Rubicon is the third player in a consumer, rotational 3D laser scanner segment mostly dominated by MakerBot’s Digitizer and Matterform’s Matter and Form systems. Neither one has yet established a significant installed base, so the dynamics are still fluid enough for new players to enter the market.
We first told you about the Rubicon 3D scanner during its crowd-funding campaign, which has since been successful both on Indiegogo and Kickstarter, where it raised over $100.000 dollars combined. Now, Rubitech, the Lithuanian company behind the scanner, is getting ready to launch a new, portable model, of which 3DPI can exclusively bring you the first photos, thanks to our new friends at the Rubicon Italia Team.
Rubitech recently formed a partnership with a team of makers in Italy that is working with local FabLabs and is managing all aspects of marketing, distribution, and sales assistance for Rubicon 3D Scanners. The Rubicon desktop – available in Italy for 499 euro – is a desktop system which uses two small lasers to acquire data on the shape of the object and a central image sensor to acquire texture data, taking photos only when necessary and not continuously.
The portable systems will integrate a miniaturized version of the same technology in a handheld enclosure. All captured information is processed by an FPGA chip, an integrated circuit configured by Rubitech electronic engineers. The Rubicon system is also able to maintain a prolonged exposure, thus achieving optimal results even with limited luminosity.
There are still no details as to the possible price or the release date of the new 3D scanner, which will enter a segment where it is going to face off with 3D Systems’ $400 (Kinect-based) Sense Scanner, the $379 Structure Sensor (iPad sold separately), the $1,000 Fuel3D Scanify, and Artec’s structured light EVA system, starting at around $12.000. The affordable and efficient capturing of 3D images is still a very open consumer tech market, in the early phases of its development, but it is going to be huge. Rubicon has chosen the right time to take a shot at it.
Interesting to see that they have time to build these things as I’ve still not received my Rubicon Scanner from their Indiegogo campaign…..
Design could do with some work, looks like it’s designed for mounting on a tripod, doesn’t look very comfortable/easy to hold.
that is possibly the most retro looking electronics device i have seen in the last 10-years. did they use their first scanner to scan a 1970’s video game console and then reverse engineer the data. I love the knob on the top, it looks like my first Bontempi electric organ volume control.
Hi Davide, this Mike from ‘All Things 3D’ and a like to point out a couple of things on your article, which I agree with.
The Structure Sensor (and 3DS iSense) does not need an iOS device and can be used directly with your PC and Skanect software. Having an iOS device (to include the iPhone 5s, 6, 6+, iPad Airs & minis and even iPod Touch 5G) can scan independently from a PC, something that none of the other scanners can do, unless you use a fast Windows tablet. Another benefit of the Structure Sensor is reversing it, to provide real-time mapping of environment for the blind and in their new iPAD Air tablet game, and soon to be announced VR google system that allows you to translate your environment into the VR world for navigation. (As side-note, I do create product accessories for Structure Sensor and work closely with them in my product design)
I also want add that I did an interview with Robert in November of 2013, and asked him why he switched designs and his concerns with meeting regulations and production QC. He also sent me a image in mid 2014 of the device above and asked me to keep it under wraps. I personally wished he would have stuck to his low cost scanner which is all his backers wanted, instead of using the money to invest in a better unit with many more production problems and into research with another company. I think he has done a lot of harm to his reputation over the course of a year and half. Too bad because I was rooting for the underdog.