Inkjet & Digital Printing
MakerBot Expands 3D Printing & Scanning Ecosystem with Exclusive Partnership with Innovative 3D Vision Company SoftKinetic
Friday 10. January 2014 - MakerBot To Work with SoftKinetic on Next Generation 3D Scanning Products
MakerBot, the global leader in desktop 3D printing, together with SoftKinetic, the leading provider of 3D vision and gesture recognition solutions, are excited to jointly announce an exclusive strategic partnership during the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. This partnership is expected to help MakerBot expand its 3D Ecosystem and 3D Printing Platform, and enhance the ease of use and connectivity of MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printers and Scanners. This strategic partnership is also expected help SoftKinetic enhance its 3D camera technology for 3D scanning.
The exclusive relationship between MakerBot and SoftKinetic is focused on the development of next generation 3D cameras based on SoftKinetic’s technology for inclusion in future MakerBot 3D scanning products. SoftKinetic’s DepthSense 3D Time-of-Flight (ToF) depth capture technology is designed to create a seamless user experience with MakerBot Scanners and MakerBot Replicator Desktop 3D Printers, making scanning and printing 3D images as easy as taking a picture.
SoftKinetic is the leading provider of 3D vision and gesture recognition technologies for the consumer electronics, automotive and industrial markets; it is comprised of a team of mathematicians, 3D imaging specialists, software engineers and user experience experts that aim to revolutionize the interaction with digital content. Texas Instruments has licensed SoftKinetic’s 3D sensor technology in a collaboration that seeks to increase adoption of gesture control in television, personal computers, and other consumer and industrial devices. Intel’s perceptual computing platform is based on SoftKinetic’s DepthSense 3D cameras and iisu 3D gesture recognition middleware, and SoftKinetic was also chosen by Sony to bring 3D gesture recognition experience to game titles for the PS4.
“It’s really exciting for the future of 3D scanning and 3D printing to exclusively partner with SoftKinetic,” said Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot. “SoftKinetic is a leader in its industry and is developing hardware components that will transform the physical world into the digital. We are very excited to be a part of this development, linking 3D image capture with fifth generation MakerBot products to create exhilarating user experiences for our customers. The future will be very exciting indeed.”
“SoftKinetic is an enabling platform for building amazing user experiences, and our goal is to make things such as 3D scanning and printing intuitive, natural and fun,” said Michel Tombroff, CEO of SoftKinetic. “MakerBot is leading the next industrial revolution and their vision is very well aligned with ours. We are delighted to partner with MakerBot to bring the next generation, 3D printing experience to the consumer.”