Personal 3D printer - new kid on the block

Autodesk, the company behind Tinkercad and 123D Catch software taught in our SEP 3D design sessions, announced its partnership with Mattel to enter the under $300 personal 3D printing market later this year with  PLA based (non-toxic, biodegradable filament) ThingMaker. And it looks like Autodesk has created a "build a..."  robot and jewelry version of Tinkercad as a companion to this 3D printer (ThingMaker Design) for use on iOS and Android devices (so far, there doesn't seem to be a PC, Mac download option?). Also, there's new CAD software targeting K-5 education, SolidWorks, and they're looking for folks to test their beta product later this spring, so check it out. I'll be testing ThingMaker Design and SolidWorks in the coming weeks, so stay tuned.

Interesting to see these new products, since the general consensus so far seems to be that consumer interest has cooled when it comes to personal 3D printing after early excitement in 2014?  But industrial grade 3D printing continues to innovate. Take a look at the MIT Self-Assembly Lab and Cornell's Bio-Medical Engineering printing labs tackling 4D printing and Bio-printing respectively. Pretty amazing stuff.