From welfare to NASA: Detroit woman inspires
Samantha Snabes was born and raised in Detroit. She lived on welfare as a child and moved on to the University of Michigan which eventually led to a job at NASA. Now that she's done helping with space exploration, she's bringing her talents back down to earth and working to change the world. With a printer.
Samantha grew up relatively poor in Westland. She went to the U-M Dearborn and then made her way to National Aeronautics and Space Administration. As in NASA. After a while there, she decided to make copiers...3D copiers.
"I quit my job at NASA for the Gigabot," she said.
The creation is now sold in over 40 countries and has $2 million in sales. But what does it do?
"You make a drawing in three dimensions of something and this will make that trhree dimensional drawing and making it something physical," Matt Roush from the Engineering Society of Detroit said.
Things like a an engine block, a stool, a ukulele and more. Samantha says this is only the beginning.
"We want you to take the Starbucks lid...a water bottle, a plastic bag, a milk jug, and be able to print from your own waste," she said. "You're only limited by imagination. So how creative are you?
Lawrence Tech just bought int. They got three of them and Deen of the College of Architecture and Design says the uses are endless.
"You can only imagine the ways in which students in the degree programs can utilize this to create inventions and again to offer ways in which we produce things at a much more manageable cost," Amy Deines said.
They're relatively affordable, too, and apparently easy to assemble, so says the former NASA employee.
"It's just under $6k for the kit, 9K fully assembled. It takes you about a week and 2 cases of beer to put it together," Samantha said.