Adapting Your 3D Scanner with a 3D Printable Grip

Since being exposed to the ideas of Adrian Bowyer, the RepRap founder’s description of 3D printers’ symbiotic relationship with humans has stuck with me.  And, now, any development in the world of 3D printing strikes me more as an adaptation than innovation. This 3D-printable grip from Creative Tools on Thingiverse gives me the impression that 3D printers and humans are adapting to making 3D scanning easier, in order to push the symbiotic relationship forward.

The grip/lens cover can be printed and outfitted to an ASUS XTION depth camera to make for a comfortable handheld scanning experience. Quickly fixed to the lens and humans are better able to make reproductions of the objects in the world around them. This being one of the key reasons, I believe, for human interest in 3D printing, which will cause people to further advance the scanning technology that ensures the 3D printer’s survival.  And, of course, the lens cover that’s incorporated into the design will keep the thing from poking its eye out in the harsh forests of human workspaces. The holes in the grip’s base also make it possible to attach the device to any flat surface and there is a pocket built into the design to manage the USB cable, held in place by inserting a short piece of 1.75mm filament, bypassing the need for glue and screws. This keeps the cord from getting in the way during a scan.

The whole thing is a necessary step towards making 3D scanning a bit easier for human users.  It may one day be seen as a missing link between evolutionary steps, as our next generation of printers could have scanners build into them, as seen in the AIO Zeus, or we could wear our scanners directly on our heads, with such devices as the SpaceGlasses Davide wrote about last week. You can watch a video of Creative Tools using the new Australopithecus of 3D scanners to scan a person in the evolutionary dance that is symbiosis:

Source: Thingiverse