In the corner of a hallowed hall at UC Berkeley sits a vending machine unlike any other: The Dreambox. It has a selection of 3D printed goodies that are available for purchase, and the buyer can even watch the object being made before their very eyes.
The Dreambox was built and founded by David Pastewka, Will Drevno, and Richard Berwick. They are all recent bachelor graduates or current students. I caught up with Richard last week to show me around.
Even though the Dreambox is primarily designed to print out pre-selected trinkets, I decided to throw him a curve ball and bring a file of my own: the Maker Faire Robot, of course. Within just a few minutes he had the file loaded and the on-board Makerbot 1 heated up. We watched as the robot was built layer by layer. Then a custom 3D-printed pusher arm advanced the bot across the bed and down into a channel, at the end of which a rotating device decided which locked drawer it’s put into.
Once this process is done, the user receives a text message with a code. Enter the code into the Dreambox, and a solenoid trips the lock on the drawer, allowing the piece to be retrieved. Nifty, and my bot came out great!
On the inside the various parts are controlled by three Arduinos. Since this is their first prototype, the team wanted to keep it as modular and changeable as possible. Next iterations will be streamlined with PCB fabbing and a professionally designed enclosure.
So far it’s been a hit on campus. In just 2 months they’ve had 800 customers, with a few super users who have spent a significant amount of money using the Dreambox to make custom designs. The next step for Dreambox is churning out 8 – 10 more that will be placed in spots across the Bay Area, functioning as souvenir machines.
This reminded me of an anecdote MAKE contributor Gareth Branwyn once related. When he was a kid and went on family road trips, the highlight for him was always using the Mold-A-Rama machine at South of the Border to watch getting little toys made. I think the wonder of watching that process could transfer well for kids and adults alike.
Dreambox already has some venture capital raised to make this all happen, so if you find yourself in and around San Francisco, keep your eye out for the brand new Dreamboxes.
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