Our New 3-D Printer!

by William

This past February we were honored to receive an EKOCYCLE Cube 3D Printer, courtesy of will.i.am and Coca-Cola. According to the Coca-Cola Journey Staff, “There are three types of people: those who have tried 3D printing, those who are fascinated by it and can’t wait to try it and those who have no idea what it is — yet. But a new collaboration between EKOCYCLE and 3DSystems is making the technology more accessible for novices and experienced users alike.” We found this to be completely true.

As we waited patiently for a solid 10 minutes in front of the smoothly-designed, futuristically-cool cube to calibrate, warm up, and create whatever we wanted (as long as it fit in the 6x6x6-inch space), we realized that we were experiencing, while still in high school, how cutting-edge technology is applied to major projects in all sorts of engineering fields.

We are currently planning on training new members about the software and hardware that make 3D printing possible. We hope to create a habit of using 3D printing and computer-aided design as viable alternatives to professionally-made custom parts.

Possibly the greatest thing about this (alongside our keeping up with innovation and joining the 3D printing revolution we see throughout FIRST) is the standard of eco-friendly engineering that will.i.am and EKOCYCLE hope to promote. The printer uses recycled plastic material. Many of our ideas can be prototyped using this versatile tool.

Cascade Bruin Robotics gives our sincerest thanks to FIRST, the Coca-Cola Company, will.i.am, and our hard-working mentors for helping us get to where we are now.