We’ve all seen Kickstarter campaigns fail due to one issue or another–manufacturing problems, design issues, poor scheduling. Raise your hand if you’ve contributed to a failed campaign. Yes? I’m with you. It seemed like it couldn’t fail, right? More often than not, however, the issue all others stem from is a lack of planning–Planning that…

If you haven’t seen it, I would highly recommend watching the original animated movie Ghost in the Shell, which will give you an idea of the amount of technical detail prominently featured in the live action adaptation hitting theaters later this month (March 31). To get an even better idea of the detail in question,…

By itself, one isn’t all that impressive. But, bring enough of them together, and it’s certainly an impressive sight. Originally designed by researchers at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory, the Perdix drone (formally Project Perdix) was built for swarming operations and tasked with airborne environmental monitoring. The tiny 6.5-inch drone was impressive enough in its swarming capability…

3-in-1 is the name of the game for Febtop Tech with the introduction of their Optimus Transformable 3D printer, which boasts a multiple configuration design that includes a 3D printer, laser cutter and CNC mill. Considering this is the Swedish-based company’s first foray into the world of 3D printing it’s certainly impressive, but not the…

Anyone familiar with SOLIDWORKS, or 3D CAD in general, knows you can’t easily markup a 3D model or drawing within the software. You still need to print the drawing or model, hand-deliver it to the conference room, shop floor or the friendly checker grinning at you expectantly over the edge of the cubicle. The. Joy.…

I love the look and feel of handcrafted wood objects–a guitar, a speaker, a cutting board are all pretty typical, but a keyboard made of wood? I’m not sure I could get used to that. However, the Oree Board 2 may make me drop that plastic keyboard like a chunk of wood, err… you know…

A little over a year ago, Mokacam introduced a tiny 4K camera of the same name on Indiegogo where it was successfully crowd-funded several times over before it even got near the end date. With that much success, Mokacam is back for round two with a second, smaller version of the 4K camera, aptly named…

I was always under the impression that I could get away with using an $4 bargain bin cutting board. I own two–a plastic one and another that looks like something similar to wood. They work for a while, but eventually look like they’ve been dragged behind my car–cut, warped, stained and burned. But those end…

Piracy isn’t limited to movies, music, and games alone, you might be surprised to know that 3D models are prime targets for theft as well. For instance, BMW sued TurboSquid, 3D model marketplace, for selling their car design models, and gaming giant Blizzard is still trying in vain to take down porn parodies that…

Outer space. It’s the one place you can be confident no ambulance will show up if you have an injury, at least, not very quickly. When medical emergencies arise on the ISS or other spaceborne vehicles, you make do with the supplies you have or perhaps re-purpose some equipment. With the installation of NASA’s AMF…

Back in 2015, Marin Troselj and his team from Croatia launched a successful Indigogo campaign to bring about STEMI–a six-legged BIY (Build it Yourself) educational robot. As the name implies, they’re a company aimed at creating products with a STEM emphasis in an effort to introduce kids to the sciences. Since then, they’ve sent out…

Graphene. That awesome meta-material that was identified in 1916, imaged in 1948, grown on substrates in the 70’s, and finally manufactured in 2014, has yet to be incorporated into any consumer market applications. Now, graphene has been developed into a structure stronger than steel and lighter in weight. A team of researchers at MIT found…

Almost 60 years ago the first CAD tool was a type of stylus created by Ivan Sutherland at MIT. In Sutherland’s “Sketchpad” you could draw virtual shapes in a virtual space. Even though it was revolutionary, I’m sure early x-y point plotter users were considered eccentric for talking up the novelty of the virtual world.…

“Witness the world in living color” is more a phrase you’d like to hear a drunk Will Ferrall say, not a phrase usually associated with 3D printing. While some companies (botObjetcs, Spectrom, etc.) tried a slight-of-hand at producing full-color CMYKW prints, most of them fell short of delivering on their claims. Israel-based Something3D wants to…

Before cyclist Denise Mueller set off to Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats to break the speed record for fastest person on a bicycle, two others came before. US. Cycling Hall of Fame inductee John Howard who topped-out at 152.2mph in 1985 and Holland’s Fred Rompleburg who managed to cruise at 167mph in 1995. Like the two…

Markforged is known for their outstanding carbon fiber printers ─ the Mark One, Mark X and Onyx series. Now the manufacturing heavyweights are expanding beyond plastic. The’ve gone ‘full metal’ with the introduction of their Metal X 3D printer, which was recently unveiled at this year’s CES in Las Vegas. Atomic Diffusion Additive Manufacturing For all intents…

Well, we’ve seen what Adobe is bringing to 3D and UX design, but Adobe Research has developed some other interesting apps, highlighting them at the 2016 Adobe Max conference. They cover the gamut, from 2D and 3D to voice and VR, leaving us with something to ponder on the future of 3D product design. Bear…

I admit, I use a planner. There’s simply too much happening during the day, plus I have issues remembering what I need to do and which day is which. Ok, not only do I use a planner, but also a healthy dose of Post-It notes. They’re everywhere, a hodgepodge of mixed notes that make no…

Human-driven battle robots are already under construction by MegaBots and an array of Japanese-based Kuratas. While those primarily focus on DESTRUCTION! …there are others focused on SPEED. Entering the race this year is Furrion and their human-piloted, all-electric Prosthesis racing mech. Designed by engineer Jonathan Tippett, the 7,700 lb. Prosthesis was recently unveiled at this year’s CES…

Porches. Porches are ridiculous without a good place to sit. If you don’t want to tear your porch down, you could toss some tree stumps up there, but if you have the slightest bit of woodworking skill, you could build yourself a bench. Chris Salomone of Foureyes Furniture has skill a’plenty, and has been busy…

Right out of the gate for 2017, Adobe is offering a pair of applications featured at the Adobe MAX 2016 conference–a Windows version of Adobe Experience Design CC (XD) featuring real-time collaboration, and a new 3D product shot composer for graphic designers named Project Felix. They’re focused on accessibility (which we’re strong proponents of here…

If you’re not up on the latest in regards to expensive booze, Louis XIII Cognac is one of the most coveted and priciest — with a 70 cl (700ml) bottle of Louis XIII costing as much as $3,400. At that price you probably don’t want to chuck it in a $5 novelty flask and stash it…

Sometimes there are Kickstarter campaigns you hope will succeed, but sadly wind up failing. Noah Li is a Game Animator who launched a Kickstarter campaign that didn’t quite reach the funding goal. Maybe I’m biased because I’m a fan of both the MechWarrior universe and World War 2 technology, which is what Noah’s campaign merged…

There are literally a ton of devices on the market aimed at recharging mobile devices with the most common being power banks or battery chargers. Others (and I’ve tried a few) rely on the elements such as solar chargers (Goal Zero), water-based chargers (Estream) and even open-flame cookware chargers (PowerPot). Most of those are great,…

Microsoft has been looking to get a foot in the door of the MR (Mixed Reality) world since early 2015 with their development of HoloLens and the Windows Holographic platform. The company has since announced a collaboration with several leading tech companies, including Dell, ASUS, Acer, HP and Lenovo to produce their own MR headsets…

Welding is a useful skill to have, especially if you want to repair your vehicle, which was the goal of Instructable user Mr-Mash who figured it was cheaper to repair his own rather than taking it to the shop. For him, the easiest way to learn welding was to build one big, freakin’ bicycle outfitted…

Virtual Reality applications are booming thanks to the onset of VR/AR headsets like Oculus, PlayStation VR, HTC Vive and Samsung Gear VR. Those companies allowed others to develop software that immerses you in a different reality where you can explore and (in some cases) interact with 3D renderings of just about anything. Outside of gaming,…

Office lighting just got 10x and a bag o’ corn chips cooler thanks to the son of famed vacuum designer Sir James Dyson. His son, Jake Dyson, set out to redesign a much needed replacement to the inconsistent, or flickering, or glaring, or otherwise headache-inducing lighting found in most office spaces around the world. Enter…

Doom is arguably the quintessential first-person shooter that spawned one of the most popular video game genres of all time. The game is loaded with an array of traditional and futuristic weapons to decimate demon hordes–shotguns, machine guns, plasma rifles and even a chainsaw are at the player’s disposal. However, one so over-the top-weapon is…

After nearly two years of beta testing, IrisVR recently released their VR platform products, Prospect and Scope, which are now available to the public as version 1.0. As you can imagine, the apps go beyond simple gaming applications, allowing users to 1) push their 3D models to VR quickly and 2) explore their 3D creations…

I quit riding my bicycle, but I may take it up again. Not for health purposes, mind you. The reason I quit was it seemed, no matter where I rode, my tires would go flat. It didn’t matter whether I was riding on pavement, grass, sand or gravel, I would always get a flat tire.…

Last week, we shared the $379 reMarkable Tablet. Truly remarkable, but some still like the feel of pen and pencil on paper. Enter La Slate. ISKN’s Slate is an ingenious digital sketching tool with sensors that track and digitize sketches made with your own drawing instrument. It weighs a mere 14 ounces, features a wee…

Formlabs, who is now responsible for making a generation of designers and engineers giggle gleefully when they hear the word ‘resin’, has recently released a whole array of new engineering resins aimed at professionals for use in prototyping, molding and more. Formlabs is widely known for their consumer and commercial grade resin… and their 3D printers too, I…

Admittedly, I am a multi-tool user as probably most engineers are no matter what field they are in and I can say with certainty that not all multi-tools are the same. I’ve owned a Leatherman Sidekick, a Gerber Multi-Plier 600 (needlnose) and a SOG S66N and while they all are great in their own…

Consumers today. What a tough life. Numerous styles and colors of appliances, not to mention the configurations and features. Then there are refrigerators–a metal box insulated to keep cold air in and rodents out. Yet, they lack the flair captured in the 50’s, back when cars had massive tail fins and toys could be cool,…

Remember Openknit? The open source knitting machine made from 3D printed parts? Creator Gerard Rubio is back with the next generation of making DIY clothes easy and more accessible. Rubio’s new startup is Kniterate, which is communicated as ‘the platform for 3D printing garments’. Similar to Openknit, the idea is to make it easier and…

We’ve all seen those flashy custom wheels bolted to vehicles most of us couldn’t afford. Like those vehicles, those custom wheels don’t come cheap and were probably designed and manufactured by one of the premier wheel companies such as Vossen Wheels. Ever wonder why those wheels are so expensive (costing about several thousand per-set)? Or, what’s involved…

Programmable robot toys tend to be on the cute side. Think of the popular BB-8 toy from last year or the popular pup Tekkno from the 90s. But when it comes to spiders, cute isn’t the first thing that pops into your head. Somehow Roboeve, a Beijing based team of engineers, made a robot spider…

Camping in the wilderness can either be a relaxing weekend away from the city or a nightmare. In many cases, the outdoor experience usually comes down to one thing: how well you prepare. Sometimes nothing can prepare you for the awesome force of Mother Nature. High winds, hurricanes, or even heavy rains can ruin your…

Honeybees are vanishing, and at an alarming rate. The rise of colony collapse disorder in apis mellifera is concerning, because without honey bees to pollinate our crops, human beings will starve. Colony collapse disorder is a phenomenon in which the worker bees in a hive simply vanish en masse, leaving behind a queen and a…

Our culture’s obsession with the 3D experience permeates our daily news. Do you want to see the latest Marvel film in 3D? How about a flat screen TV that plays your favorite shows in 3D? Virtual Reality is real! The technology isn’t new; it’s been used in movies as early as the 1950s. So why…

Drop what you’re doing CNC geeks and enter to win this CNC Periodic Table poster. Skilled engineers still need help every now and then. The internet is an important tool as any. But why spend time hitting up Google, when you can glance at the CNC Periodic Table on your wall? You don’t have one?…

There’s no greater feeling than building and finishing your own project. The work is done. The project was a success. Now you need an enclosure. Depending on the design, it can protect or ruin your build. The typical of-the-shelf project boxes can be so… cheap, uninspiring, boring. What’s the solution? Make one yourself. Jon Hollander…

Kevin Kohler, aka The Backyard Scientist, is widely known for his unique experiments and projects that often result in something exploding, melting or being burned, which applies for one of his more recent projects–the Flame Sword. As the title suggests, the sword is literally ENGULFED IN FLAMES as Kevin uses it to mutilate a perfectly…

You can’t taste this rainbow, but it sure looks great when it’s blended together to make truly multi-colored 3D prints. That’s exactly what the ORD Solutions new RoVa4D 3D printer is able to accomplish using five different (CMYK+W) colored filaments. This is ORD’s third successful Kickstarter-backed 3D printer with the first (MH3000) debuting in 2013…

Imagine having an Echo (Amazon’s voice-activated home automation device) controlling every device in your home. That’s the idea behind Seeed’s latest endeavor, the ReSpeaker. The ReSpeaker adds voice recognition/interaction to everything from speakers and home appliances to IoT devices. What’s more, the device was designed using open-source hardware and can even be uploaded with your…

What if you had a device that let you repair a broken laptop or even upgrade it just by swapping out a card? What if that card IS your computer, completely modular and able to be upgraded quickly and swapped between devices? Those questions have been answered and that device now has a face, a…

The Xpider is purported to be the “world’s smallest” spider robot, and with its cute little cyclops eye it’s all kinds of adorable. Measuring in at 3.3-inches tall and weighing just over 5 ounces it’s certainly small, but the internals just might be more impressive than its wee, cutesy demeanor.

We’ve all had that moment. We see something completely jaw-dropping, fumbled to take a picture or capture video, and by the time we dig our phones out of pockets/purses, it’s all over. Life is so unfair. A crew from NYC has designed a new camera that will eliminates capturing every moment by… well capturing every…

Rendering physical systems in computer simulations can be a daunting task even for the best of programmers, and more so if more than one model parameter is required. If you’re familiar with MATLAB or Eigen, then you know what it takes to develop some of these simulations and the number of lines of complex code…