3D Printing UPSIDE DOWN with Dean Kamen (FIRST Robotics!)

We brought a POSITRON 3D Printer to DEAN KAMEN, the father of FIRST ROBOTICS! HUGE thanks to LDO for making this possible!

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[nomadsgalaxy]

So happy to be able to meet Dean 💙💙 FRC is why im in 3D Printing. Team 3151 Represent!!!

Thank you Joel and David for making this possible 💙💙

[ColbyPerry]

Dean is a personal hero of mine, he ranks up there as one of the humans that has changed the world for the better with all of the medical & robotics inventions that's occurred over the years. Thank you for being able to interview him.

[lastniceguy]

Tell Dean, Greetings from former Wilson Wildcat (Rochester, NY, US) First 4 year participant 1992-1996. Proudly never stopped Engineering and owner of 3x 3d printers now. Thank you Dean and Woody Flowers.

[BeardedPrinter]

It's amazing how quickly creativity can die in education. This kit is a wonderful option to spark creativity again!

[harvey]

So great to see Kamen and Joel together. Love to hear Kamen talk about FIRST, continuing the legacy of his co-founder, the late, great Woody Flowers. These two have created something truly special.

My own kids have all gone through the FIRST program, competing in FIRST Lego League and FIRST Tech Challenge, and it helped each of them develop their own technical, interpersonal, and leadership skills, as they grew into adults. As with any large scale organization, there are details at the day-to-day level in FIRST and the individual teams that could be improved, but as long as the organization continues the basic philosophies of "co-opertition" and "gracious professionalism", along of course with the STEM exposure to inspire and educate the kids, it will continue to be a success.

Fun trivia: FIRST may have the trademark on "co-opertition", but the basic concept (more commonly spelled "co-opetition", i.e. no "r") has been around over a century. FIRST may not have invented the idea, but it is probably the largest competitive program by far that lives and breathes the idea, to the benefit of all involved (and frankly, to the benefit of society at large).

[stillgamin]

Dude... DUDE! Seeing you two in a room reminds me of Ted Lasso in that Indian restaraunt... "Congratulations -- you both just met a really cool person"

I saw your logo on that printed part for the robot kit and was like... wait a second... Awesome!

With great power comes great responsibility. Awesome job using your skills and platform to support this whole effort, Joel! Made this viewer tear up a touch seeing those kids so stoked and you're a part of that. David is championing a great cause. That dude gets it.

[NeoKoiPrints]

Loved this interview! Robotics in High school is where I first heard about 3d printing

[smiksky]

Proud to be a member of Positron 3D and to have been in FRC team 1111, the Power Hawks!

[QandLnews]

I did FRC in HS and between that and my drafting class I learned about 3D printing and had access to a stratasys FFF printer. That started my path towards getting a job working with EBM metal additive at ORNL and now am part of a team helping start a new advanced manufacturing facility in my home state of ME. This stuff has a huge impact!

[rexus]

Thanks Dean and Joel. Don't forget FTC and FLL, both are great levels to learn a lot of the same skills.

[LincolnWorld]

No way! You hung out with Dean! That's so cool. Some people may not know that when he was very young he invented life saving medical inventions, and has continued to invent things like that. Not just the scooter. He was inspired by comic books and sci-fi novels, to invent things.

[dave]

I'm so glad to see you two teamed up. And congrats to Nomad for the shoutout about the Positron. The timing is perfect. Our FRC team, 4638, is ready to go for competition tomorrow!

[Jay]

Alumni of Code Red Robotics, FRC Team 639. My first experience with 3D printing was making parts for my team 11 years ago, and in college I had parts I printed tested in NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Lab. I’m now a full time engineer. Super cool to see you interview Dean and bring more awareness to the great work FIRST robotics does to create future engineers.

[plurprints]

This is really awesome! I'm 31 and just got into 3d printing about a month ago and it has brought back all of the engineering classes I took back in high school. We made some simple robots that played soccer and even had a 3d printer back in 2011 but never got to do much with it. I hadn't heard of the FIRST robotics but am so glad to see what's available to inspire the younger generation!!

[merpToBIRD]

Never expected to see this video, Dean is a magical man, and sadly I never got to meet him in texas, but I loved my time in FRC Team 325

[leemeried]

Made it first! I know who Dean is! Cool video 😎 Sadly I lost my Positron... Yes, you heard me right 😢 I'm that guy... Left it on a plane coming back from 3D Printopia!

[davel]

Things like this warm the soul. Beyond the cultivation of specific skills, I would argue, is the cultivation of **curiosity**. Curiosity creates the momentum to

[jim]

Met Dean at the FIRST robotics championships when I was a senior in high school back in 2001 at EPCOT. Man, that was such a fun time!

Also remember I was doing team photography with a Sony mavica digital camera that recorded on floppy disks. God that was awesome because it made file transfers so easy and 3.5” downs were WAY cheaper than memory cards at the time.

Ah memories.

[TheBikerDad]

So great you got to work with Dean. I’ve been volunteering with FIRST in Nevada for 6 years now and I’m so impressed with the things these kids can do. Looking forward to judging the Las Vegas Regional this month!

[TheCreiveType]

My son has been doing F.I.R.S.T. since 7th grade... he's a senior in high school now. Since he got into high school I've been printing parts for his robots that he designed. He has learned a ton about 3D modeling but also about quality of life when it comes to manufacturing, design, and assembly. Things like: how easy is it to attach or remove this part should it fail? How will I attach this part? heated insert? Nut and bolt? Glue? If I need a giant part by this weekend, when do I need to get the file to the printer? He has also learned that despite the versatility and flexibility of 3D printing... 3D printing cannot solve all of your problems for you. LOL. Great to see Dean talking about it!