IMD students use collaboratory

3D Printed Head

side view of 3D head after printing

One of our most interesting capstone projects for the Spring 2022 quarter was Simon Uincini’s lifesize talking head! This isn’t just any old plastic head either, it is a head modeled after the creator, Simon himself. After using one of the Collaboratory’s Shining 3D Scanners, Simmon digitized his entire face. And after a few more edits to the digital head, Simon decided to bring his creation to life.

With his design ready, Simmon preloaded his Life Size head model onto one of our most powerful 3D printers, the Ultimaker S5. The print took over six whole days to finish, making it our longest print ever in Collaboratory. After the prints completion, all that needed to be done was add a speaker device and a camera onto the model.

This capstone project was designed to not only take audio input but visual input as well. It can read faces and respond accordingly. All the dialogue spoken by the head is generated using DeepAI, to make all conversations different and unique.

Simon and his efforts to create this Capstone project really shows what happens when you mix dedication and advanced technology. Seeing what this man can do, it’s only a matter of time before we see the amazing creations he will construct for us in the future.

Team Abyssal

Another IMD capstone team, Team Abyssal, used the space regularly to work together, including filming the video portions for their project. They created pieces of their art installation project before they set it up publicly for their final presentations. ABYSSAL is an immersive, multi-sensory art installation that utilizes video projections, sound, and sculptures to create a unique experience of a deep sea habitat to foster curiosity and empathy for ocean ecosystems. Learn more about the Team Abyssal project.


Student team that created ABYSSAL: Katharina Brinschwitz, Josephine Hartono,
Justina Le, Kenneth Nguyen, and Brandon Mach.

students working on floor making their project, final project is a walk-in underwater exhibit