Shapeways

This week we heard from a woman at Shapeways, a 3D printing service and marketplace company. She took us on a tour of their facility. Through the webcam we got to see all the different machines and creative space they have at their location. Shapeways has a great deal of talent working to make people’s ideas come to life through the use of around 60 different materials and over 100 different colors.

In a brief video, the CEO of Shapeways explains the benefits of 3D printing and how it can really change people’s lives. He also talks about the  importance of creativity and really making your own ideas come to life. I will definitely leverage Shapeways in the future.

In Class

In class, we had the opportunity to work with our team to create a prototype for our project. It was great to have class time to talk through our vertical garden and exactly how we think we want it to look. We split our group into three roles of which I got the task of designing the vertical garden. I spent the class period looking at various vertical gardens for inspiration as well as taking in my teammates ideas to create the first version of our vertical garden.

We have a base for our vertical garden to catch water, then we have the first pot, there are two columns holding up the second pot, and a box where the wiring for the Arduino sensors will go. We are hoping to grow herbs inside our garden. We quickly realized we would have to grow small plants that fit within the dimensions we came up with.

David Kelley says designing is meant to be messy and rapidly changing. Usually your first prototype is not so good and it evolves from there. I have known this to be the case, however, I always try and make each prototype as best and as close as I can to my original idea.