There is always an awkward moment in FTC when someone comes up with an idea to solve a problem and nobody can really picture the solution that they proposed in their head. In order to solve this problem and eliminate these awkward moments teams use sketches to convey their ideas so everybody can understand what they are thinking about. Sketching is a very important part of the design process and the more realistic you can make things look while sketching them the better the sketch. One element that sketches lack is a third dimension. Sketches are done on flat pieces of paper, and one has to imagine what the object or mechanism would look like in three dimensions. One company has developed a pen that can sketch in three dimensions. The pen is called LIX, and it is based off of the same principle that makes 3D printers work. The pen heats up a plastic filament that is fed through its base. The filament is then fed out the end of the pen and onto the surface that you are drawing on. The plastic is pretty sticky and will hold onto just about anything. You can use the pen to draw 3D objects such as a box. Here is a video that highlights the features of the pen.
The pen is obviously still in the works and is being improved upon every day. At this moment it can only be used to sketch out pretty simple 3D models, but it is not developed enough to sketch out things such as gears. Hopefully this technology continues to improve so it can be used to help people develop solutions to simple and complex problems around the world!
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