“Messaging apps have already surpassed social networks in monthly active users and continue to grow exponentially,” 3Dprintler states. “Conversational Commerce is therefore the next logical branch of e-commerce development. A concierge-style service will become the primary way how people of the future interact with mobile devices. And ‘Chat Bots’ will be the next generation of ‘Smart Apps.'”
The bot can also convert CAD files into any of 62 formats, and several additional capabilities will be coming soon, such as:
- The ability to repair CAD files and make them printable
- Cloud-based file storage
- B2C and B2B versions
- Voice command integration
- IBM’s Watson integration
Knowing how fast 3Dprintler moves, I predict we’ll see a lot more developments than that very soon – and I expect their bot won’t devolve into a genocidal monster like Microsoft’s first ill attempt at a chat bot. (No, Microsoft, I will not let it go.) This looks like a useful little app that, if it catches on, could set a precedent for a lot of other tech companies to come up with mobile chat bots of their own. 3Dprintler tends to be very astute about the direction the 3D printing industry – and the tech industry in general – will go in, and what consumers want, so I’d be surprised if it doesn’t become popular pretty quickly.
3Dprintler will be holding court at TechCrunch Disrupt NYC 2016 from May 9-11, so if you’re in Brooklyn, stop by and say hello – who knows what new developments they’ll have ready by then? What do you think of this new service? Discuss in the 3Dprintler 3D Printing Quote Service forum over at 3DPB.com.