Sometimes though the greatest way to get the public revved up and enthusiastic about something new is to get a little outrageous, over the top–and to allow interaction. Formlabs, no stranger to staying in the news with continual releases of innovative products and materials that are very popular industry-wide, is setting up something never done before: a popup manufacturing factory.
Event-goers, while enjoying mingling with peers, designers, engineers, entrepreneurs, researchers, and investors, will also get to enjoy the Formlabs popup factory and take away a 3D printed social networking wearable designed by digital artist and designer Marcelo Coelho, best known for innovative, experimental work–and especially of late with a focus on wearables designed for crowds, events, and installations.
The factory installation will be using raw components and the 3D printing resin Formlabs is famous for to make the 3D printed bracelets called Alike bands. Imbued with sensors and LEDs, these intuitive bracelets are able to alert attendees regarding others who have similar interests. Not only is it a fun and interesting technique for demonstrating new products within the industry, the wearables are also a great way to get a sense of community going at the conference, and help people break the ice with introductions.
“A real-time micro-factory of this scale has never been attempted before at a conference like Solid,” said David Cranor, Associate Chair of O’Reilly’s Solid Conference. “We are proud to partner with Formlabs in this unprecedented endeavor to demonstrate 3D printing’s vital role in the new world of agile global manufacturing where hardware, software, and the Internet of Things intersect.”
Hundreds of the Alike bands will be rolling hot off the Formlabs 3D printers on a first-come basis for those attending the show, which is held at the Fort Mason Center.
“This exhibit illustrates the real power of 3D printing. We’re manufacturing 500 one-of-a-kind electronics for conference attendees to wear. This level of customization is really difficult through normal mass manufacturing,” said Will Walker of Formlabs. “We’re really excited to push the boundaries of how we think about making things and Solid is the perfect place to showcase this idea.”
Discuss this interactive installation and the networking potential in the Formlabs 3D Printing Popup Manufacturing Factory forum over at 3DPB.com.
Also to look forward to at the show: On June 25, Ian Ferguson, lead engineer at Formlabs, will share insights on hardware product development for startups with a talk called ‘Around the block again: Tricks and tools learned in the trenches building a follow-on product.’
https://vimeo.com/marcelocoelho/alike
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Formlabs and O’Reilly Solid are working together to see that the first ever popup manufacturing factory comes to fruition at the Hardware, Software & the Internet of Things conference to be held June 23–25 in San Francisco. Formlabs will have a manufacturing line set up using their own 3D printers to produce 500 wearable networking bracelets that have sensors and LCDs which alert attendees as to others with similar interests. The 3D printed Alike bracelets were designed by computational artist Marcelo Coelho. Check out the full article for more details on the popup operation: https://3dprint.com/75374/formlabs-popup-at-solid/
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