Crowd Funding Dump

So, apparently the JOBS Act officially sanctioned “crowdfunding” (yes it’s a real word now).

The catch is that “investors” can only work with “issuers” through the services of a “portal” which has to be registered with the SEC. What this means is that Indiegogo and Kickstarter will have some competition and we’re about to see a lot more innovative ideas pitched (more or less) directly to the public.

Anywho…that’s fascinating and all…but what will it do for open source hardware? I dunno; lets find out. Assuming there’s enough activity (seems like a safe assumption) the Crowd Funding Dump (CFD) will become a regular feature on Openalia.

Kickstarter

• B9Creator – A High Resolution 3D Printer by Michael Joyce

  • $84,667 of $50,000 with 31 days left. FUNDED!
  • Most 3D printers use plastic deposition. This one uses photo-initiated polymer resin. Michael combined a standard projector, some stepper motors, and some (newly developed?) resin that allows you to print high-resolution plastic models with basically no support structure. This one could be really popular with all the artists out there.
  • He promises to open source the design after obligations to supporters are met.

• Bukobot 3D Printer – Affordable 3D with No Compromises by Diego Porqueras

  • $43,582 of $42,000 with 11 days left. FUNDED!
  • This is one of the aforementioned fused filament 3D printers. It looks like a RepRap derivative (they pretty much all are).
  • It is open source.

• Printxel 3D Printer Beta Kit  by Adjunct Engineering LLC

  • $7,874 of $7,500 with 19 days left. FUNDED!
  • Another filament-based 3D printer, although the design of this one is more of a departure from the norm.
  • I’m not sure if it’s open source.

• Open Source Tracking Device by DSS Circuits

  • $28,155 of $10,000 with 15 days left. FUNDED!
  • Not a 3D printer! This little guy is a deck-of-cards-sized GPS-over-cell-phone tracking device. Just plug in a SIM card, a small antenna and a battery, then hide it somewhere. To find out where it’s at you send it a text message and it replies with a link to Google Maps.
  • He promises to open source it.

Indiegogo

• Open Source Braille Display by David Pankhurst

  • $890 of $1,500 with 0 days left. Not funded, but it’s a really cool idea.
  • This is a cheap, open source version of a physical display that can “show” blind people text.

• C3: The 100 mpg, Open Source, Comfy Commuter Car by Team Wikispeed

  • $949 of $52,500 with 62 days left.
  • This is a modular car that gets 100 miles per gallon, is being open sourced by Open Source Ecology, and is basically just all-around awesome.

• Arduino Simulator – An open source circuit simulator for Arduino by Santiago G.

  • $30 of $4,500 with 43 days left.
  • Santiago has the basics of the circuit simulator working. Now he wants some help getting over the hump and incorporating Arduino hardware into the simulator. With this the OSH community could simplify and cheapify the process of prototyping new circuit boards.

• The Kontinuum Garden – an open source rotate-and-drain hydroponic garden by Mads & Jeppe Rasmussen

  • $575 of $8,000 with 35 days left.
  • Not only do they want to design an open source, hands-off magical hydroponic garden, they want to FIRST build a 3D printer with a giant build area to print the parts…to be honest I’m not entirely sure why they can’t just make the garden out of regular materials, or how useful the design files will be when you need a giant 3D printer to print them…but, hey, giant 3D printer and magical garden. It’s two OSH projects for the price of one.