Bring Your Designs to Life with the ‘littleBits Bring Your 3D Prints to Life Contest’

August 21, 2014

Update: The contest is closed for now, we’ll be relaunching later in the year, stay tuned for a bigger and better contest!

Shapeways has teamed up with littleBits to challenge you to make your designs move with the ‘littleBits Bring Your 3D Prints to Life Contest’, we want to see what you will make when you can add modular electronics to your 3D prints.
3D printing is great for making unique items to exactly meet your needs, but what better way to take your ideas one step further and add motion, light, sound, or even programming with littleBits modular electronics.
The Challenge:
Make a design that combines 3D printed Nylon and littleBits to make a 3D printed creation that comes to life using the littleBits. We chose Shapeways Nylon because you can make complex, interlocking parts in a single print, incorporate a living hinge, all with the precision to make compress fit, or threaded connectors.
Add littleBits to your 3D prints and control them using a mechanical input, like a button, or use a sensor to control with just a gesture or sound. We challenge you to use the following littleBits modules but you can incorporate any littleBits modules that you like.

• Power
• Servo
• Wire
• RGB LED
• DC Motor
• Bright LED
• Button

To get you started, the littleBits team has released the STL and STEP files of these base components for you to download and import them into your 3D modeling software of choice and modify your design to fit these components. Download littleBits 3D files here.
Take a look at the littleBits project gallery for inspiration, where you can see everything from a Remote Control Car to a Flying Dragon or a Keytar with 3D printed knobs.

The Remote Control Facetime Car made with 3D printed components.

The Keytar uses 3D printed knobs to make the sounds more ergonomic and awesome.

Run Horse Run uses your voice to make the horses, run.
The Submission

• Upload your design that incorporates at least two (2) Little Bits modules to Shapeways with the tag LittleBits.
• Your design must be printable in Shapeways Nylon Selective Laser Sintering (WSF) with a maximum material volume of 300cm3.
• Your submission can include one or multiple parts, (please indicate that an upload is “1 of 3” or similar so that we can better understand your design.
• Include a description of your design, the function and proposed movement.
• BONUS POINTS: For a rendered animation or video of the design in action

The Prize

• littleBits Pro Library (over $4,900 value)
• 3D Printing Credit at Shapeways to the value of $500
• The top 3 designs will have their design 3D printed by Shapeways

Contest Criteria

• Design must include at least two littleBits modules
• Design must meet Shapeways 3D printing criteria for Selective Laser Sintering of Nylon.
• Total volume must be under 300 cm3
• Model must be uploaded to Shapeways by Monday 29th of September 2014 by Midnight PST
• Design must be public with the tag littleBits
• Design must be original and you own all IP

Terms and Conditions

• No purchase necessary.
• Maximum of five entries per person. By entering this competition, entrants will be deemed to have accepted and agreed to the conditions.
• No cash or other alternative prizes available. The prize draw is not open to Shapeways or LittleBits employees or their families.
• The promoter's decision is final – in case of dispute, no correspondence will be entered into.
• Winning entries will be documented by Shapeways and littleBits and may be used for promotional purposes.
• Winners' project must be uploaded to littleBits Project gallery.
• Winners retain all IP as per Shapeways standard terms and conditions. Winners and winning entries may be required to take part in any publicity resulting from this competition.
• The winner will be contacted by Monday 6th of October, 2014.
• Promoter: Shapeways, 419 Park Avenue South, #900, New York, NY, USA, 10016.