Makerbot’s 3D scanner: can it bring 3D printing home? [SXSW]

Bre Pettis, founder and CEO of 3D printing wündercompany Makerbot, recently unveiled a new product line that will allow people to scan objects in high fidelity 3D.

Shown as a prototype during his opening remarks at SxSW 2013, The Makerbot Digitizer uses a cheap combination of lasers and a webcam to translate the contours of any object into a printable 3D object. In other words: a 3D scanner.

We are experiencing a revolution in affordable, 3D printing for the desktop, but the technology has a long way to go to become commonplace in every office, let alone every modern home. 3D printers have become considerably more easy to use over the last few years thanks to companies like Makerbot, and there is no shortage of designs for people to download from sites like Thingiverse for manufacture in the home.

Where Pettis sees an obstacle is that the average consumer isn’t jumping at the chance to make their own printable designs. The Digitizer, then, will offer an intermediate step between copying others and creating your own stuff: copy your own stuff!

Although technical details are still vague about what the final specs of the Replicator will be, we do know the following:

• The device can scan objects up to eight-inches tall and slightly less wide.
• Scanning an object takes upwards of three minutes.
• It should launch late this year.

Will an affordable, bite-sized 3D scanner offer the “washer & dryer combo” that Pettis hopes will take 3D printing into the mainstream? We’ll have to wait until later this year to find out.