The Colorado Academy Upper School Robotics Club is celebrating success with the construction of a 3D Printer, and the printing of its first three-dimensional object. According to club member and CA Senior Alex Mault, the club members spent two months constructing the printer from a kit. Now up and running, Mault tested the Maker-Bot “Thing-o-Matic” printer. He says the club has plans for a “public printing” to demonstrate the creation of a miniature racecar. Its manufacturers claim the MakerBot printer is a breakthrough in 3D printing technology, and has the ability to print one object after another, say for example, an entire chess set. The printer stands about a foot square, and it lays down layers of honeycombed ABS plastic onto a printing platform. It whirs, buzzes, and hums as the objects slowly take shape. Users design their own patterns including a long list of x and y coordinates, or they can pick from hundreds available on the Thingiverse website. “I’m so excited that so many students here are interested in this kind of technology,” says Mault. “I’m just sad that I’ll be graduating and leaving CA with all of this great stuff going on,” he says.