Samantha Snabes, who has previously worked with an ambiguous title of Social Entrepreneur in Residence for NASA’s Open Innovation Program, is taking what she has learned from space explorations – and all the other projects she has been part of – and applying the same fundamental approach for solving more acute problems within the earth’s atmosphere. The common denominator for working in either the infinite recesses of space or in the more and more finite world we live in is the basic principle of using as few resources as possible: ”you need technologies that require few user inputs, that are lightweight, that are affordable, that require little electricity, where you have to deal with access to clean water and clean air as well as living in hostile environments,” Snabes explains in an interview for Digital Trends.
To assist Snabes in her cause to reach the distant and rural habitats and with the important aim of improving the people’s lives there, she has chosen to apply 3D printing tech, more specifically in tech’s largest consumer-friendly form to date – the Gigabot. Snabes is a part of the re:3D team, so choosing this monster of a machine was obvious. But to gain a better understanding of how 3DP tech could be most useful to the end-users she is targeting, Snabes has been wandering in northern Chile doing some field work – especially talking to the locals on how they would see the Gigabot being best used in their specific context – rural or urban: “I see 3D printing as providing a platform, especially now that it’s lower-cost, for people to make solutions and innovations that are relevant locally,” she explained
The travelling team in vast South America has already reached potential users from all walks of life in their 3D printing evangelizing project – from aspiring toy designers-slash-cab drivers to local museum staff to indigenous tribes – all with their specific needs for what a 3D printer could do for them. As the Gigabot project is going full-on open-source after the Kickstarter campaign, everybody interested can soon get more up close and personal with the machine.
You can read more about Samantha Snabes and some of the many projects she has been a part of by hitting the source link below.
Source: Digital Trends
