Dec.3, 2012
(Images credit: Spuni)
Feeding baby is big challenge for parents, you get often messy baby faces, messy table and floor. Two MIT grads came up with a solution: They reinvent a new kind of baby spoon: Spuni.
Botha and Hardy discovered that most baby spoons are smaller versions of adult spoons, and they are not ergonomically engineered to help a baby transition from breast and bottle feeding to solids.
Botha and Hardy came up with Spuni, a unique "tulip" profile designed to trigger the instinctive latching reaction that babies develop during breast and bottle feeding. It allows a baby to suck food off the spoon with less spillover, and the redesigned shape and depth minimizes regurgitation and waste.
(Images credit: Spuni)
Using advanced CAD and 3D printing technology they worked through multiple stages of ergonomic, shape and weight iterations to refine the product comfortable for all to use.
3D printing is the best tool for making prototypes, but for massive production of spoons they will use a three-step injection-mold process. The rigid inner structure is made from colored Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE) with a softer over-molded transparent TPE outer material. These materials are dishwasher safe, non-toxic and Phthalate (BPA & BPS) and PVC free.
Botha and Hardy is raising $35,000 on Indiegogo for completing tooling design and fabrication, test run and manufacturing. They will offer a limited batch of 100 wood spoons that are digitally fabricated out of Osage Orange wood.
Spuni has partnered with a German manufacturer to make the first batch of commercial spoons for the United States and European markets. Their limited editions in wood and silver will be manufactured in Brooklyn, New York.
For people who are interested in having a test spoon, Spuni has started printing some 3D spoons on their brand new Makerbot Replicator 2 3D printer. So if you like to hold and touch such a prototype, you can contact them through their IndieGoGo page.
(Images credit: Spuni)
Source: techcrunch
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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