Canada’s Panda Robotics is Using Crowd Funding to Bring 3D Printing to Everyone

By: Kevin Green | October 9th, 2012 | Business, Gadgets, News, O Canada

The consumer 3D printer market has become very hot very quickly as companies are racing to bring their 3D printers and services to the masses. The technology has been around for quite some time however the uses thus far have been for commercial purposes such as prototyping and modeling. However, the latest push is to get a printer that is usable with a standard laptop, similar to 2D printers currently in use. Toronto-based Panda Robotics is leading Canadian firms in the race to the masses and is able to provide an aesthetically pleasing 3D printer for any household at $800.

Panda Robotics is a company with high aspirations and they have decided to break with tradition and use crowd-funding as a tactic to reach their business goals. The head honchos at the firm recently launched a $50,000 Kickstarter campaign and have been able to top $32,000 in pledges. The Toronto based company should not have any problems meeting their pledge goal before the November 3 deadline.

Panda Robotics slogan is “3D printing for everyone.” The Canadian firm expands on this by stating that, “Developments in technology, manufacturing techniques, and logistics allow us to sell an advanced printer for the price of a tablet so there really can be one on every desk and in every home. We’re here to shake things up and bring consumer electronics pricing to 3D printing so that the future is now.”

The firm has also paid a lot of attention to the fact that their target audience is the individual user who does not have the time or technical ability to fix 3D printers. That is why the company has built a rugged device that can withstand everyday use while also looks good sitting on someone’s desk. The company websites states that, “Construction techniques and materials were chosen to make it exceptionally stable, robust, and quiet. Thanks to our innovations, the PandaBot is self-calibrating and will print straight out of the box. … We’ve designed the PandaBot to look great. It looks like it belongs on your desk whether you’re an architect, an advertising executive, or an art student. By making a beautiful product we can drag 3D printing out of the batch processing era and make it personal.”

Panda Robotics also adds that, “We didn’t just want to make incremental improvements to available 3D printers. We wanted to revolutionize the industry.” Check out the Pandabot Kickstarter video below.