Hot Springs Students Could Win $100k in Samsung Contest
By: Deedra Wilson, KARK 4 News
Updated: November 28, 2012
Some students at Hot Springs High School could be weeks away from winning $100,000 in a national education contest by Samsung.
"We decided we wanted to do something crazy," says student Bryce Lucas. "We wanted to think out of the box."
Their way of meeting the challenge:
"The idea of open source fabrication, the idea of building things from nothing," said Michael Vincent, who teaches the Environmental and Spatial class.
That's exactly what they did. They ordered a kit with no guide and no tutorial, just rods and pieces.
"We heard of a new software that Mendo came out with and it was a 3D printer, so we decided to take it and run with it," said Lucas.
It's called Reprap, which is basically a replicator that makes whatever the students put into a computer print in 3D.
"We have an SCO File, we convert into a G code called slicer and we tell the printer to print whatever we want."
"We are printing a spool holder so we can hold the filament and it won't jam up," said Dalton.
"It kind of sounds like something right out of a sci-fi movie," said Vincent.
These whiz kids will now create a video of their project and send it to Samsung for a chance at the big prize.
Samsung will judge all 75 projects in February.
The top prize is $100,000; while the top 15 earn $40,000.
"We decided we wanted to do something crazy," says student Bryce Lucas. "We wanted to think out of the box."
Their way of meeting the challenge:
"The idea of open source fabrication, the idea of building things from nothing," said Michael Vincent, who teaches the Environmental and Spatial class.
That's exactly what they did. They ordered a kit with no guide and no tutorial, just rods and pieces.
"We heard of a new software that Mendo came out with and it was a 3D printer, so we decided to take it and run with it," said Lucas.
It's called Reprap, which is basically a replicator that makes whatever the students put into a computer print in 3D.
"We have an SCO File, we convert into a G code called slicer and we tell the printer to print whatever we want."
"We are printing a spool holder so we can hold the filament and it won't jam up," said Dalton.
"It kind of sounds like something right out of a sci-fi movie," said Vincent.
These whiz kids will now create a video of their project and send it to Samsung for a chance at the big prize.
Samsung will judge all 75 projects in February.
The top prize is $100,000; while the top 15 earn $40,000.
