In recent years, 3D printing has become a very important force in the technology industry. Perhaps you will feel that 3D print is still very distant, but it is a technology that will truly change our future life.
Growth ecosystem
With the help of the open source hardware DIY club, hackers, and MakerSpaces and Makerfaires that emerged in the global city, there are more and more people have come into contact with 3D printing technology every day. Wevolver, Fablabs, and the nearest 3DHUBS network in London and Amsterdam are very good examples.
Many top 3D modeling and design software including 123DDesign provide easy access, which also makes many people to start 3D printing in their own communities.
Since I believe that the 3D print will be flourished in the next few years, many companies have started building more 3D printing markets and service centers. Shapeways and Maker6 are the pioneers in the United States, while IMATERIALISE is a well-known brand in Europe (Belgium).
Many companies have also begun to focus on 3D printing, such as Amazon's recently launched 3D print shop, or US UPSStore.
Better material
Today, there are more than 40 manufacturers of ordinary commercial 3D printers, while entrepreneurship companies that are developing and selling consumer-grade 3D printers have exceeded 200, with a few hundred dollars.
3D printing materials are also increasing - from different types of wax or plastic, ceramics, steel, brass, bronze, silver, gold and platinum, etc.
3D some fun fields
Be
robot
French sculptor Gaellange Vin produced a real size robot in Moo in January 2012. This robot can be made of a home 3D printer with a 12x12-x 12 cm area and is considered to be a university, laboratory, and enthusiast development platform.
Earlier this year, Intel released Jimmy, and they used the walking robot designed for consumers. Intel will call Jimmy as a research robot, but they will launch a small model for consumers later this year, priced at $ 1600.
Jimmy is to make it to be made by 3D printing. Intel will provide 3D print drawings for free, but users also need to purchase a set of suits, which contains those that cannot be printed, including motor and Intel Edison processors. Intel hopes to reduce Jimmy's price below $ 1,000.
architecture
Contourcrafting is a layered manufacturing technology developed by Dr. Behrokhkhoshnevis, University of South California. This technology has great potential to automate the overall structure and sub-component construction.
By using this approach, a single floor or a plurality of different designed houses can be completed one-time automatic construction, each house is embedded in all necessary circuits, water pipes and air conditioning pipes.
Earlier this year, domestic Yingcheng Decoration Design Engineering uses 3D printing technology to build 10 single-layer housing in 1 day. Comparing more traditional construction, 3D printing is a cheaper, faster and safer alternative.
These houses are built in Shanghai from 4 vast 3D printers, each of which is 10x6.6 meters, and the wall of the house is built from the material mixed by cement and construction garbage. This new 3D printing mechanism is not only environmentally friendly, but also low cost.
The UK's D-Shape is a company focusing on Freeformarchitectural3D, they can print things below 6x6 meters, such as park bench, pavilions, color marble roads, fountains, small swimming pools, home and playground facilities.
Finally, EmergeObjects realize that the use of 3D printing should not be limited to external support of the production building. In fact, this company has decided to focus the R & D focused on the internal decor of the building and design. They are all renewable and innovative materials such as cement polymers and salt polymers.
design
Amsterdam's EricklareEnBeek studio is exploring 3D printed organisms, such as mycelium, and a bridal network, combined with local raw materials to create a bacterial chair such as carbon footprints.
Related Reading:
Gigabit electric cat, I want to say that you love you!
3D printing Jimmy robot, using Intel Edison development board
You must know, quietly arrived source hardware
The challenges and achievements of open source hardware projects
Desktop open source SLS 3D printer is coming soon
Fashion
Many fashion designers are currently experimenting through 3D printing to make a variety of clothes and pairs, such as hats, skirts, shoes and jewelry. Irisvanherpen showed some interesting designs. Last year, Bradleyrothenberg also made some 3D printing costumes for Victoria's secret fashion exhibition.
InvisiBelightNetwork made a bracelet called Nu as a king. Boston's Design Studio Nervousysystem also launched the jewelry series and supporting desktop 3D printer applications.
The London designer SilviaWeidenbach combines 3D printing technology and traditional production process to make a special necklace. Nike's 3D print football shoes VAPORHYPERAGILITYCLEAT will bring innovative and new levels that are brought by the flexibility of athletes. In order to better help athletes, Nike is adding to the production process of the footwear product through 3D printing techniques.
The MINK3D printer allows users to select any color from the web or in the real world, and print this color into blush, eye shadow, lip gloss or any other type of makeup using simple software.
car
3D Printing in the latest 007 movie "Basic Crisis" has begun to show this technology how can be applied to the entertainment industry.
Today's automotive vendors mainly put 3D print applications in concepts and experiments. Designers erikmelldahl and BMW cooperated to make 3D print car Maasaica; while London designer Nirsiegel proposed a more avant-garde concept: 3D print car that can be assembled in front of the buyer.
Mercedes announced that they are considering using 3D printing parts to make 2018 S-class models - not only concept model, but also include an interior of mass production models.
It is also worth noting that the Workers of the BMW German factory have been using the "super thumb" of the 3D printer, which can be used to reduce the pressure they receive when assembled the car parts.
In the distant future, we may use 3D printing to make a car, then download the automatic driving system of Google to go to the way.
entertainment
Earlier this year, Marvel Studio federated 3DPlusme showed a unique printer on San Diego Anime Exhibition. It can scan your facial features and then print you into Marvel's superhero based on your choice.
Art
We can already see a large number of 3D print artworks and sculptures. This article will focus on the introduction of high museums and Fuji in Belgian cooperation projects.
The cooperation between the two sides is Relievo, and the content is a three-dimensional copying of the masterpiece of Van Gogh. These replicas maintained the original size, color, brightness, and texture to reach the ultimate art copy.
For example, the replica of "Sunflower" captures the direction and strength of Van Gogh, and 32 different yellow. Van Gogh Museum sells these replicas with $ 34,000.
food
One of 3D printed most exciting fields is food. Last year, we have seen a lot of 3D "food" printers, such as Foodini and Candy on the crowdfunding platform. By changing the form, color and taste, 3dsystems developed Sugarlabs to experiment with new ways to consume sugar and cake. Chocedge is also the same device, but the raw material is replaced with chocolate.
Italian vendor Barilla plans to equip 3D food printers for every restaurant in the future. The customer then allows yourself to design the 3D printing italian to make completed in a few minutes.
3D fruit printers developed by DoveTailed from Cambridge, can use molecular cuventing techniques called Specification to make fruits according to user requirements. By synthesizing different flavors of drops, users will combine their own flavors as they want.
The audience of this technology includes chefs, gourmet enthusiasts, and people who are interested in creative experience. It does not require any knowledge related to cooking or molecular dishes, users can quickly make fresh and organic 3D fruits.
healthy
One of the most obvious uses of 3D printing in the medical field is to make bone, cartilage alternatives, and medical equipment. This application has made great progress, and many hospitals are now useful in their daily work.
Earlier this year, neurosurgeons in Utrecht Medical Center, Netherlands, successfully implanted 3D printed skulls.
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering LawrenceBonassar and Wellcombery Medical College worked together to develop an artificial ear made by 3D printing and injection molds. Scientists from Princeton University also uses ready-made print tools to make work "bionic" ear, can hear radio frequencies that transcend people's ear listening range.
Organovo claims to make liver through 3D printing at some point this year. Researchers have already printed dozens of different biological cells, and once the printing method of these organ intravascular networks can be improved, innovation in this field will present explosive growth. The pattern of medical fields will have a thorough change in this 10th year.
Doctors and scientists in the Wickn Renewable Medicine Institute have initially successfully cultivated the organs cultivated in the laboratory such as the human body. Now, this team is developing more than 30 different alternative tissues and organs, as well as the treatment of cells that can be thoroughly cured.
Optimistic, this technology can be a common means of saving life after 4 years.
What about the future of 3D printing?
According to the recently announced recently of Gartner, 3D print is evolving rapidly, although many of the technologies in the mainstream market still have 5-10 years. Compared to consumer adoption, commercial and medical fields will be faster than 3D printing technology, because there is a more urgent application direction among these two fields.
At the same time, we will see more quality and different materials, and the speed and consumption of 3D printers will also be improved. Due to the convenience of making items, the 3D printer will have more and more appear in the classroom. When the consumer market is ready to take off, we may also see Apple, Amazon or Google launched its own 3D printer.
Related Reading:
Gigabit electric cat, I want to say that you love you!
3D printing Jimmy robot, using Intel Edison development board
You must know, quietly arrived source hardware
The challenges and achievements of open source hardware projects
Desktop open source SLS 3D printer is coming soon
Our other product:
