Students turn innovative ideas into useful 3d printed products #3DThursday #3DPrinting
Students compete in an annual 3D printing competition via, Stratasy
Stratasys’ annual Extreme Redesign Challenge (ERC) has encouraged participants to think differently about how they see products, devices and the world around them. From modified cell phone cases to assistive devices, students from New England-based schools were recognized for their innovations during AET Labs’ Extreme Redesign Competition and Digital Fabrication Showcase.
The competition was held at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts, and was coupled with a digital fabrication showcase to educate the 100+ participants on various types of manufacturing technologies. Students and instructors had the opportunity to hear from Steve Chomyszak, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and technology at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, who played an integral role in the development of the Stratasys curriculum for post-secondary education.
“3D printing encourages you to screw up and have fun doing it. Iteration is at your fingertips, and iteration is good for learning,” said Chomyszak during his presentation to students. “Don’t be afraid of failure. You learn more from getting things wrong than from always doing things right.”
And while a fear of failure can affect ones motivation to learn, these young contestants demonstrated an uninhibited imagination that encouraged them to try something new, fail and try again.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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