User talk:Eky5006
Blog #1
Part A:
After browsing thingiverse I found the following designs which I think are the most useful, artistic, pointless, funny and scary:
1. Useful: Measuring Cup http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:36980
This measure cup can be used to measure liquids up to 2 cups. It’s a useful kitchen tool that can be used in everyday life, as long as it is printed without leaks.
2. Artistic/Beautiful: Nautilus Gears http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:27233
The spiral design combined with its ability to actually function like gears makes this especially intriguing. It’s certainly not very useful, but it’s nice to watch.
3. Pointless/Useless: Finger Plate http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:24601
When would I ever need a tiny plate on my finger to hold food? Never.
4. Funny/Weird: Cat Space Helmet http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:38652
If I had a cat, I would definitely print this for my cat to wear. I can’t pass up the opportunity to have my cat space-ready.
5. Scary/Strange: Occulus http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:42028
It’s a one-eyed monster creature. Shouldn’t have a problem scaring small children.
Part B:
I am a tinkerer to some extent. Many times I try to fix my electronics on my own if something goes wrong. I also have family members and friends who I would consider to be tinkerers as well. I personally believe that the DIY tinkerer attitude should be preserved. What big corporations are doing to stifle this is wrong and without people who tinker, I feel that the country will fall behind in terms of innovation.
As for David Kelly, his design theory is unique. It’s definitely unorthodox combining the talents of a huge variety of disciplines when creating designs, but I can certainly see why it would be helpful. His concept of observing how people behave and making designs that help the user is not new, but it is definitely a necessary component for design success. When I saw that he too was working on a 3D printer project, it gave me further reassurance that 3D printing is the next big thing. His idea of bringing people of different backgrounds together in order to create synergy is perfectly applicable to the open source environment. The Rep Rap open source printing movement embodies this idea of collaboration from all sorts of people.
Blog #2
"Mother of all Demos"
In the first part of this video, I see that features of a text editor are being showcased. Functions like copy/paste and save/load. In a way, I am not very impressed because these are features that I have grown up expecting as a given when it comes to computing. At the same time, I am also impressed because even the IPhone/IPod, a modern device, did not even have a simple copy/paste function for a long period of time, whereas this function was clearly developed as early as the 1960's. If I was in the audience at the time watching this demonstration, I am not sure whether or not I would have recognized the importance of this work. At the time, it would've been more convenient to simply write by hand any "statements" or shopping lists. I may have very well dismissed this work as not showing any real use. However, if there were features shown such as password encryption or perhaps being able to save these statements onto external media, I would have immediately been able to understand its importance.
Professor Richard Doyle: Open Source Futures
When the professor mentions the "Mother of all Demos" video, he said that the people at the times were very impressed by what was being showcased. Apparently people at the time were absolutely mind-blown by this personal computer.
When he refers to the open source movement, he promotes the idea of sharing knowledge and open science. It helps us advance technology faster. He also brings up a good point that sometimes the process of acquiring intellectual property rights is many times a huge block in progressing technology. This is why the RepRap open source movement is a great way to progress the 3D printing technology. The way that information is shared online freely on the wiki is probably the best way to share this knowledge.
Blog #3
I feel like the idea of 3D printing buildings is definitely promising. It can certainly help create decent quality and low-cost housing for many people. It will take much more advancement to be able to build an entire building using the 3D printing technology, but I feel that the 3D printing method can definitely excel when being used to print structural components such as the concrete shown in the video. The idea that there will be nearly no wasted materials is also quite promising.
When it comes to printing living 3D tissue, I think this would be a huge advancement even greater than applications in Civil Engineering. Being able to print 3D tissue can greatly help the research development of medicines and perhaps even further human development. Maybe when we develop methods of 3D printing organs, we can further extend the expected human lifespan.
I like the idea of printing meat. It sounds fantastic. Printing chocolate is interesting as well. The allure of building the perfect steak is pretty fascinating. For $300,000 though, the technology is still far from being realistic. However, I think that even after meat can be easily printed it will not entirely replace the market for real meat.
The idea of 3D printing clothes is neat. I think the best part about it would be printing clothes that match your exact body size with the push of a button. If 3D printing became popular in the realm of fashion, it would also be much easier for other people, not just designers, to come up with their own unique fashion designs.
One of the more interesting stories that I've heard recently is the idea of using a 3D printer to produce firearms. It's extremely controversial because it allows anybody to be able to get their hands on weapon designs and simply print out their own, but at the same time the idea is extremely fascinating.
Blog #4
I think what both Ivan Owen and Richard Van As are doing is incredible. Their Robohand design for the prosthetic hand they made for Liam seems amazingly capable for its cost. I believe that bringing their project into the open source environment is great. More people will be able to contribute to making prostheses for others.
The closed source apparatus, while having the potential of working better and more reliably would cost tremendous amounts of money over an open source apparatus. The benefit of an open source project such as Robohand can have more contributors than perhaps a small team working on a closed source project. Not only this, but the lower cost of a project like Robohand will make prostheses more easily available for those who may not be able to afford other prosthetic options.
As the State College RepRap group, we can help by contributing to their fundraising effort. Additionally we can also contribute to the project by helping to model 3D parts for these people. We could also start a similar movement locally to help others in our community.
Blog #5
None of my objects that I chose off thingiverse are particularly patentable. However, the cat space helmet may be copyrightable for its creativity. As for objects picked by other students in the class, it's possible that some of the models such as the Despicable Me minions may be copyrighted if they're based off actual figures already in existence. The shower head that one of the student's found, although not obviously patented, seems like it has the potential to be patented if the design is novel.
The first reason to consider licensing non-copyrightable files would be to allow yourself the flexibility to deal with future changes in copyright law. The article mentions there is little downside to licensing so long as the creator understands that granting a license doesn't allow him/her to control parts of the work that can't be copyrighted either way. I agree with the writer, that the second reason is the more important of the two: the cultural purpose. For example, going the route of Creative Commons license can help benefit the 3D printing community. It helps to encourage others in the 3D printing community to further develop the model or design and expand upon the creativity. In the case of the RepRap open source movement it allows us to credit those who originally created the parts for our OHM printers, but also allows us to improve upon existing designs.
