14 DAY TRIAL // Before people warm up to a new technology or device type, they need time to adjust, and sometimes they need to be educated in their use. Because of this, 3D printing is headed to schools.
A few years back, when 3D printers were still huge, unruly things seldom encountered, and priced at thousands of dollars each, few people actually dabbled in the concept.
Now, though, thanks to Poland and Hong Kong-based GADGETS3D, they sell for as little as $245 / €182.
More specifically, GADGETS3D has introduced a small-sized 3D printer called RepRap G3D, made for small businesses, individual customers and, of course, schools.
In fact, it is the belief of many, the company included, that 3D printers could and should become a standard part of a classroom.
The RepRap G3D itself sells as part of an educational kit and will be supplied to 500 schools around the world for free.
The idea is even yielding results already: Gerhard de Clercq and Pieter Sholtz, two 15-year-old South Africans working from a home-built RepRap 3D printer, have written a Windows mobile phone app that lets people print from a mobile phone.
Speaking of which, this could be a good way to assign homework: have students come up with plans which they could, later, send to the classroom 3D printer from their smartphone.
In fact, Gerhard de Clercq and Pieter Sholtz used that method to 3D print a Nokia Lumia 820 case from a Nokia Lumia 920.
Some may say that it's a bit too much too fast to shove 3D printing into standard education, but then they'd have to realize that many students begin learning PLM software and computer-aided design from when they're 12 years old.
That said, the MIT startup Nvbots wants to spread 3D printing throughout US schools, and 50,000 schools globally. It won't happen immediately, but it shouldn't take too many years either.