Tech start-up launches home 3D scanner
Makerbot’s “Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner”, debuted at the South by South West Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, on Friday, promises to skip the often complex process of designing 3D objects using PC software, by simply allowing people to scan then print the objects they want.
The Digitizer can scan objects sized between 2 and 8 square inches in less than three minutes. Makerbot suggests using the device to copy and create a child’s artwork or first shoe, or to kick-start a “mash-up” combining several different objects into new forms.
However, the Digitizer could also be used to recreate copyrighted products, raising the spectre of a new kind of physical-object piracy of the kind that has ravaged media companies during the past decade. Makerbot already operates a community site, Thingiverse, where customers can swap digital templates.
However, Makerbot claims to be the first company to offer an integrated system of both scanner and printer, which it promises will make the technology accessible to those who lack computer-design or hardware-hacking skills.
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