This episode of DNews is brought to you by Canon PIXMA Pro professional inkjet printers:
Exactly as you envisioned.
3D printers have come a long way just in the last few months; we're getting to a point
where I'm going to have to ask "what CAN'T we print?"
Printing is not dead.
Not at all.
Midway through the last century, futurists began to predict the death of paper, and they're
still wrong.
In fact, we seem to be in a new industrial age, where tiny factories can sit on your
desk next to your paperclips…
I definitely don't have paperclips anymore.
3D printing has spurred a whole new creative generation of makers.
People who design and "print" their own creations to satisfy curiosity, specific needs or even
SCIENCE!
3D printers are getting more varied, last month, the World Advanced Saving Project unveiled
a printing robot which constructs whole houses out of materials readily available in impoverished
countries: mud and natural fibers.
Construction of this type has been common for the millenia, and because the robot uses
triangles instead of solid bricks, the houses are both stronger, and require less mud.
It can build houses 10 feet (3M) tall using only materials found on site -- so they're
FREE.
They say they got inspired by the potter wasp, which builds it's houses of mud and fibers.
YET ANOTHER BIOMIMICRY EXAMPLE!
Speaking of copying nature though, a lot of the 3D printing craze is prosthetics.
Also last month, this 3D printed prosthetic hand was created by the Range of Motion Project
who work in Guatemala and Ecuador.
Using 3D printers and electromyographic electronics, students from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
can create a prosthetic hand that senses the sensory feedback from the brain and translates
it to movement in the hand.
It can be custom created in a little over a day for about 270 bucks and, with use, learns
more than the five motions in its original programming.
The researchers say thanks to 3D printing technology, they were able to prototype YEARS
sooner than with traditional manufacturing.
It can even respond with electrical signals back into the ARM!!
It's not all plastic hands and mud houses though.
Remember when they spent years learning to grow ears on the backs of rats?
Now, researchers at University College London, 3D print structures using biological 'ink.'
Using the ear as an example, they can scan an ear, and then use a 3D printer -- create
a plastic cellular scaffold.
They implant the scaffold under the skin of the patient's arm, skin grows over it and
fills in the space with blood vessels and tissue.
The ear is then attached to the side of the head!
Bam!
3D printed ear!
They believe it won't be too long before people can print the organs without implanting them
first.
They can already grow some biological tissues in the lab, included bone, skin and vascular
sections.
It won't be long now.
According to research firm Gartner, 3D printer sales are going to double each year for the
next three.
By 2018, there could be almost two-and-a-half million 3D printers out there.
This could be the tipping point, and the future so bright, I might have to print some shades.
We’d like to thank Canon for making this episode possible.
With Canon PIXMA Pro Professional inkjet printers, you can expect a level of quality and accuracy
that keeps each print true to your unique vision.
All backed by Canon's commitment to provide professionals with fast, high quality service
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Have you 3D printed?
Do you want to try it?
Send us your 3D printed creations!