Cristian Gavrilă, Ana Sofia Crișan, David Prodan, Nicolas Guțu, Raul Urianu are the young inventors who made the first machine in Romania that turns Pet into plastic for 3D printers. The revolutionary invention of the students from Cluj brought them to the "100 Youngsters for the Development of Romania" campaign, launched by Dan Voiculescu Foundation for the Development of Romania.
Thanks to the "Reci-Pet" invention, plastic bottles have a new function: raw material for 3D printers. The device created by young people can be used by anyone, at home, at school or in the office. "ReciPet' needs just a few more steps to be approved and marketed. Cristian Gavrilă spoke of the need for a cleaner environment, and their invention could help a lot. So anyone could buy this small piece of equipment for 500 RON (€100) and use it at home.
"It's a machine for recycling plastic containers into filament for 3D printers. It all starts with a plastic bottle that has to be cut open and inserted into the machine, which will pass it through a heated element and form the round profile of the filament," said one of the young inventors, Cristian Gavrilă.
The gadget was created following a brainstorming session, and the youngsters shared their roles, claiming that it could even be used by robotics teams using 3D printers.
"We want to make our product open source, so customers can come up with improvements to it and basically they can change the final version," said Raul Urianu.
The revolutionary device can be used in different contexts. Robotics teams using 3D printers will get a very good quality material with "ReciPet".
The creation process took quite a month, two months and a bit, the costs were quite low, we took the cheapest products we could find. At the same time our machine is made of plastic filament and we try to make our machines out of recycled plastic", said Ana Crișan.
The young people were included in the "100 Youngsters for the Development of Romania" project, which aims to bring to the forefront the stories and achievements of Romania's most outstanding children and young people who, through their passion, dedication and talent, have managed to make a name for themselves at national and international level.
The 100 young people for the development of Romania will be included in the first catalogue of Romanian excellence, initiated by Dan Voiculescu Foundation for the Development of Romania.
"100 Youngsters for the Development of Romania" is the first project in the country to bring together talented and gifted young people in Romania. Applications for the project can be made on fundațiadanvoiculescu.ro. The 100 participants will be selected from the following categories: education, culture, innovation and sport. The campaign is dedicated to all Romanian children and young people between 5 and 35 years old, living in Romania or abroad.
