Meet the FabLab’s newest guest, Zeus. (Professor Frolik is letting us borrow it). Zeus, produced by AIO Robotics, is a combination 3D scanner, printer, copier and fax machine. The print resolution is comparable (if a bit coarser) to that of our makerbots, but the real innovation of this machine is the integrated 3D scanner and powerful onboard software package. The scanner is a step up from our current 3D scanning setup, which requires a separate computer and a lot of user input to produce a decent model. AIO’s machine has a powerful user interface built on the open source operating system Ubuntu. This means that Zeus is not just a 3D printer, scanner, copier and fax machine, but also a stand alone computer that can be used to surf the web (if one is so inclined) and more importantly, perform all of the complex operations that involve meshing together a 3D scan.
To take a scan with Zeus, all one needs to do is select the resolution of the scan, place an object in the machine and press start. The machine will automatically take pictures of the object from all angles and mesh them together into a 3D model which can be printed, exported to another computer, or faxed to another Zeus.
Post submitted by Nick D’Acquila
