MyMiniFactory and Parrot Launch the Official 3D Printable Drone Accessory Design Competition

3D printable model marketplace MyMiniFactory and leisure quadcopter and connected devices manufacturer Parrot are teaming up for a great new 3D design challenge. Entrants are encouraged to design new, unique and innovative accessories and add-ons for Parrot’s new line of small-scale drones and quadcopters. The Parrot 3D Printable Drone Accessory Design Competition is seeking talented designers who will design great products that can enhance, improve, modify or add new functionality to Parrot drones. It is open to anyone in the world and the most popular designs could win a share of $2000 worth of prizes and have their product developed, manufactured and sold by Parrot in their online store.

The goal of teaming up with MyMiniFactory is to allow prospective entrants the ability to experiment with 3D printing and rapid prototyping to quickly develop new products that would typically take months to produce using traditional manufacturing technologies. It also allows Parrot to quickly see what types of accessories and improvements the community would like to see their drones offer. This is one of the first times that a major company is using crowdsourcing for the development of entirely new products, and a great way to tap the quality design community from MyMiniFactory.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with Parrot for this competition. It is an amazing opportunity for our design and maker community to show the world what they’ve got, and potentially have their designs associated with this amazing brand. We can’t wait to see what they come up with!” said MyMiniFactory CEO Romain Kidd.

The MyMiniFactory community will vote on their favorite designs, and the prize winners will be based on the number of likes that each design receives. The design that receives the most likes will receive a Bebop 2 + Sky Controller lightweight drone. Second place will receive a Bebop 2 drone and the third place design will receive their choice of Parrot Minidrones. In addition to the community favorites up to three winners will be selected by Parrot who may offer them the chance to continue to develop the product to be sold on their online store. Parrot will negotiate royalties for the drone accessory with the designer of each design.

This is a global competition, so anyone regardless of age, nationality or location is free to enter as many designs as they wish. Designers who create products with multiple parts that require assembly need to make sure that all STL files are included into a single zipped file along with diagrams or assembly instructions. All of the contest entries that meet the requirements will be test printed and released to the community on MyMiniFactory for printing and will remain the property of the designer unless alternate arrangements are negotiated with Parrot.

The contest officially opens today, January 26th, 2016, and designers have until February 16th to upload their design. The voting process will open on February 24th and be open to the MyMiniFactory community until March 11th. The winning designs will be announced shortly after the voting period closes. MyMiniFactory encourages users and entrants to test 3D print their design themselves and include photographs of the printed product to expedite the verification and approval process.

Anyone interested in joining the Parrot design challenge can find out more information about the contest, including the list of Parrot products that the company is seeking accessories for, here. They can also find links to all of the Parrot drone schematics and a list of existing accessory and add-on products for inspiration. Prospective entrants can upload their design directly to MyMiniFactory here. Tell us your thoughts on this contest, and whether you might enter, in the Parrot 3D Printable Drone forum over at 3DPB.com.