This week’s class gave us an opportunity to further explore the possibilities of 3D printing in addition to spending time iterating our project idea.

Our guest speaker from Shapeways showed us the amazing capabilities of the company through a swift “office” tour. I put the word office in quotes because the Shapeways place of business acts much more like a lab, or an art studio. The capabilities of their sleek machinery were astounding, as their printers use everything from ceramics to strong metals. Coming from a business perspective, I found it interesting that it is supremely difficult to capture economies of scale in the 3D printing industry. Economies of scale is a competitive advantage for any business: it means that with more items produced, the cost of those items decreases. But it is the unique nature of each product of a 3D printer that makes the industry so appealing. The ability to customize something exactly to our liking is what 3D printing is all about. On the site, I found a cool looking moon lamp that I thought I’d share.

https://www.shapeways.com/product/TDDWUNVVF/moon-lamp?optionId=41593801&li=featured

After learning about Shapeways, we had an opportunity to meet with our project teams to move our idea further along. Our group decided to modify our steering wheel attachment to many different grips that attach to a common, minimalist base. One classmate offered some excellent feedback for us in suggesting that it is imperative that we ensure our design is extremely strong, because drivers will be counting on it to hold firm while turning their vehicle. If the product were to break, it could be detrimental to the safety of the driver. Please see Ajie’s week 10 post for photos of our updated design. We are excited to continue work on our project!

Feedback is tremendously helpful throughout the entire design process. Among this week’s resources was an engaging video on Design as an Iterative Process, from David Kelley at IDEO. He spoke about the necessity of rapid prototyping when we produce our first designs. It makes sense that the faster we produce designs, the faster we allow feedback. After just one presentation of our group’s design, we received some helpful feedback that rings that idea true.