Jan 10, 2016 | By Tess
3D printing has offered some truly remarkable and unique opportunities for children’s learning and education in the past few years. As an increasingly accessible technology, additive manufacturing is giving teachers, parents, and children a fun and interactive entryway into STEAM education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics), readying children for the future.
Cyant, a Berkeley based initiative, is hoping to be a part of this productive education movement by encouraging the learning of 3D printing technologies through children’s drawings. The project, which consists of an easy-to-use software that turns drawings into shallow 3D designs ready to be 3D printed is currently undergoing an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for its launch.
“Since the beginning of time, kids of all ages have drawn to communicate, share stories, creations, and memories. And now, with 3D printing and Cyant’s first product, drawings can come to life and be part of new ways of learning and creating,” says Cyant’s founding CEO Barbary Hanna. “We are developing a creative platform that lets you design and obtain 3D models and prints in an easy and intuitive way.”
In the project’s current iteration, you simply draw on the screen of an ipad and Cyant’s patented technology automatically generates a 3D model that can be printed on your own dekstop 3D printer or through their partner service, Sculpteo.
Cyant is hoping to make 3D printing technology more accessible to children and even teachers and parents by eliminating the need for extensive 3D design knowledge and instead focusing on such intuitive and formative exercises such as drawing. By using 3D printing, they are also hoping to encourage STEAM education from an early age, and to make learning in those fields as interactive and fun as possible.
Cyant recently launched their product’s private beta version and found a variety of creative ways to use the technology. Among the diverse uses suggested are using the 3D printed pieces for mixed media artworks, 3D printing tangible letters to help learn to read and write, and using the children’s 3D printed drawings to make impressive collective artworks.
WIth ten days left of the flexible campaign, Cyant is hoping to raise $15,000 to help expand and further improve their user interface and final product. The rewards for the Indiegogo campaign range from $10 for a mention on their site, to $5,000 for an Institutional Sponsor credit, with plenty of gifts in between including tote bags, early membership to their product, and various 3D printed pieces.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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