3 ms·

I think the soles for this are done by Carbon in Redwood City. They've done some other cool stuff with their 3d printed lattice like the midsole of an Adidas s

I think the soles for this are done by Carbon in Redwood City. They've done some other cool stuff with their 3d printed lattice like the midsole of an Adidas shoe that's already out and some bike saddles (I think for Specialized and another brand I can't remember). https://www.carbon3d.com https://www.carbon3d.com

krasin 6y ago
Carbon3d is an under-appreciated tech. Their materials are incredible. A few years ago, we successfully used their elastomeric polyurethane to build a soft robotics gripper ([1], [2]) and we've got an impressive durability rating of 500K cycles (basically, months of continuous grasping). While our prototype never got into a production, it was very clear that Carbon3d has a uniquely strong proposition because of their materials. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnxlaT_XmFY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnxlaT_XmFY 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itxe9g-Z3Rk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itxe9g-Z3Rk
- pen2l 6y ago
  Formlabs printers can do a lot of this stuff but at a fraction of the cost (base model costs around 2k, also has an expansive list of materials with interesting properties: https://formlabs.com/material-selector/ https://formlabs.com/material-selector/ ). Also, you don't own Carbon3d, you lease it, for like 50grand a year or something crazy like that.
  - krasin 6y ago
    We tried Formlabs, of course. We could print fingers like these, but none of the materials we tried (about 10 different options) survived more than 1000 cycles. As I said, Carbon3d underappreciated, because everyone think "it's just a more expensive Formlabs", while in fact Carbon3d is all about production-grade materials. If it was possible to take materials from Carbon3d and then print on Formlabs, that would be a very good combo.
    - fossuser 6y ago
      Agreed - not just materials either, Carbon printers are fast and for mass production. Making shoes via form printers at scale is not viable (form is nice for prototyping though and small scale stuff).
    - 3dee 6y ago
      I believe the big difference is that the Carbon printers use a special bottom plate that lets air molecules passing through. That's why they can use chemical reactions to create better material properties. This also means the print doesn't stick to the bottom plate and they can print faster.
- maxioatic 6y ago
  It's not as unique as it used to be. Neither is their DLS printing technique. They also have an insane valuation [0], so I'm not sure if they are really that under appreciated. For example Origin [1], which was just bought by Stratasys, is very similar in a lot of ways. 0. https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/25/3d-printing-platform-carbon-raises-260-million-at-2-4-billion-valuation/ https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/25/3d-printing-platform-carb... 1. https://www.origin.io https://www.origin.io
maxioatic 6y ago
Yeah, they are printed using Carbon's printers but designed by adidas.
andreareina 6y ago
You might be thinking of Fizik: "The Adaptive saddle padding is crafted by Carbon using its revolutionary Digital Light Synthesis technology" https://www.fizik.com/eu_en/drops/adaptive.html https://www.fizik.com/eu_en/drops/adaptive.html
- fossuser 6y ago
  Yep - that was the other one, thanks!
vanattab 6y ago
There is also another company out of Boston called Voxel8 working on 3d printed shoes. https://www.voxel8.com/ https://www.voxel8.com/

krasin 6y ago

Carbon3d is an under-appreciated tech. Their materials are incredible. A few years ago, we successfully used their elastomeric polyurethane to build a soft robotics gripper ([1], [2]) and we've got an impressive durability rating of 500K cycles (basically, months of continuous grasping). While our prototype never got into a production, it was very clear that Carbon3d has a uniquely strong proposition because of their materials. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnxlaT_XmFY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnxlaT_XmFY 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itxe9g-Z3Rk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itxe9g-Z3Rk

pen2l 6y ago
Formlabs printers can do a lot of this stuff but at a fraction of the cost (base model costs around 2k, also has an expansive list of materials with interesting properties: https://formlabs.com/material-selector/ https://formlabs.com/material-selector/ ). Also, you don't own Carbon3d, you lease it, for like 50grand a year or something crazy like that.
- krasin 6y ago
  We tried Formlabs, of course. We could print fingers like these, but none of the materials we tried (about 10 different options) survived more than 1000 cycles. As I said, Carbon3d underappreciated, because everyone think "it's just a more expensive Formlabs", while in fact Carbon3d is all about production-grade materials. If it was possible to take materials from Carbon3d and then print on Formlabs, that would be a very good combo.
  - fossuser 6y ago
    Agreed - not just materials either, Carbon printers are fast and for mass production. Making shoes via form printers at scale is not viable (form is nice for prototyping though and small scale stuff).
  - 3dee 6y ago
    I believe the big difference is that the Carbon printers use a special bottom plate that lets air molecules passing through. That's why they can use chemical reactions to create better material properties. This also means the print doesn't stick to the bottom plate and they can print faster.
maxioatic 6y ago
It's not as unique as it used to be. Neither is their DLS printing technique. They also have an insane valuation [0], so I'm not sure if they are really that under appreciated. For example Origin [1], which was just bought by Stratasys, is very similar in a lot of ways. 0. https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/25/3d-printing-platform-carbon-raises-260-million-at-2-4-billion-valuation/ https://venturebeat.com/2019/06/25/3d-printing-platform-carb... 1. https://www.origin.io https://www.origin.io

maxioatic 6y ago

Yeah, they are printed using Carbon's printers but designed by adidas.

andreareina 6y ago

You might be thinking of Fizik: "The Adaptive saddle padding is crafted by Carbon using its revolutionary Digital Light Synthesis technology" https://www.fizik.com/eu_en/drops/adaptive.html https://www.fizik.com/eu_en/drops/adaptive.html

fossuser 6y ago
Yep - that was the other one, thanks!

vanattab 6y ago

There is also another company out of Boston called Voxel8 working on 3d printed shoes. https://www.voxel8.com/ https://www.voxel8.com/