In this day and age, as higher-education budgets continue to drop, a group of young entrepreneurs from Betaversity, an education technology company, might have found a solution to this problem with the invention of the BetaBox.

The BetaBox, which is a repurposed 25-foot shipping container, is equipped with prototyping equipment that ranges from 3D scanners and printers to laser cutters.

Each pod, as the company calls them, is built with the idea of creating an environment that encourages entrepreneurial thinking and creativity.

The Betaversity team even went on to say that the BetaBox is “an incubator for innovation and rapid prototyping.”

Though the BetaBox at its core is easily accessible, its design caters to schools, events and institutions.

Now, each BetaBox comes with a Betaversity employee. This doesn’t mean that the person lives inside of the shipping container; it simply means that an employee is assigned to a certain BetaBox to make sure that everything is running smoothly inside.

The space is very inviting, welcoming and clean. The design was meant to take any semblance of intimidation away. The walls of the shipping container are made of white boards that invite free thinking and collaboration.

As of right now, Betaversity has raised $53,000, mostly in grants. It charges $4,000 to $5,000, depending on how far it needs to be shipped, to rent a BetaBox for the week.

Time will tell if Betaversity’s BetaBox is a hit; and, if it is, more shipping containers will be retrofitted and put into the mix for more people to exercise their innovation and creativity!

Here’s a quick video to give you a better look at BetaBox, the mobile prototyping lab!

Copyright Inventionland, 2015

Sources:

https://www.dwell.com/r-and-d/article/betabox-mobile-prototyping-lab-shipping-container

https://www.psfk.com/2015/02/betabox-betaversity-mobile-prototyping-labs.html

Media:

https://bv-dev.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Duke-BetaBox-23.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrjmKE2BU70

The post BetaBox: A New Way to Prototype appeared first on Inventionland.

At their core, prototypes are an important piece to the invention process because they allow a person to see their invention idea in physical form.

Furthermore, 3D-printed prototypes give way for a more realistic design and idea of what the final product will look like. Mcor Technologies is well-versed in the 3D printing and prototyping business and they weighed in on the value of 3D printing in the prototype world.

Julie Reece, a writer for Mcor Technologies, talked about this subject and said, “The value of a 3D printed model or prototype is directly proportionate to how accurate and realistic it is – whether it be a tool or shoe prototype in preparation for manufacturing; a model of a client’s villa prior to construction; a replica of a patient’s skull in preparation for an operation; a map model to assist first responders in a natural disaster; or a 3D printed figurine of your child to capture a precious moment in time.”

As you can see, Mcor places a large emphasis on creating prototypes that look so authentic that they could be mistaken for the real thing.

In fact, Mcor Technologies recently posted an article about a prototype that was so realistic, it was stopped by airport security. The best part of this story is that the prototype was made entirely of paper!

The story goes a little something like this: One of Mcor’s sales managers was traveling with a 3D-printed paper prototype of a hammer. This prototype was made with Mcor’s IRIS printer (more on that later). While at airport security, the 3D-printed hammer prototype was in the sales manager’s luggage. Well, it wasn’t long before airport security spotted the hammer, removed it and then continued to tell the sales manager that these types of tools were not allowed on board of an aircraft. After telling security that it was, in fact, a paper prototype, they were in disbelief  that what they once thought was a real hammer was actually 3D-printed out of paper! The only thing that gave it away was the obvious difference in weight, being that the paper hammer was considerably lighter than a real hammer.

Now, this prototype wouldn’t be around if it weren’t for Mcor’s famous IRIS paper-based 3D printer. Mcor Tech’s printer utilizes a process called selective deposition lamination that bonds together layers of standard office paper into durable, eco-friendly models.

The “ink” for this printer is actually paper, which can be printed in every color under the sun using Mcor’s International Colour Consortium that has over one million color shades!

At Inventionland, we can definitely relate to Mcor when we say that rapid prototyping continues to pack a lot of power in the invention process.

Copyright Inventionland 2014

Sources:

https://www.inside3dp.com/mcor-prototypes-real-theyre-stopped-airport-security/

Images:

https://www.3dheights.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/iris_printer.png

https://3dprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/mcor-1.png

The post This Paper Prototype is (Almost) the Real Deal appeared first on Inventionland.