Aug 26, 2015 | By Alec

Few 3D printing stories are more fun or inspiring than those brought to us by young, enthusiastic and surprisingly clever children. Just a few weeks ago, we were therefore pleasantly surprised by a very cool and fun development by the eight-year-old aspiring programmer and maker Omkar Govil-Nair, who had developed his very own 3D printed O Watch smartwatch. While he and his dad already announced plans for a crowdfunding campaign at the time, they have now just launched on Kickstarter, where they are doing very well. Having only just launched, they have already gathered more than $9,000 in pledges, of a $15,000 goal.

To refresh your memories, Omkar is an enthusiastic eight year old, who has just arted in fourth grade this year and loves Star Wars, James Bond and badminton. But unlike most, he also loves working with Arduinos and 3D printing. But more than doing just a bit of tinkering, he has actually developed this cool-looking O Watch, an Arduino-based programmable smartwatch that is intended to give kids a bit of experience with programming and 3D design.

As Omkar explained to 3ders.org a few weeks ago, he was inspired by all the buzz around smartwatches. ‘I wanted one for myself. I was doing some Arduino project and decided to make my watch using Arduino compatible components. I thought it will be great if other kids can also make their own watches and that is how the idea was created,’ he said.

And the O Watch is perfect for that, as it essentially is an Arduino IDE that can be programmed with a number of fun applications. ‘You can program it to function as a watch with date and time functions from Arduino, you can make games and apps and with the sensor board model you can also measure temperature, humidity, pressure as well as make a compass,’ he explains. All 3D printed parts were completed on a Printrbot Simple Metal and in PLA, with a case taking anywhere between twenty and forty-five minutes to 3D print depending on the settings used.

This watch has everything it needs to be a fun educational tool for children and adults of all ages, so it’s fantastic to hear that they have indeed launched a Kickstarter campaign. Currently available are two kits: the standard, with Color OLED Screen with integrated Arduino Zero based main processor board, LiPo battery, 3D printed watch case and para-cord band. Available in four colors (Orange, Yellow, Pink, Blue). And then there’s the Sensor Kit, that also includes one stackable sensor board with integrated 3 axis compass, a temperature/humidity sensor and a barometric pressure sensor.

If you’re interested, head over to Kickstarter here. A pledge of$69 or more is enough to get your hands on the basic 3D printed O Watch kit.


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