When the Internet arrived and all things turned virtual, the Museum has certainly lost some of that sense of wonder that it inspired in younger generations. Now that 3D printing is diverting coolness back to the physical world, the Museum can have a new shot at driving enthusiasm. The Auckland Museum of Technology and Transport sure did by introducing an XYZ da Vinci 3D printer to its Print display section.
The new, highly affordable, machine immediately attracted children and adults of all ages interested in seeing for themselves how it worked and gain an idea of how these machines are shaping the future of manufacturing. “The real value in 3D printers is that they are an important new technology which is in its early stages of awareness. That makes it very exciting to show to people; it is a technology that has the potential to revolutionize our business and personal lives,” said Andrew McCartney, Experience Concept Developer at MOTAT.
The Print display section of the 40-acre wide MOTAT shows the history of transportation and technological evolution. “This demonstrates early machines, all the way from hand-powered letter printers to some of the later mechanical printing presses,” McCartney noted, pointing out that the addition of the 3D printer is something akin to the ‘Evolution of Man’ chart, where the fully erect homo sapiens clearly stands out from everything that came before it.
The museum exhibit includes educational activities and demonstrations where school children get to model clay, rolling it up to make coils and then use them to additively manufacture simple structures. XYZ’s 3D printer will also be a main attraction at MOTAT’s Invention Nation Holiday Exhibit. It will be used to show that invention is not just something that happens in a lab and that people invent things all the time. In turn, the exhibition will also return to the Museum, as a social institution, the ability to, once again, inspire the feeling that everything is possible.
