14 DAY TRIAL // 3D printing technology may not be advanced enough to make complex devices in one go, but if you want to make yourself some toys, then rejoice! For Arduino has the answer to your dilemma, or at least Ynvisible does.
New startup company Ynvisible has posted a project on the crowd-funding website Kickstarter, a project that brings Arduino to a whole new level.
Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform, which, thanks to flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software, can be used to make pretty much any gadget or toy. So if you have a remote-controlled truck or something, chances are it was developed from Arduino.
Now, this platform is making its mark on the 3D printing market, thanks to the folks at Ynvisible, who were able to make the technology even thinner and more flexible than usual.
As you might know, 3D printers, especially those made for consumers, tend to have pretty small build volumes.
That means that even Arduino prototyping boards might not come in the right size and shape for them. So if you wanted to, say, make a palm-sized Ziphius or something, you might be out of luck.
Printoo solves the problem by being thin, small and flexible enough to fit into even those sorts of items.
In fact, Conductive Inkjet Technology is the one producing the light, flexible components, and there's a pretty serious list of them too. Here it is:
- an 8-bit display driver - a printed battery connector and a coin battery holder - a sensor module - a solar cell connector - a conductive ink adapter - capacitive sensing keys of all things - DC motor drivers - a displayel (ectrochromic) - a Blue Spark ultra-thin battery - a second, soft battery, from Enfucell - from ISORG we get an organic photodetector slider - a polymer solar cell, from Mekoprint - and an LED Strip, from VTT.
Those are just some of the most important though. In truth, there are seventeen different components in the kit, which you can see in the gallery below. The LED strip happens to be especially thin, and the electrochromic screen is as thin as a sheet of paper.
That's not even counting the aesthetics of everything: Printoo is all white, almost like snow. Only some chips that really don't come in any color other than black impact the snowy image.
Finally, you can not only tinker with and combine the different Printoo parts, but you can also connect the final product to the Internet thanks to apps specifically designed by the Tnvisible team. No wonder the funding goal has already been reached and exceeded by over half ($20,000 / €14,445 was the target).
