RIPPL3D.com And The SME Education Foundation Announce Virtual Wind Turbine Challenge

ST. LOUIS - Oct. 13, 2014 - PRLog -- The Wind Turbine Challenge at the Smartforce Student Summit at IMTS 2014 was such a success that a supplemental virtual challenge has been announced by RIPPL3D.com to encourage students to continue engaging with 3D printing and technology.

The Wind Turbine Challenge, which took place from Sept. 8-13 at the Student Summit at IMTS in Chicago, was presented by RIPPL3D.com and sponsored by the SME Education Foundation. Students used computer aided design (CAD) modeling tools to create unique wind turbine solutions – and were able to test their turbines to see results within minutes during the Challenge in the Make It! area of the Student Summit. Daily winners were awarded a test stand—valued at over $600—to take back to their schools.

Bill Macy of RIPPL3D.com notes, “We were excited to watch group after group gather around the test stations to naturally collaborate on a design strategy. Kids that didn’t even understand principles like rotational inertia, drag, and aerodynamic forces, left talking about how their designs were affected positively or negatively by these principles of physics. But the best part was finding the students that ‘engaged’ the exercise and watched the leaderboard to make sure that they made every attempt at reaching their best design. They will be our future designers!”

All schools that registered or attended the Smartforce Student Summit are eligible to participate in this new virtual challenge. Teachers are requested to organize their school’s designs and submissions; each school can submit up to five designs. Designs can be created and submitted at https://windturbine.rippl3d.com. This virtual challenge will run through Oct. 31. Completed builds will be tested and the results uploaded to the online leader board at https://windturbine.rippl3d.com/imts-vc/leaderboard.

Stratasys provided a number of their uPrint SE Plus 3D printers for the Student Summit. Students were able to quickly print their designs and then test them at the event. Stratasys will also be supporting the virtual challenge by printing designs submitted through the virtual challenge online. The winning school of the virtual challenge will receive a RIPPL3D Wind Turbine Challenge test stand that was 3D printed complements of Stratasys.

RIPPL3D.com is a web enabled gaming site that leverages 3D tools (freeware solid modeler & 3D Printers) to provide a fun and engaging environment for students of all ages to solve design challenges and search for optimized designs. Students are introduced to the product development cycle of Design/Build/Test and are encouraged to iterate their attempts while applying what they learned from past attempts. RIPPL3D.com is committed to providing engaging resources that leverage the 3D environment to provide students, teachers, and organizations a fun and interactive environment to make learning fun. Visit us http://rippl3d.com/ Follow @Rippl3D on twitter or facebook.com/Rippl3D

The SME Education Foundation is committed to inspiring, preparing and supporting the next generation of manufacturing engineers and technologists in the advancement of manufacturing education. Created by SME in 1979, the SME Education Foundation has provided more than $33 million since 1980 in grants, scholarships and awards through its partnerships with corporations, organizations, foundations and individual donors. Visit the SME Education Foundation at smeef.org. Also visit CareerMe.org for information on advanced manufacturing careers and ManufacturingisCool.com, its award-winning website for young people. Follow @mfgeducation on Twitter or facebook.com/SME.Education.Foundation.

Stratasys Ltd. , headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Rehovot, Israel, is a leading global provider of 3D printing and additive manufacturing solutions. The company's patented FDM^®, PolyJet™, and WDM™ 3D Printing technologies produce prototypes and manufactured goods directly from 3D CAD files or other 3D content. Systems include 3D printers for idea development, prototyping and direct digital manufacturing. Stratasys subsidiaries include MakerBot and Solidscape, and the company operates a digital-manufacturing service, comprising RedEye, Harvest Technologies and Solid Concepts. Stratasys has more than 2500 employees, holds over 600 granted or pending additive manufacturing patents globally, and has received more than 25 awards for its technology and leadership. Online at: www.stratasys.com or http://blog.stratasys.com.

IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology Show is the largest and longest running manufacturing technology trade show in the United States is held every other year at McCormick Place in Chicago, Ill. IMTS 2016 will run September 12-17. IMTS is ranked among the largest trade shows in the world. Recognized as one of the world's preeminent stages for introducing and selling manufacturing equipment and technology, IMTS attracts more than 100,000 visitors from every level of industry and more than 119 countries. IMTS is owned and managed by AMT – The Association For Manufacturing Technology. www.IMTS.com

The Smartforce Student Summit at IMTS is produced by AMT – The Association for Manufacturing Technology to heighten awareness about the innovative technologies and career opportunities in U.S. manufacturing. An industry-supported event, the 2014 event hosted more than students, teachers, administrators, and parents from more than 450 schools, from 34 states, including dozens of scout troops. http://www.IMTS.com/student

Learn more by visiting

http://rippl3d.com

https://windturbine.rippl3d.com

Contact Info:

Owen Larson          Bill Macy
636.244.9000          636.294.9109
owen@rippl3d.com        bill@rippl3d.com