This past weekend we attended another trade show in Seoul, South Korea. This one was called the “ProtoKor” show and by the name, we figured it would be mostly for product development and prototyping, and a perfect fit for our forum. The ProtoKor show (in Korean) was scheduled for three full days of last week. Due to scheduling and travel difficulties we were only able to attend the last day on Friday, but we tried to make the most of what little time we had which as things turned out was nowhere near enough time.
We arrived at the show to discover the COEX convention hall and immediately noticed that the ProtoKor show was only a very small part of a much, much larger show called “NanoKorea 2014” which included Microtech World, Laser Korea and the Advanced Ceramics Exhibition, PROTOKOR, and Bionic Tec. We were completely unprepared for the information overload that followed. The NanoKorea 2014 website is available both in Korean and in English for interested readers.
There were over 420 companies from 15 countries present, including the 3D printer companies. What was odd was that there were so few 3D printer companies present, and those that were had been grouped together at the very back of the forum. The other odd thing we noticed was who was in attendance. While the larger Korean 3D printer companies were there, (i.e. Carima, Rokit etc) we found no less than seven companies or groups that had NOT been at the recent Inside 3D Printing Expo held in Seoul just last month. This included five that had actual working printers on display. Of these only one, the “Willybot,” had we heard of before.
The Willybot machine looked very professional and seemed to work well, although it looked far different than the one we had seen so long ago. Their website, which is in Korean as most of those listed are, does show their two different models.
The next one we found was a little machine called the “Korbot,” being shown by a company called Shinsung Media Tech. Like most of the others, it was a standard gantry design.
At the oddly named Former’s Farm booth we saw our next new machine, the “Sprout” being shown by the company’s co-founder, Yoon Jung Rok, who told us that they just started their company but had already attracted a lot of attention from potential investors. After watching the crowd at his booth a few minutes we were convinced that this is one little company we need to keep an eye on.
The next company looked to be a spin-off from a large laser-cutter manufacturer called Open 3D. Their machine, the “Magic” looked like a standard entry model, but because of their industrial manufacturing roots in the laser cutting industry, but we heard they may be introducing something more exciting in the near future.
The final new company we found was Open Build, and they were the only one of the bunch to have a Rostock design. Their machine, called the Rostock Zero, was busy printing away as we approached working on a part for a large Batmobile model they were building.
There was A LOT of other stuff to see, but we were exhausted and went to get a cup of coffee. Being we were in the COEX center, we went into the Sedona Café, a classy coffee bar that has the distinction of being the location of the very first business in Korea to have a Bitcoin ATM. We spoke to Choi Hosik about the machine and his customer’s reaction to it. He said that in the past six months many people have expressed interest in it, but few have actually USED it. He said that while people seem to like the idea of it, it is just not as easy to use as old-fashioned credit cards, so they go on about their lives waiting for things to get easier. For those interested in the bitcoin ATM, you can read more about it here (in English).
Ironically, Mr. Choi’s comments were of exactly the same kind we had heard from the 3D printer company representatives upstairs at the convention. For those of us who are enthusiastic about these new technologies, waiting for the rest of the world to catch-up with us can seem like an excruciatingly slow process…but one that will be well worth the wait.
