Maker Pro News: Industrial 3DP, Kickstarter’s Hardware Studio at CES, and More

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Maker Pro News: Industrial 3DP, Kickstarter’s Hardware Studio at CES, and More

Youโ€™re reading our weekly Maker Pro Newsletter, which focuses on the impact of makers in business and technology. Our coverage includes hardware startups, new products, incubators, and innovators, along with technology and market trends.ย Subscribe todayย and never miss a post.


โ€œIโ€™ve seen first-hand how anyone can build internet.โ€ โ€“ Noodle Founder Garrett Kinsman

3D Printing Frontiers

The average price of a desktop 3D printer is $1,094 โ€” compared to $104,222 for an industrial model and a whopping $566,570 for a metal printer. But industrial customers are still snapping those units up because of their outsize potential for prototyping and increasingly, mass manufacturing.

Thatโ€™s according to aย newย Make: featureย that examines the growing role of additive manufacturing in industrial settings. Interests using 3D printing to manufacture parts includeย NASAย (@NASA) andย GEย (@generalelectric), and soon-to-expire patents could drive widespread adoption.

โ€œTodayโ€™s industrial 3D printers are capable of producing parts in quantities and at speeds that begin to compete with traditional manufacturing processes for short-run production,โ€ wrote authorsย Terry Wohlersย (@TerryWohlers) andย Joseph Kowen, both ofย Wohlers Associates.

Kickstarter to Rep Hardware Studio at CES

Crowdfunding titanย Kickstarterย has never before had a booth atย CESย (@CES), the annual consumer tech extravaganza in Las Vegas. This year will be the first, according to a company spokesperson โ€” and Kickstarter willย dedicate its boothย toย Hardware Studio, an educational initiative it started this year withย Avnetย (@Avnet) and theย Dragon Innovationย (@dragoninnovate) to help hardware creators successfully bring products to market. At the same booth, experts from Avnet and Dragon will offer “office hours” for hardware startups.

Dragon and Avnet representatives will also be present. Avnet will be showcasing aย new line of IoT advisoryย and lifecycle services at the show.

CES will also be loaded with projects that got their start on Kickstarter:ย Sisyphus, a kinetic art table,ย Jotoย (@jotorocks), a robotic drawing board, theย Kanoย (@TeamKano) electronics kit, and more.

Introducing Noodle

Writing forย Make:,ย Garrett Kinsmanย (@GeKinsman)ย introducesย Noodle, a low power Bluetooth system that crowdsources connectivity for maker devices in San Francisco.

Kinsman spent two years in India, where he studied ways that hackers bring better internet access to the masses. Now, he wants to replicate those experiments in the Bay Area.

โ€œIโ€™ve seen first-hand how anyone can build internet,โ€ he wrote. โ€œStudents are hacking together microwave links in the Himalayas and whispering dreams ofย Google Loonย and subsidized LTE in Bangalorean cafes.โ€

Ringing in the New Year with HAX

Theย HAXย (@hax_co) squad pulled together its predictions for hardware in aย column for VentureBeatย this week.

Whatโ€™ll be hot: Robot-as-a-service companies likeย Fetch Roboticsย (@FetchRobotics) orย Saviokeย (@Savioke); wearables that collect medical data; industry IoT.

What wonโ€™t be hot: Consumer electronics. โ€œThe era of copycats led byย Amazon,ย Google, andย Facebookย is leading to a no-manโ€™s land for consumer-focused hardware startups,โ€ they wrote.

And what does the HAX team hope to see? Prototyping tools that also work for production, improved regulation in the transport and healthcare space, and better batteries.

Elsewhere on the Maker Pro Web

Last week,ย we notedย Boltย (@BoltVC) associateย Chris Quinteroย (@Chris_Quintero)โ€™s concerns that Silicon Valley heavyweights are coming to dominate hardware categories established by maker pros. But they can also foster strange new markets for entrepreneurs: theย New York Timesย reports this weekย onย Amazonโ€™s underworld of โ€œludicrouslyโ€ low-cost gadgets, apparel, and more.

Make: correspondentย Chiara Cecchiniย (@ClaireCecchini)ย reports onย yet another maker pro food startup hinging on edible insects:ย One Hop Kitchenย (@OneHopKitchen), a โ€œsustainable pasta sauceโ€ made out of crickets and mealworms.

In a strange drama, arsonistsย burned downย French fab labย La Casemateย (@LaCasemate) this week. The people behind the space have launched aย crowdfunding campaign to rebuild.

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DC Denison is the co-editor of The Maker Pro Newsletter, which covers the intersection of makers and business. That means hardware startups, new products, and market trends.

DC manages customer stories at Acquia, the digital experience company.

View more articles by DC Denison

Jon Christian is the co-editor of the Maker Pro Newsletter, which covers the intersection between makers and business. He's also written for the Boston Globe, WIRED and The Atlantic.

View more articles by Jon Christian
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