Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Awards Honor Innovations Changing Our World

BROOKLYN, N.Y.--The MakerBot® Digitizer™ Desktop 3D Scanner is receiving a Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award! Popular Mechanics just announced the winners of its ninth annual Breakthrough Awards, which recognizes the innovators and products that have advanced the fields of technology, medicine, space exploration, automotive design, and more. The honorees will be recognized in the November issue of Popular Mechanics, available on newsstands October 15, 2013, and celebrated at a day-long conference and gala awards ceremony at Hearst Tower in New York City on October 22. MakerBot will be at both the conference and the gala awards showcasing the MakerBot Digitizer.

The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner was recently introduced by MakerBot and is a fast and easy way for anyone to create 3D models. The MakerBot Digitizer has been available for pre-order since mid-August and just started shipping to customers the beginning of October.

"We are really proud to have the MakerBot Digitizer recognized as a Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award winner," noted Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot. "We've been working very hard on creating a desktop 3D scanner that we believe is an innovative technological breakthrough that sets the standard for affordable desktop 3D scanning. We focused on making the MakerBot Digitizer super easy to use, intuitive and simple; it is available for purchase at makerbot.com, so the public can now help us blaze a trail to the future." Pettis also noted that it is very satisfying to know that many of this year's Breakthrough Award winning products were prototyped on a MakerBot® Replicator® 2 Desktop 3D Printer, of which more than 30,000 are in the world today.

The MakerBot Digitizer takes a real-life object, scans it using a camera and two lasers, and creates a 3D digital file - without any need for design or 3D software experience. The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner is optimized for and works seamlessly with MakerBot's Replicator Desktop 3D Printers and MakerBot Thingiverse. The MakerBot Digitizer can be used in the office, manufacturing space, workshop, classroom, or in the home to jumpstart the modeling and prototyping process and create artworks, sculptures and figurines, as well as memorializing keepsakes and archiving. Just connect the MakerBot Digitizer to a laptop or computer and you are ready to digitize. The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner currently retails for $1,400.

The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner offers:

*Simple, yet sophisticated software to create clean, watertight 3D models with just two clicks

*A 3D digital design file in just minutes

*No design skills, 3D modeling or CAD expertise required to get started

*Outputs standard 3D design file formats that can be modified and improved in third-party 3D modeling programs, like Autodesk's free software MeshMixer

*Creates a 3D digital file to be printed on a MakerBot Replicator 2 Desktop 3D Printer and on other 3D printers

*Easily upload scans directly to MakerBot's Thingiverse.com, the community for discovering and sharing 3D printable things with more than 100,000 members

*Ability to digitize physical objects up to 8" in diameter and 8" tall and up to 3 kg (6.6 lbs.)

Popular Mechanics is also honoring Peter Diamandis, engineer, physician and entrepreneur, and best known as the founder of XPRIZE Foundation, for the Breakthrough Leadership Award, as well as 18 year-old Meghan Shea who will receive the Next Generation Award for her moringa-seed water filter, a water-filtration method which will potentially save lives in the world's poorest regions.

Other products receiving a Breakthrough Award are: Pebble Watch, Cub Cadet RZT-S Zero Mower, Other Machine Co. Othermill, Seiki 50-inch 4K TV, Thaimic Labs MYO, Boosted Boards Longboard, BMW 13, Xbox One, and Rust-Oleum NeverWet Liquid Repellent.

In selecting the candidates and winners of the 2013 Breakthrough Awards, the editors of Popular Mechanics canvassed a wide range of experts, including dozens of past Breakthrough Award winners, in fields ranging from aerospace and robotics to medicine and energy. Popular Mechanics editors tested hundreds of products in a wide range of categories throughout the year to arrive at the true game-changers for the Breakthrough product awards.

More information on this year's honorees can be found on the Popular Mechanics website.

About MakerBot

MakerBot, a subsidiary of Stratasys, Ltd., is leading the Next Industrial Revolution by setting the standards in reliable and affordable desktop 3D printing. Founded in 2009, MakerBot has built the largest installed base of desktop 3D printers sold to innovative and industry-leading customers worldwide, including engineers, architects, designers, educators and consumers. The MakerBot 3D Ecosystem drives accessibility and rapid adoption of 3D printing and includes: Thingiverse.com, the MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner, the MakerBot Replicator line of Desktop 3D Printers, MakerWare software, MakerCare, the MakerBot retail store, and strategic partnerships with top-tier brands. MakerBot has been honored with many accolades, including Popular Mechanics' "Overall Winner" for best 3D printer, Time Magazine's "Best Inventions of 2012," Popular Mechanics' "Editor's Choice Award," Popular Science's "Product of the Year," Fast Company's "One of the World's Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Consumer Electronics," and many more. Join the Next Industrial Revolution by following MakerBot at makerbot.com.

About Stratasys

Stratasys Ltd. (Nasdaq: SSYS), headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. and Rehovot, Israel, manufactures 3D printers and materials for prototyping and production. The company's patented FDM® and PolyJet® processes produce prototypes and manufactured goods directly from 3D CAD files or other 3D content. Systems include 3D printers for idea development, prototyping and direct digital manufacturing. Stratasys subsidiaries include MakerBot and Solidscape and the company operates the RedEye On Demand digital-manufacturing service. Stratasys has more than 1500 employees, holds over 500 granted or pending additive manufacturing patents globally, and has received more than 20 awards for its technology and leadership. Online at: stratasys.com or blog.stratasys.com.

About Popular Mechanics

Popular Mechanics empowers readers to navigate the increasingly complex, technological world around us. The magazine, published monthly by Hearst Magazines, inspires, instructs and influences 9 million curious readers. Their mindset-the hunger to know, the desire to investigate and learn-drives them to explore, experiment and experience a wide range of interests. Issues engage readers with breakthroughs in the latest innovations in science and technology; educates with informative how-to stories on vehicles, the home and digital technology; and motivates action with product reviews and comparison tests of the newest equipment and products. Popular Mechanics is also the No. 1-ranked men's monthly magazine when it comes to reaching an environmentally conscious audience. The brand is a 21st-century must-read, with a robust website (popularmechanics.com) and an award-winning tablet edition.