In a world where we can buy affordable 3d printers it can seem intimidating when it comes to creating your own 3D model for the first time. This is what the founders envisioned when they created their first successful Kickstarter for the Doodle 3d WiFi box with embeded sketch app (still available). For the first time you could not only use your fingers to paint a 2d sketch and extrude it into 3D you could send the design directly to your printer over USB. The WiFi box hosts an app that allows any touch interface like phones or tablets to be the modeling tool wirelessly. It’s much easier than it sounds.
The founders have improved upon the concept by releasing the Doodle3D Transform App, which runs a web technology-based app and forthcoming tablet app, pending a successful campaign. You can draw by hand, scan photos/drawings or import existing images. In addition to sending your design to your 3D-printer you can upload it to an online service like 3D Hubs for output, if you’re still saving up for a printer. But instead of being limited to single-walled prints you can create complex objects with the same simplicity of the original. Watch the video above and see all the capabilities on their campaign page.
The above image shows solids that all have the same volume, you can check this by filling one with water and then pouring that water into the next, fixed-volume objects. You can use the OpenSCAD script that Rich Cameron (aka Whosawhatsis) shared or download the sample objects. But why? Rich Cameron and Joan Horvarth, well-known authors, are on a mission to get all the 3d printers in the world, in all those new classrooms to help visually impaired students make use of 3D prints to learn just about any subject, but they need help making good models. This is where you come in.
Start off by downloading the sample objects above or generating your own via the openSCAD script we mentioned. Then visit the project page on Hackaday.io to get instructions on how you can volunteer to help this community and join their Google Group to continue the conversation. This is a great tactile to learn and a great way to share your talents with the world.
“Often students with visual impairments have difficulty with concepts based on visual/spatial relationships, particularly in math and science. 3D prints offer an unprecedented asset for their teachers, and 3D printers are becoming affordable. But these teachers need help designing models. [Whosawhastis] and I have been volunteer mentors to various groups working on figuring out the best ways to use 3D printing for the visually impaired. Our goal with this project is to document some simple, practical conventions for designing models, and lay the groundwork so that interested parties can create the needed designs. We know that schools have 3D printers and want to teach design thinking to their students. This project creates a minimalist open-source way to link teachers who need design files and (sighted) students who want projects to do. We want students to create the designs for the needed models, learning science, math and other subjects while helping their visually-impaired peers.”
DUS Architects in Amsterdam has created a tiny gabled urban cabin that is a mere 25 cubic metres (882.87 cubic feet) using FDM technology. They are allowing guests to spend the night to experience what life in a micro 3d printed home might be like. There is no toilet but you can take a bath outside au natural. Concrete set into the infill gives it strength and forms a seat on certain locations while pebbles in the infill outside form a path.
(Bathtub photo by Sophia van den Hoek)
A window punctures one end, while the other integrates both an entrance and a stepped porch seating area. Its walls are patterned with angular protrusions that create a three-dimensional surface, giving the building extra structural stability.
It really is further insight into the groups design sensibility that is part of major project that launched in 2013, to be complete next year, a four story 3D printed canal house. They use the KamerMaker (Dutch for “room maker”) and KamerMaker2, a “XXL 3D Printer” 3.5 meters high and housed in an up-ended shipping container to produce the large pieces. They use bio-plastics on all pieces and say it is a part of a future ecosystem that allows full recycling of the material.
The amazing folks in the Tangible Media Group at MIT Media Lab have shared their research with creating the software to produce small hairs or Cilia from 150 to 50 micrometers to do things such as move, sense, adhere, or be aesthetically pleasing.
Looking into the Nature, hair has numerous functions such as to provide warmth, adhesion, locomotion, sensing, a sense of touch, as well as it’s well known aesthetic qualities. This work presents a computational method of 3D printing hair structures. It allows us to design and generate hair geometry at 50 micrometer resolution and assign various functionalities to the hair. The ability to fabricate customized hair structures enables us to create super fine surface texture; mechanical adhesion property; new passive actuators and touch sensors on a 3D printed artifact. We also present several applications to show how the 3D-printed hair can be used for designing everyday interactive objects.
Printing Your Own Hair
If you want to use your FDM printer to try out some hair-powered prints see the below projects.
Droolopp Tutorial Drooloop flowers are produced by purposefully printing out in the air and taking advantage of sagging filament as an aesthetic feature versus the normal dreaded print failure. Read the tutorial and try out some flowers for your loved one that will never die, create fascinating Jellyfish and in a little different technique create a bottle brush!
We love working with e-NABLE to help them create functional prosthetic hands using 3D printing. We really encourage anyone who has a printer or CAD skill to help them out. One of the most beautiful and completely totally over the top amazing things to come out of e-NABLE is Jacky Wan’s Steampunk hand.
Steampunk 3D printed prosthetic hand.
Its an amazingly well designed and post processed hand and really shows what you can do with a desktop 3D printer and a lot of finely detailed work in painting and finishing it. You can download, add to, remix or print out this wonderful hand here. This is the same YouMagine community member who made the Ducati bike and light saber.
We’ve conducted a survey among 500 of our Community Members in order to find out how YouMagine is doing and what tools we have to build in order to help 3D printing. Since we like to share and we want to build tools for the future of Distributed Innovation we made some fun graphics for you. We thought that this was a good idea since this is the largest survey that maps the 3D printing community. The first post about the survey results are here the second is here and you are currently reading the final one.
On average our community members 3D print 21 things per month. This is an indication that the 3D printer is becoming a part of people’s lives. Reliability of the printer is especially important if people want to make things often.
How often do you use your 3D printer?
34% of our community use their 3D printer every single day. For them the 3D printer is an appliance that they continually use. 11% use there 3D printer rarely. For them their 3D printer is not currently a significant part of their lives. 50% of the community uses their printer at least 4 times a week. These usage numbers are encouraging and mean that fore this group the 3D printer is not a toy but rather a tool that they use continually.
What slicing software do you use to 3D print?
If we look at what slicing software people use then we find that some slicers that were popular only a few years ago have virtually fallen completely out of use. 58% of people use Cura and 23% use Slic3r which means that these two open source slicers account for the vast majority of 3D prints. Its also good to know that Ultimaker’s Cura is so popular. Simplify3D is doing quite well having an implied market share of 10%.
Which is the best filament supplier for 3D printing?
We asked our community what the best 3D printing materials supplier was. Over 33% of the sample has not found one indicating that while people have been trying out vendors they have not yet found a reliable supplier. 30% of people entered a name of a vendor which was unique. The 3D printing materials market is therefore very fragmented with many vendors in many countries selling filament. The most popular choice was ColorFabb followed by Faberdashery and then Amazon. This shows us that the online retailer is already making an impact on the 3D printing market through its 3D printing offerings.
Conclusion
In general we can conclude that 3D printers are, for some, becoming a daily addition to their lives chiefly through the making of fun gadgets and practical household items. People want more reliable, bigger and faster 3D printers and they want the process of designing things and printing them to be easier. People really like PLA as a build material but have not found a reliable vendor for it. Bed adhesion is still among the most pressing problems for 3D printer users. And at YouMagine we really need to improve our search ! We would like to thank those 500 community members who participated in this survey. We hope to use their information and feedback to further improve our site and guide us to building tools for the future.
With its new Kickstarter Eggbotsz hopes to fund the, ChocoRockoBotto its unique full color chocolate 3D printing technology. The technology developed at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute by Professor Willow Yank, hopes to revolutionize the culinary arts. Chocolate 3D printers have been around for a number of years now and are making inroads into high end restaurants and chocolatiers, revolutionizing both chocolate and cooking. Is the full color chocolate Eggbot the device that will bring 3D printing to your kitchen? Two early beta testers have already done head spinning work with the first chocolate 3D printers. Their work indicates that the 3D printing revolution is moving into the kitchen and may change everything.
Paul Chichikov of Chocolatier Villages Potemkin hopes to bring 3D printing to pallets worldwide
Brooklyn based artisan organic shade grown single origin chocolate maestro Paul Chichikov of Chocolatier Villages Potemkin for example 3D prints his hand swafted GMO free Easter Ostrich Eggs to the delight of customers from Greenpoint and beyond. Paul, who is a 3D printing evangelist says that in the long weekend that he’s been mastering 3D printing, “it has changed my life. ”
A customer holding one of Paul’s 3D printed Ostrich Eggs at Villages Potemkin
The 3D printed Easter Ostrich Eggs, filled to the brim with Acai berries, bee pollen, wakame & wheat grass cost $190 each and contain 4.8 kilos of the highest quality Kyrgyzstanian Highland chocolate. Paul uses an EggBotsz to 3D print his creations. This Professional Desktop 3D printer is specifically made to 3D print eggs of any type. Until now Chichikov has run into some limitations with 3D printing. “I’ve always said for many years that 3D printing is going to revolutionize the culinary world, but as an urban forager and an artist I felt that 3D printing was holding me back. I want 4D, I want color. I told the Eggbotsz team give me full color and I’ll conquer the world. I believe that the Eggbotsz can make a Croconut-like impact on gastronomy, be something truly revolutionary. ”
The Eggbotsz putting the finishing touches on one of Ms. Jil Ipoya’s award winning culinary delights.
Japanese chef Jil Ipoya uses an Eggbotsz in her 3 Michelin star Spanish Mexican fusion tapas restaurant Pinche Wey in Manhattan. Ms. Ipoya says she, “enjoys the wealth of egg textures and shapes…as well as the design freedom she has when designing her own eggs.” Ms. Ipoya, who is the only Chef to have worked in North America who has not yet been nominated for a James Beard Award, also stated that, “3D printing will play a mayor role in the culinary arts especially in the new wave of post-molecular gastronomy.” “With atomic gastronomy chef’s creations can become even more contrived & recondite with menus hopefully becoming more akin to deadal worded technical manuals that bring true culinary fission to the table.” Ms. Ipoya, who has experimented with 3D printing scrambled & even poached eggs, uses the technology for 6 courses on her 158 course, Signature Tasting Menu with each course served either intravenously or in a pipette.
One of her most popular dishes, Muff & Min, is entirely 3D printed. The deconstructed Egg McMuffin inspired dish uses an Earl Grey infused essence of Jidori Hen terrine on Bresse egg souffle set in zest of King Crab served on a foam of sous vide sourdough wrapped in dedain and artifice with a side of liquid nitrogen spheres and granular distillate of brine. The dish is served in a shot glass hanging from a small drone to mimic man’s hunter gatherer past. Diners pursue the drone through the restaurant and once they either tire or catch it, down the shot while standing on one leg holding a ping pong paddle as wait staff fire white roses at them from Nerf guns. The New York Times called the dish “a revelation….clearly Ms. Jil Ipoya is breaking new ground in fine dining. Ms. Ipoya is truly one of the hottest chefs in lower Manhattan and her cooking is not bad either.” To reconnect with nature diners are also encouraged to pick their own eggs, forage for food in the dumpsters of neighboring restaurants as well as use a compound bow to hunt for deer in Central Park. Ms. Ipoya was searching for a clearer way to distinguish herself from her peers thinks that 3D Printing her eggs, in color, may be the way to do it.
The Invention of Full Color Chocolate 3D Printing
Across the Redheffer quad at CMU there stands an old dilapidated building used for nuclear frisson testing in the 1950’s and long since abandoned. Professor Yank along with her students Wǒ Kào & Kono Yarou has worked here for 3 years in complete secrecy on full color chocolate 3D printing. The Lamarck House, is a desolate place, with upturned desks, dust covered scientific equipment and ytwokay bugs scurrying back and forth. Here the team had little contact with other CMU students and staff. They worked long hours perfecting their full color 3D printing technique, living on ramen and hope.
CMU’s Professor Willow Yank inventor of Full Color Chocolate 3D printing
For one and a half years the team struggled to get their U axis and V axis under control. U and V axis control being one of the most essential elements to high dimensional flavor-ability in 3D printing chocolate. If they couldn’t get the dimensional flavor-ability right the team could not obtain a high Choxels Per Inch. CPI is the key Key Performance Indicator for the chocolate 3D printing industry. According to a recent research report by Ranger, CPI rates in new chocolate 3D printers are accelerating with newer systems having CPIs in the range of 9 to 11. “It was always going to be about CPI for us, Choxels Per Inch is the challenge in our industry and if would be able to develop an ultra high CPI technology, we’d be able to put a chocolate 3D printer on every kitchen-table”, says Professor Yank. The Chocolate 3D Printing Industry is set to grow by 78% to $6.4 billion by Tuesday according to a recent report by research firm Yard.
Graph by boutique investment house Wing & Prayer illustrating the explosive growth in chocolate 3D printing
Industry giants such as Chock Fill A have a big lead over new entrants with an entire line of chocolate 3D printers for home and industrial use. Other start ups such as Colorado based Hanky, makers of the iconic red and white striped 3D Chocolate Printing pen, are also forging ahead. Professor Yank knew there was an opportunity out there to create a revolutionary new chocolate 3D printing technology that was completely new and revolutionary. Hanky & Chock Fill A still relied on old 3D printing technology from ancient 3D printers that have been used since they were developed during early nineties for the Meiji Restoration of Tokyu Hands, the largest department store in Japan. Not many know that Japanese inventor Professor Kuso Kurae originally invented 3D printing in order to make exquisite wall decorations for the iconic Tokio department store. From such comparatively humble beginnings this world changing technology has now blossomed. Yank knew, that invention was the path forward and only by creating a true chocolate 3D printing revolution and developing better technology they would succeed.
Other chocolate 3D printers use stepper motors to power their axes. These stepper motors spin counterclockwise in a brownian motion propelling solid magnets in a vacuum. Standard on almost all 3D printers the team had tried to adapt them for use in their full color chocolate 3D printing technology. Without the needed U and V axes control however their results were disappointing. Rather than 3D printing Yoda dolls or other useful 3D printed objects, everything melted immediately.
An Eggbotsz 3D printing an Egg in Full color, note the U axis with its distinctive yellow tip.
Without adequate U & V control the team would never achieve high dimensional flavor-ability and their ground breaking project was doomed. A further issue was with the heated bed. 3D printers deposit their material on a heated build platform, also called a bed in the industry. Due to the choco solid degradation and bad U & V control, the team had what is called in the industry an “unmade bed”, disastrous out of the box print results. Because chocolate has to be tempered in order to print properly temperature control of the bed was another crucial element. The team had been using sine heat systems to temper the chocolate but the results were atrocious lacking any dimensional technobility and superforce. With funding running out the team shared many sleepless nights. Professor Yank begged the iron willed university administration for more funding but it seemed that the project would be cancelled. Kono Yarou’s studious discovery saved the day. Kono Yarou is a studious and dedicated Social Engineer who reads journals such as 4D Printing & Free Form Fabrication in Gastronomy recreatively. The 23 year old Japanese student has large round eyes and a rather surprised expression on his face as well as a shock of blonde hair. In his spare time he’s often seen wandering the tree lined Italianate CMU campus with a journal in hand. During one of these walks, in an obscure engineering journal, he happened to come across a paper by a Dutch team from Zwaffelen University.
The team had developed a method for making a macrocontroller for cosign heating. With limited applications the technology had not attracted attention. Yarou noticed however that the Dutch team’s controller worked at temperatures of 100 and 130 Kelvin, perfect for tempering chocolate. Armed with this information the received two NSF grants as well as $1.8 million in funding from America Makes. This let them commercialize Zwaffelen University’s macrocontroller and for the first time adequately temper chocolate inside a 3D printer. Another breakthrough occurred when Wǒ Kào, a 23 year old Dianetics major from Shén Jīng Bìng, China disassembled a stepper motor in order to reverse engineer it. She found that by reversing the polarity of the magnets inside the motor and applying Van der Waals forces to the resulting magnet she could achieve the superior U & V control needed for full color chocolate 3D Printing. The team then went on to develop their Continuous Line Inference Traversing 3D printing technology. After perfecting their invention they partnered with Eggbotsz to bring it to market.
The Eggbotsz putting the finishing touches on one of Ms. Jil Ipoya’s award winning culinary delights.
The Future of Everything
Eggbotsz co-founder Henry Gondorff explains that whilst 3D printed eggs are poised to take over the culinary world but that, “people all want to full color 3D print chocolate.” “We could already 3D print duck eggs, century eggs and chicken eggs, but so far full color was beyond humanity’s grasp.” “We were amazed at the capabilities of the CMU team’s technology and we think that full color chocolate 3D printing of eggs is a culinary revolution set to revolutionize the 3D Printing revolution. This revolution in a revolution will revolutionize everything bringing with it revolutionary applications for this game changing technology that will empower revolutionaries in their own revolutions. Full color 3D chocolate egg printing is set to make a bigger impact on the world than any other technology ever has.”
Eggbot Co-Founder Henry Gondorff wants to revolutionize how eggs are made
The new Eggbotsz ChocoRockoBotto is capable of 3D printing 24 million colors in true full color at a 1080p HD resolution. The bidirectional multi-piezo print head of the Eggbotsz moves at a speed of 240 FPS at 640 Choxels. At this level of Choxels the chocolate doesn’t coat the individual taste buds like regular non-3D printed chocolate does but rather blanket the tastebuds in a Moroni Defined Matrix. This non euclidian structure allows for more depth of flavor. The Eggbotsz also has a dimensional accuracy of 4 and a XY positioning accuracy of 2m. The Interior Wall Volume height of the 3D printer is 11 MHz and the layer thickness of the printer is .000005 micron. The 3D printer has a build volume of 50 by 50 by 50 cm, which is perfect for even very large eggs or batches of dozens of eggs at a time. We think that this 3D printer is an amazing piece of work and can’t wait to see it come to kitchens everywhere! Competition is already springing up worldwide however with Dutch Designer Karijn Wessing designing an open source eggbot which is almost entirely 3D printable. It is truly an exciting time to be alive!
Augustin Flowalistik is a YouMagine Community Member and award winning designer who has made waves with his low poly 3D printed designs. Augustin is originally a graphic designer but now works extensively with 3D printing. We love his work. Furthermore Augustin shares his designs for free on YouMagine but people have been selling these designs or derivatives of these designs. He finds himself at an interesting point in time where 3D printing is gaining a lot of traction but we haven’t figured out how to properly regulate and guide sharing. Due to our deep interest in Intellectual Property and 3D printing (and because he makes cool stuff!) we asked him for an interview. You can check out Flowalistik’s YouMagine profile or his home page here.
Why did you go from graphic design to 3D printing?
I’m currently studying a Design Degree in the Complutense University in Madrid. It’s mostly focused on graphic design, although I’ve had some subjects focused on object design. Any of my teachers have ever talked about 3d printing, but as I love technology, I knew 3d printing would be something important in the near future. Until 2014 all my projects were focused on graphic design and illustration as I didn’t have the possibility to design and create my own objects. It wasn’t until Sept 2013 that I purchased my first 3D printer kit, and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
What tools do you use to 3D print?
I’ve got a Prusa i3 and an Ultimaker 2. I usually print with the Ultimaker as it’s easier to use, but when it’s about a low poly design I always print it with the Prusa to check that it can be printed with a more-afordable 3d printer. Also, I only work with PLA, as I find it easier to work with.
Augustin with one of his 3D printed masks
What software do you use?
I use 3DS Max to design all the low poly models (Pokemon, Videogame Characters, Masks…) and for more precise things I use Solidworks. In the near future I pretend to learn to use Blender and Freecad, as I would like to work 100% with open hardware and software.
Do you have tips for graphic designers wanting to 3D print things?
Well, when I bought my first 3d printer I didn’t know what I would find, and if I would really love 3D printing. Fortunately I discovered that 3D printing is what I really love. But I know people who saw some 3d printers in a Maker Faire and bought one without considering they wouldn’t use it more than once a month. Almost all of my friends are graphic designers, and when they ask me if they should buy a 3d printer, I always explain them what they can and cannot do, to make them sure the 3d printer will reach their expectations.
I love your low poly work, why did you start doing this?
I’ve always loved the low poly style, as it makes complex models really simple and it keeps the “idea” of the object. When I first came up with the idea of making low poly Pokemon, I just wanted to design a Squirtle for myself, but when I shared it and received some great feedback I decided to make this project, as people really appreciate to have their favorite Pokemon or videogame character 3d printed in good quality.
Large Bulbasaur by Flowalistik
Some of your work is inspired by characters. Do you think you should be allowed to “remix” Mario or Mickey Mouse?
I’m not the original creator of the characters, as I chose those who were really important in my childhood. I publish all the low poly models under CC license (BY-NC-SA) and since the first model was created I knew that this project’s purpose was clearly not commercial. Anyone can remix my models, I don’t mind, as it helps to expand the project. For example, now you can find on the internet some great low poly models that some people designed after they saw my designs (and they didn’t find their favourite pokemon!).
How do we balance sharing & creativity with IP?
I think the balance is what happens at the moment. People create and share, but there’s no commercial use of these models. I’ve already talked with Nintendo’s lawyers, and they’re not against 3d printing or people making models based on their characters. The problem is that 3d printing works differently as the world does nowadays. With 3d printing you don’t buy and item, you create it in your house, and that is what really scares all the merchandising companies.
You share your designs for free but people sell them. These people have had IP issues. What are your thoughts on that?
I can distinguish two different groups. The ones who steal my work (they sell or share my models as if they were the original designers) and the ones who sell them (they attribute the work but get some benefits from selling them). What I do is send them an email telling them what could happen in case they continued selling or stealing my models, and that’s usually all I’ve got to do. 3d printing is based on sharing on the internet, and I can’t stop people from selling my designs. If they offer them on Ebay, Etsy or similar platforms, I may discover it, but if they sell it in their stores I have nothing to do. As I don’t get money for the designs, I’m not usually angry when I discover it. Anyway, I approve it when, for example, people request someone to print a low poly models for them (paying for it). This can be applied to 3D Hubs. I like that, and I understand they are paying for a service and not for the model.
Would you like to make a living from 3D Printing?
My idea is to work in something that benefits the planet in some way, and I think 3d printing is one of the best ways to achieve that goal. In six months I will finish my Design studies, and I would like to start working with a 3d printing related company. And if I someone asked me right now were I would like to work in a year, I would say I would like to work in Colorfabb, Ultimaker, YouMagine or 3D Hubs. I don’t know if you find the last sentence a little bit opportunistic, but I believe that those four companies work and think similar as I do.
Win a ColorFabb value pack with 16 rolls of ColorFabb 3D printing filament in it!
Add the tag “Useful 3D prints Contest” to your uploads to participate.
Enter before the 31st of December.
We really want YouMagine to be a place where people work together to build the future of things. Due to this we want to stimulate you to work with other people and help each other. Especially where some people have skills that others do not. Any way we can stimulate this would be great. And any ideas on this that you have would be very much appreciated! In order to show how useful 3D printing can be we will be holding Useful 3D printing contest from now until the 31st of December. Just add the tag “Useful 3D prints Contest” to your uploads to participate. The winner will receive a ColorFabb value pack with 16 rolls of ColorFabb 3D printing filament in it! This usually sells for €484 ($604). Thank you ColorFabb for providing this prize!
A ColorFabb Value Pack!
The contest will be judged by the YouMagine team.
Criteria
We will look at the originality and quality of the photographs but most of all the utility of the 3D printed object.
The contest will be judged by the YouMagine team.
We will look at how the photo illustrates the scale of the 3D printed object in an interesting way. This is important in order to get viewers to understand how large the objects on the site are.
We will look at how the photo illustrates the utility and purpose of the YouMagine file or project to other community members.
We will look at if you’ve made the 3D printed thing look beautiful.
We will look at if you’ve shown how a person is using or uses the 3D printed thing.
Above all we will look at how useful is the object? How does it add value to people’s lives?
How well is it made, designed and printed?
By using these criteria we hope to get a lot of you guys to start thinking about ways through which we can make the photography on the site more useful to the community. As well as thinking about more practical applications for 3D printing. Compared to other sites we do have much better photography, more complex items and higher quality 3D prints. But we think we can as a community improve even more by finding out how to convey more information to the community through each photograph. That way people browsing the site can much quicker find what they want or need. So how can photos be used to convey more information and make the 3D printed designs on YouMagine look nice at the same time? We want to convey scale, utility & beauty in a simple way. We can’t as a team figure out how to do this. Is every model going to be a shot of someone holding it in her hand? Does there always have to be a Coke can in the picture? How to get a good photo of something using an Iphone? How to quickly take a great picture that gives the rest of the Community an instant idea of what this thing is? Since we couldn’t come up with an answer to these questions, we have turned to our extended team, the YouMagine community for answers. Additionally many people now make tchotchkes, small fun things that have no real value. What we think is different about YouMagine is that we are seeing you make things that are useful, interesting and do add value to people’s lives. We hope to encourage more of this and this is why we’re having the contest. Happy 3D printing!
Roy Ombatti is a Kenyan mechanical engineer social entrepreneur. His projects Happy Feet and DIY ShoeLab aim to use 3D Printing to combat a horrible disease. We leant Roy an Ultimaker 3D Printer and helped him a little with the files. We interviewed him so he could tell us more about his projects.
Roy Ombatti HappyFeet
Why did you start this project? Because I am an idealist who believes in making the world a better place…no matter how small my efforts are. And for me it starts with my country. And there are more than enough problems that my country is facing. I figure if each of the Kenyans (myself included) do something leveraging our skills and creativity to help the country then we wouldn’t be experiencing the problems we face. And if we had collaborative efforts with the more developed world then together we would certainly be able to overcome all of the world’s problems. So it starts with me…this is me trying to make a difference.
That answer is to the question on a greater scale. On a more specific not, the jigger problem is a result of poverty as the people who are affected cannot afford water for proper hygiene and neither can they afford shoes. Those who are affected have deformed feet and cannot fit into a normal shoe. So my solution is about providing affordable and custom-fitted shoes for the people who are affected by jiggers, as well as tackle the issue of poverty.
Why is this project important? We are all one people and the gap between the poor and the rich is strikingly painful. I always say that it is amazing that the world has developed such futuristic and high end technologies that can do such amazing things to make life better…but sadly I feel like our priorities as a people are misplaced and so we have failed as humanity. If we instead focus our efforts and redirect them towards helping each other then the world will truly be a better place. This project is important to me because I want to help out. Like I said, it starts with me but I cannot do it alone and so I am telling people about it and asking for help. I am not asking for money (yet) but I am asking for help!
More specifically, the shoes are important because they prevent reinfection (which is very prevalent) by the jiggers which cannot jump. An affordable source of shoes would be great as it could empower the community and the solution would be even more effective if the community are engaged as part of the solution. Ideally they should make the shoes themselves and hopefully even sell them.
Roy Ombatti Happy Feet
How many people does this affect? 265 reported deaths so far, 2.7 million registered infections (1.5 million being school children) and tens of thousands of school drop-outs daily. But these figures are grossly underestimated as there is a lot of stigma and shame around having the jigger infection that many people hide it and very few come out to be helped.
How does this disease affect people?: The jigger measures about 1mm in size and feeds on the flesh and blood of it’s warm-blooded host. The female jigger burrows itself inside the flesh where it lays eggs. The infestation results in pain, itchiness and discomfort as a result of the sores. People are rendered immobile and cannot go about their daily duties such as tilling their land and thus cannot earn their daily bread. Children cannot go to school. The stigma and shame prevents people from seeking help which only contributes to the spread of the infestation. Infestation results in pain, inability to walk and function properly and can ultimately lead to death if not attended to.
How do you hope to help? My proposed solution involves providing customized shoes from recycled plastic, using 3D printing. A scan of the deformed foot can be made in my ‘mobile shoe shop/lab’ after which a frame or skeleton of the shoe is printed. A normal shoe is then built around the frame using locally available materials. The community should ideally be the ones making the shoes themselves, including the recycling of plastic to make filament. The collection, sorting, cleaning and extruding of filament can be run by the community as well as the actual shoe construction. There would only be need for some technical support in terms of the shoe-frame design.
(Photograph by Ossip)
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