Students competing in the second inaugural 3-D Printing Challenge showcased their models to judges in an exposition Tuesday night.
The competition, run by Duke’s Innovation Co-Lab and the DukeMakers, asked students to design models of objects, submit them online and print them using the 3-D printers available in the Multimedia Project Studio. Of the 15 students who presented their models in the final exposition, sophomores Logan Rooper and Will Floyd-Jones were awarded the “best in show” prize for creating an app that makes exact physical replicas of a key using a flatbed scanner and a 3-D printer.
“It makes it really easy to make copies of keys,” Rooper said. “You could have a digital wallet full of keys and never have to carry physical ones again because you could just print them whenever you need them.”
The competition emphasized the importance of creative, original designs that take advantage of the 3-D printing platform itself, said junior Ouwen Huang, one of the leaders of DukeMakers—a club dedicated to advancing 3-D printing at Duke and making it more accessible to students.
“The whole point of the expo is to see your creations materialized into something real, and that’s exactly what 3D printing can do,” Huang said.
Along with spreading the word about the competition and encouraging their own members to participate, DukeMakers also developed ShareSpace—a page where all Duke students could post their files online and look at others’ work, according to Huang.
The 18 submissions ranged from self-adjustable glasses to common lab equipment pieces that would otherwise be very expensive.
“We see [the competition] as a gateway to 3-D printing,” Huang said. “It gives you a community of people to draw you into it and it gives people something to work towards.”
The best in show prizes included a MakerBot Mini 3-D Printer and a 3-D printed medal. Additionally, gift cards to Shapeways—a company that offers 3-D printing service—were awarded to the winners and runner-ups of the aesthetic and functional categories.
“The event is a way for club members to demonstrate the new skills they’re picking up,” said DukeMakers leader Rebecca Lai, a junior. “It’s also a way to find mutual inspiration in what others have been doing.”
With 50 percent more submissions this year than last, the Innovation Co-Lab and DukeMakers remain hopeful that the competition will continue to draw in more students and this technology will spread to more of the campus.
“We see 3-D printing as this emerging area of technology exploration and just want to capitalize on the excitement around it,” said Michael Faber, program manager of the Innovation Co-Lab.
Since 3-D printers were made available at the Multimedia Project Studio last year, Faber says they’ve already seen students doing many advanced projects with them.
“This idea of 3-D printing and rapid prototyping, or project-oriented work, is becoming more and more of a desirable thing not only for students to work on, but also as a demonstration of skill for job searching,” Faber said. “We want to nurture those students who have that interest and that ‘maker’ mentality.”
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