Very Cool 3D Printing Robot

Recently there has been a lot of discussion in the media surrounding 3D printing, robotic design and construction, and exploration of 4D at the MIT Self Assembly Lab, giving a clearer view of the possible impact of these disruptive changes.

I often discuss these trends and technologies with Zach Schoch, a computational designer in the Yazdani Studio at Cannon Design.  We have worked together on a couple of research projects and share a number of common interests. In some of our conversations we focus on the desire to have more tinker/lab space, software and tools to advance our experimentation in these emerging technologies.

Well, little did I know that Zach has his own lab/studio space and has been experimenting for quite a while. A recent article in 3ders.org nicely explains his technology and experimentation with robotic 3D printing. This is pretty large scale compared to some of our Makerbot printer tests. The article also includes a video of some of his experimentation when he was at SciArc.

This is very cool work Zack and thanks for sharing it.

Virtual Crash Course in Design Thinking

Recently a colleague linked to a story in the New York Times that described Design Thinking at the D.school at Stanford and the considerable successes achieved by the program. He highlighted an important part of their process which is the development of your empathy muscle. After I read the NY Times article I took a trip to the D.school web site and found a new feature, a virtual crash course in design thinking.

The recent success in the D.school program has led to significant interest so the school has created some virtual content for all interested designers to take a test spin in design thinking. The crash course is structured in three parts.

1. Gear Up: How to Kick Off a Crash Course

2. Go for a Ride: Virtual Crash Course Video

3. Chart a New Course: Put Design Thinking to Work

The eighty minute virtual crash course video can allow any organization to structure an introduction to Design Thinking for the time, effort and experience of doing it. Obviously “doing it” is a critical element in design thinking. 

Taking a virtual crash course can be a great way to start off the new year!