In this video, the University of Virginia’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering present “The Spring 2011 MAE4710 Mechtronics Final Project.” More affectionately known as the HooPrint.

This story is not so much about 3D printing technology, as it is about how the UAV students utilized 3D printing to create a 2D printer, with which the students were challenged to program it’s various motors in order to print interesting shapes.

All of the plastic parts were created using Dimension uPrint 3D printers in UVA’s new Rapid prototyping Lab.

What a grand time this is to be an engineering student. My daughter just graduated from Cal Poly’s Biomedical Engineering program (starting to look for work — hint, hint) and she was lucky enough to be able to work with Solidworks and 3D printers while designing and printing various medical devices. I’m a jealous dad who didn’t get to college myself, and would love to have been in her shoes!

h/t: Scoop.it