[MUSIC] Hi, we're here somewhere in Brooklyn,
New York. We're here to talk to Aaron Roy. Aaron's the Head of Strategy and
Operations for a new company called 3DPrinterOS. Essentially, they're providing
the operating system that enables 3D printers to work together. And for Also, you'll be able to use
them in a more efficient manner. it's a really interesting concept and
a great company. I think you'll enjoy hearing from Aaron. Well, Aaron, thank you for
sitting down with us today. >> My pleasure. >> Could you tell us a bit about how
you got interested in the 3D printing? >> I had the chance to see
a 3D printer in action. It was about three to four years ago. I was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. I feel like I stared at it for
about 45 minutes, trying to wrap my head around the fact that a physical object
is being created out of thin air. And from there I just dived in head first. The first thing I did was I read
Fabricated by Hod Lipson and Melba Kurman I think. It absolutely got me on this path
of thinking I couldn't get out of. It was just absolutely set into wanting
to explore additive manufacturing. Another thing I then discovered was,
Makers by Chris Anderson. Back to back those books put me in
spot where 3D printing I had to get my hands on it. So actually what I did was I
started volunteering like crazy. I volunteered at the 3D print show,
with Maker Fair New York and with a Fab lab in Newport,
Road Island, Fab lab Newport. This gave me the chance to actually touch
machines, to get hands-on experience with some different types of 3D printers,
and I've never looked back since [LAUGH]. [MUSIC] At 3DPrinterOS what we've done is we've
built the world's first operating system for 3D printing. Operating system is a very
vague world in so many ways. 3D printing right now,
there's hundreds of different machines. All of them have very machine specific,
very fragmented, very complicated workflows. For a school or an enterprise to bring in
3D printing and have to relearn or reteach admins on workflow every single time, it's
just very difficult and very frustrating. We really set out to unify
those different things. Put a platform together that can
connect across different systems. And, not only that, deliver better
results than machine specific hardware. By focusing only on software, we've been
able to explore a lot of the problems that played the 3D printer
workload in general. What we've realized is a lot
of groups in today's world, actually have 3D printers,
but what to do with those, the training that goes into using them,
the ability to track statistics. Measure all [INAUDIBLE] 3D
printing investment, and share that access, it wasn't really there. So we've really, really,
focused on providing whole solutions. You know, asking what are the problems of
a business and then trying to solve those. But really the big thing for us is working with different
educational institutions we've realized schools might have printers, but maybe 5,
10, students had access to two printers. To us that was very frustrating because
they have these great machines but they're not using them. We built our software to kind of flip flop
them where we could take two machines, share those to twenty users,
a hundred users, a thousand users, an infinite amount. And put data behind it for an admin to be
able to say we have two thousand hours of printing across a hundred different
machines over the past three months. Puts them in a position where they
can really grow their program. On the Enterprise side, we've been able to grow our software
around clients such as Jabil Circuit. They're the third largest contract
manufacturer in the world. Over $18 billion in revenue per year. We were able to go in there, work with their engineers,
who have had five, $1 million machines. But really only 5 to 10 people using them,
and instead bring in desktop FDM machines and be able to get 18 or
20 or 50 engineers with access. because at the end of the day, more
utilization means faster prototyping and more measurable results. [MUSIC] We've seen 3D printing being used
differently than maybe we did two years ago. Where before it was pure prototyping,
we're seeing now, with material science advances,
attempts at attacking real large problems. One thing that I know a lot of groups are
working on is the access to materials such as PEEK and materials that can be
really disruptive manufacturing wise. Not just prototype materials. PEEK has similar tensile properties
to a material such as aluminum. This, as it becomes more prevalent
in the desktop 3D printing world, we think can really change the way that
3D printers are used in an enterprise or an education or even a desktop realm. Because one of the biggest complaints
we sometimes hear is well, you can only make things in plastic. As desktop 3D printing can move into other
types of materials and that changes. Even a year ago today printing
in blended PRAs the copper, the brass fills, the gold fills,
the bamboo fills, that wasn't here. That wasn't really a possibility. And a year from today I'm really intrigued
to see where the materials are again. Those advances push
the whole industry forward. So 3DPrinterOS is one of the biggest areas
of focus for us as well as education, and you know we've had the chance to work with
some of the leading institutions in the US and around the world on how
they're using 3D printing. One of those in particular,
Duke University has really focused on enabling
access beyond your standard groups. So instead of focusing on just
engineers or just designers. They've tried to open up 3D printing
to a broader of their student body. This is allowing people to not just
work in 3D but start thinking in 3D. Which as a shift in mindset, really allows
the industry to be more widely adopted. You have 500 students who've had exposure
to 3D printing is a lot different than just 10 engineering students. Thinking how we can design for additive
manufacturing is a completely different mindset in some ways than subtractive. With 3D printing,
we're adding from the ground up. We can build innovative shapes and
curves and objects. It's a whole different way
of design thought, and the more people who think that way,
the more innovation, the more cutting edge breakthroughs
we'll see in this field. [MUSIC] The 3D printing ecosystem today is, I would describe it in some
ways as like a Holy Trinity. We have material, research, and science. Then we have hardware research in science,
and then we have software. Hopefully tying these
different pieces together. That ecosystem,
at some points we see limitations because as hardware needs to advance, it also
needs software to unleash that power. And as far as we can
push on the hardware and software side, we need great materials
to really complete that picture. I was reading just before you
guys got here today about full color 3D printing and what would
that take on an FDM printer, and I'm really interested to see,
you know what groups of e3D and what material scientists can do
to crack those types of problems. At the same point, you know for standard desktop 3D printing
we still have a lot of work to do. In regards to making sure
printers all have WIFI and making sure printers are reliable. That they're user friendly,
that they're easy to use. And on the software side, you know the
problems we're working on tackling are, how can we make slicing better? How can we be more
predictable in print times? How can we make networking printers
together and making them easy for large groups to access simpler and
put data really behind that? A fourth problem that's part of the
ecosystem, that needs to be tackled, and I know is being addressed. Is design, you know,
A the access to great design content, 3D printable content, but
B optimization of existing content. So many files that are created are not
necessarily ready for 3D printing. In the tackling of that problem and
making them more available and more accessible, will also be able to
push forward all three other fronts. In my dream world in five years from
today we'd see hardware be at a point where it's an easy work flow no
matter what machine was adopted. We'd see it at a point where
an enterprise can bring in hopefully 3D printing in the same way
they approach a modern PC. It's something that's a tool in
the belt of the manufacturing workflow. Same thing in education. 3D printing can be something
that is taught with regularity, not something that's an elective we
look at with interest and intrigue. 3D printing should be part of
the regular conversation because its potential to upset the $12
trillion manufacturing is very real. So in five years I do see
it making real progress on those fronts same thing
from a material side. I think in one year, we'll see advances in materials that
we never even thought possible. Whether that's the printing of metal on
desktop in a safe and efficient manner, or it's the breakthrough new
materials that can be 3D printed that weren't possible through
some other manufacturing method. That can be used in a desktop environment
to change the way we approach manufacturing. And from a software side, you know
there's work to be done but I think as the computing power inside the machine
gets better, we can build better software, better firmware that you know that
unleashes even more of that power. [MUSIC] It took a while for
PCs to make it in every home. I think there's a lot of work that would
have to be done on the design optimization side to get a 3D printer in every home. Because even if the machine was easy
to use, even if the software was super simple, even if the materials were
incredible, we have to have great content. I think teaching the ability to make great
content, unlocking the access to great content we have available today,
that's another issue in itself. So, I hope in 10 years I feel more
optimistic about that possibility. [MUSIC] If I were to recommend to someone just
starting out on 3D printing relation where they should begin that journey, I would
start with, first off get it front of it. 3D printing is like seeing is believing. Find a class, find a meetup,
find a FamLab, find anything you can to put
yourself in front of a printer. You have to see it to really
appreciate its power. Number 2, look at the great resources
online, obviously the Coursera, the different components. There's a lot of resources becoming
available online on the topic. Number 3, I'm biased, but I will pitch
that Hod Lipson, Melba Kurman book, it's a little older now, but Fabricated,
really for me, highlighted the potential of the industry and besides that go
to the conferences, go to the shows. There's a lot of ones
that have free admission. Seeing this stuff in action, meeting the people in it,
still a really small industry. You could join today,
you could join a year from today and really make a huge
difference in 3D printing. This is a ground level industry. Really, you can make a monstrous
difference even today. >> So,
we're at the beginning of the revolution? >> I think that we're at the very
beginning of the revolution. I think we need more people within it. I think we need great minds in it and
I think we need people who really want to tackle and take on and
solve some of these larger scale issues. For an industry that's poised to take off,
there are few and far between where you see the ground level and can reach out and
touch it this is that industry. The manufacturing industry is a $12
trillion market, and really 3D printing, the ability to take one pound in and
put one pound out, only use what material is there and create from that, it
has such unlimited disruptive potential. I would say, please join us [LAUGH]
>> I agree. [MUSIC] >> Please visit us at 3DPrinterOS.com,
there's a wealth of information and resources on what we're going,
some of our goals and initiatives for this year out there. We also teach classes in New York, in person, more information can be
found on our website or at learn3D.nyc. That's a free class in New York where we
try to teach at Brooklyn Public Library. Agin, put the printers in front of people. Let them see it, let them interact. And we also do webinars. Same thing on that same site. Feel free to join us on a free
webinar as well, on 3D printing. [MUSIC]