{"id":17475,"date":"2013-03-07T08:00:26","date_gmt":"2013-03-07T14:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcitement.com\/?p=17475"},"modified":"2013-03-06T20:06:37","modified_gmt":"2013-03-07T02:06:37","slug":"sxswedu-replicating-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/hardware\/sxswedu-replicating-the-future\/","title":{"rendered":"SXSWedu: Replicating The Future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Second only to the holodeck, the replicator<\/a> is the piece of Star Trek technology I\u2019ve always wanted the most. Sure, transporters and warp drives are damn useful for conquering space-time, but for meeting material needs, the replicator wins. Luckily, a replicator also seems to be a lot closer to actually happening than the former two.<\/p>\n

At the SXSWedu <\/a>in Austin, TX, educators and technologists strive to collaborate for the benefit of students everywhere, which explains why there\u2019s a maker room at the conference. The maker movement<\/a> is a community with DIY as its ideal. It\u2019s hands-on in the extreme. Education can so often be academic in the figurative sense of the word, hands off and theoretical only. For some kids, that approach doesn\u2019t work at all, but hands-on education flips the switch that allows them to learn.<\/p>\n

In the SXSWedu Conference maker room are two MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printers<\/a>. Makerbot even named the device a Replicator, and rightly so, as it\u2019s a huge step in the direction of the Star Trek replicator. If you haven\u2019t heard about this technology yet (and that\u2019s doubtful at this point), a 3D printer takes a digital model and automatically builds a three-dimensional physical model. Here’s an explanation of that again to really drive home how fantastic the concept and act is in three easy steps.<\/p>\n

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  1. An idea exists in your head.<\/li>\n
  2. You use software to design a three-dimensional model of your idea.<\/li>\n
  3. You output that model to a 3D printer, which builds your idea in the physical world.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    When someone gets around to attaching voice activation of a catalog of designs, we\u2019ll essentially have a first-generation Star Trek replicator.<\/p>\n

    The 3D printers work by slowly adding layers of plastic and building up a model. Raw material can be filament of at least two types: acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic or polylactic acid (PLA), which is corn, tapioca, or sugarcane based. The printer I observed most closely at SXSWedu used an environmentally-friendly and corn-based PLA. All that is to say that there\u2019s a spool of material that unwinds into the printer, is melted, and extruded onto the three-dimensional model layer by layer. The process happens automatically, much like a two-dimensional printer. You send your file to the printer and wait, except that instead of paper, you have \u201ctea, earl grey, hot.\u201d<\/p>\n