{"id":2489,"date":"2014-04-04T15:09:07","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T15:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/archives\/2489-friday-finds-thinker-things.html"},"modified":"2014-07-03T17:33:58","modified_gmt":"2014-07-03T17:33:58","slug":"friday-finds-thinker-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/friday-finds-thinker-things","title":{"rendered":"Friday Finds: Thinker Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nWe’re proudly bringing back Friday Finds – sharing with you products, shops, and designers who are using their creative 3D printing powers in new, fun and exciting ways. This week, we present to you Thinker Things<\/a>! Bryan Salt is the creator behind the brand. As a veteran of the 3D technology world, Bryan has 27 years of experience including virtual reality, games, television & mobile 3D engines. With Thinker Thing, he wants to make 3D printing accessible to everyone – even children! <\/p>\n

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Thinker Thing is an app that uses touch screen user interface that allows for an easy, seamless process to create your very own, customized robots and dinos! Inspired by his past work and four year old son, Bryan wanted to create an app that was easy to use and could be learned quickly. With 3D printing, the results can be created just as fast and are customized, personal creations the user came up with on their own. Instead of having to purchase a regular old toy, customers are getting exactly what they want. And the results are pretty great:<\/p>\n

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So how does it work? Thinker Things has a scientific basis, believe it or not. According to their site, “our evolutionary algorithm<\/a> based engine utilizes crossover and mutation processes similar to how life itself was created. Which object lives on to produce the next generation is determined by the users preferences, and the genetic make up, the DNA of these objects, are merged and mutated to produce the next generation of objects.” The user evolves their very own product based on preferences along the way! <\/p>\n

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What we love about this app is that it is simplifying many processes. We can’t help but think that combining evolutionary science, touch screen technology, an app, and robots could really only result in 3D printing the idea into a physical product. Bryan has connected his app to Shapeways, allowing users to create and order their 3D print straight from their phones.<\/p>\n

Thinker Things is on to something very exciting and new. They are paving the road not only to bringing 3D printing into everyday life (of kids, to boot!), but also simplifying computer processes that take years and years to learn. This marriage of technology is so exciting for us to see and be a part of. We can’t wait to make some robots of our own. Try out the app today, they just released the newest version! And don’t forget to send us photos!! <\/p>\n

Here’s our favorite video of Thinker Thing opening up the world of 3D printing to kids! Keep up the wonderful work, guys. <\/p>\n