One of the things that excites us most about 3D printing, is the potential to solve real world problems in real time. 

This week MakerGear partnered with The Veale Foundationfor their first annual Veale Startup Week held at Gilmour Academy in Gates Mills, Ohio.  Teams of high school students were challenged to prototype a product to solve a problem that will sound familiar to drivers everywhere -  how to prevent belongings in the passenger seat from crashing to the floor when they slam on the brakes!

After dreaming up their solutions to the problem at hand, the students cadded their designs, printed them on MakerGear M2s, developed a business plan and demonstrated the fruit of their labor by pitching their products to a live audience. Their hard work and ingenuity were evident during each of their presentations, and without a doubt, the creativity and confidence of these bright students keeps us inspired in our own R&D. 

Here's a fun glimpse of the final presentations. Make sure you keep an eye out for the “Seat Cage”, the “Huggy”, and the “Secure n’ Go” coming to a passenger seat near you!

Students created working prototypes of their inventions. The team pictured at top of the post went above and beyond and created a miniature model to demonstrate in their toy car. 

Teams worked together from conceptualization, to printing, to crafting a marketing presentation of their product.

After their presentations, teams took questions from the audience on everything from design aspects to sales viability of their product in the current market.