids start from a young age will definitely have a positive impact in the future. As for it being entirely harmless, I agree with Sean, this could be harmless for 5 or 6+, but any younger and they need to be supervised. That being said, I really want try one of these pens myself just for the heck of it. Overall, this is a really cool idea and opens up 3D printing to a lot of different people.
I think this a great idea, I saw the kickstarter for the 3-D doodler when it was first coming out, and although it was impressive to draw in 3-D i think the doodler had a better idea than a function. This 3-D pen I think improvs on the shortcomings of the 3-D doodler, not only in the fact that it creates more impressive results, but also in the versatility in its design, namely its ability to create wonderful 3-D works of art safely. Through its use of UV or blue light the plastic the pen releases can easily be hardened without having to be extreme heated first, making it more accessible to people of all ages, especially kids who have wondrous minds but need more safety engineered into the hardware they use. I think this 3-D pen is a great idea that builds on the work of its predecessors like the 3-D doodler, and offers a great niche alternative to 3-D printing: a way for artists to utilize an awesome dimensionality in their work while doing something their most comfortable with, simply drawing.
Ben pretty much strikes it right on the nose. The main difference between this 3D pen and others, is the target demographic. The fact that from the very beginning of the development of this tool Future Make designed this pen to be used by kids, sets them apart by miles from the competition. Not only does it open the consumer pool up considerably by changing who can buy this tool and use it, it also leaves room for these now exposed kids to grow and learn from this technology from such a prime age. Who knows what they'll think of in the future, or how they might affect the future development of technology like this! It's a really smart idea on Future Make's part, and I hope they continue to forge ahead and make even better more successful products.
I still don't know what i would use a 3d pen for but the technology packed into this one pen is pretty incredible. it seems like they have really thought everything out. I feel like this pen is useful mainly to entertain kids so the added safety features are really important. the only seem to be a problem is how you would have to stop so frequently to either replace the ink or charge the pen. this would interrupt the creative flow.
This type of development is expected with any technology, but as noted in many of the previous comments, the most fascinating aspect of this 3D pen is the demographic. It's really awesome that people are trying to open up this medium to children, who are by far one of the most creative demographic of people. Introducing this technology to children at an earlier age will not only allow them to more quickly become fluent with the technology, it will also impact how they conceptualize their creativity. In my opinion, this can only be good for those who appreciate creation and construction as it makes that world both more interactive and appealing to younger people.
3D sketching pens are intriguing, because of the multitude of problems they present. Working with high temperatures, handheld materials, and high power consumption makes creating a good 3D pen challenging, especially when considering the safety of the user. The Lix pen, which came out on Kistarter at thr beginning of the year, is a much smaller and more streamlined system than the 3Doodler and this new child-safe option, but reading this does raise questions about it- how have they dealt with the high temperatures? How power efficient is it? What safety precautions have they taken? I hope the innovations proposed in this article will manifest themselves in future versions of the 3D pen.
3D printing is something that definitely intimidates me. I think that the process and product can be super cool, but a tad challenging for those who know nothing about it. These 3D pens however provides 3D printing capabilities to any age. I also like Henry saw the Kickstarter for the 3Doodler which was intriguing, but the products looked unappealing. Melting plastic at 200 degrees also isn't the safest for children. I would love to get my hands on one of these products and see how well they actually work. I was looking into the CreoPop's 3D pen and they have some pretty unique ink cartridges including: magnetic, scented, glittery, body paint, and many more. Not only can practically anyone create practically anything in any location, they can have properties of some many other products. Love this stuff and can't wait for it to become more developed.
This looks like a really cool pen! I never considered that 3D sketching might be dangerous, but it's reassuring to know that there are developments in progress to make it less harmful. I don't think "child-safe" is quite the right phrasing for this at the moment, but a harmless child-safe 3D sketching pen would be great for kids who want to explore 3D media and like to draw. It still seems a little on the potentially dangerous side with hot plastic and bright lights that children could hurt themselves or others with, but for someone who knows how to properly use this technology, I think it is a great advancement!
This is a great development version of 3-D pen. I don't know how well it's actually functions but if it does, this would be really cool.I think it might be even better if it can comes with varieties of polymer colors but I might be asking too much. I still doubt it a little bit. If we called it a "tool" for designers to use but I wonder how much details this pen can create. I would still love to see sketches on paper where I can see details rather than cool looking clear color 3-D polymer model that looks fancy but not really tells me much about details of the objects. On the other hand, if we called it a "toy" for children, which according to the video is the other target group, this is really cool and I believe this helps a lot in developing children's creativity. Still have to be a little more aware of young children's eye and the blue light but like the man presented in the video that it's much safer than hot pen. I think children nowadays grow up with all this magical technologies and fun stuffs which is very different from me when I was a kid, not that I mean I don't like my childhood toy, barbies are fine, but having all these items will shape children of the next generation to be very different from us and I am looking forward to see that.
It's been really fascinating to watch how 3D printing has progressed from its roots in the 1980's. The first time I ever saw a 3D printer was in seventh grade, when my math teacher brought in the printing machine he had created from scratch. It's sort of amazing that people have developed how to compact so many parts into one tiny pen--it makes me draw parallels with the computer, or the mobile phone. I wonder, as we become more familiar with 3D printing, what sort of art untrained technicians can produce. There's a whole new medium for people to explore, which until a few years ago I didn't think was possible. I don't think I would have much practical use out of the 3D pen, yet it would be absolutely fantastic to just try and fool around with what shapes I could make. Perhaps it would be helpful for art students to be able to see depth and dimension within their drawings, because they could draw the form in 3D and then use that sculpture to help them with their 2D drawings.
This is technology at its finest. A pen that can be used in three dimensional ways is completely unheard of. This idea is extremely innovative and can be used for so many things. The thought of being able to write in 3D is so unique but being able to sit down and actually create it is what is truly amazing. This probably took so much time and effort to create. I seriously give props to the creators of this new invention. I would never have the patience to do such a thing.
Very neat! I always thought the 3-Doodler seemed really cool, but it also looked a little prototypey still with the heating pieces near the tip. I hadn't thought so much about the danger of the heating element, but it seems like a no brainer in hindsight. I'll have to check out this product once it is released, but I really like the idea of using UV cure resin for the pen. It is especially cool seeing as the technology already basically exists, and in a similar form factor, in dentistry equipment.
Okay, so here’s my confusion about these 3d sketching products. They don’t seem to be any more than just a pen shaped USB hot glue gun. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the functional difference: a hot glue gun can actually do something useful. I guess I’m just confused as to why they seem to have such a hype in the maker community. I guess I also don’t know what practical (non artistic) applications they can be used for.
This just doesn’t seem to be a “maker” product. I think it’s more of an artistic tool. Even if the polymer was conductive, or piped light, or glowed in the dark, or reacted to sound, I don’t know that it’s a useful or practical thing. It seems like more of a toy.
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