Category Archives: News
A Look Back: 3D Printing in 2010 [Interactive Timeline]
2010 was a pivotal year in 3D printing technology. In an interactive timeline, TeamTeamUSA lists the key developments that moved the industry over the year.
Notably:
- January – HP announced a 3D printer
- January – First 3D printer featured at CES
- February – Apple sells 3D printed iPhone cases
- April/May – Shapeways introduces new materials, including glass and gold
- June – Lifesize King Tut Mummy printed
- July – 3D printed fashion
- November – 3D prints added to Smithsonian Collection
- November – Maker factory launches
- December – Thing-o-matic ships
- December – 3D printed flute
Check out the full timeline at Dipity.
Disrupting China: Interview with Horst Hörtner from Ars Electronica Futurelab
Austrian-native Horst Hörtner is a visionary in the 3D printing field and sees a disruptive future ahead. Hörtner is a founder and senior director of the Ars Electronica Futurelab, where innovations have ranged from foldable digital newspapers to car navigation systems.
Disrupting China?
Hörtner comments on the impact of 3D printing to the global supply chain:
In the short-run – about five to 10 years – 3D printing will change our way of how we produce things, it will change the logistics of the entire global production.
[The next big things] could hasten the demise of the traditional factory and manufacturing model that has dominated since the industrial revolution. The business model built around factories that make things – a product-driven business model – is under threat from many transformative forces; 3D printing not least of all.
Hörtner was in Brisbane, Australia this past weekend to share his views. Read more about this interview and his research at the Brisbane Times.
Fashion On Demand: 3D Printed Shoes by Melissas
Using flexible, proprietary plastics called Melflex, Melissas’ shoes are created on demand using 3D printing technology.
Fashion? Yes, fashion.
This example provides a glimpse of the future – how 3D printing will pervade every industry and change the way we manufacture consumer products. Imagine walking into a shoe store, picking out a style, getting your feet measured and then having shoes made to order while you sit comfortably with a glass of cucumber water and a magazine. It will happen.
Read more about Melissas’ shoes experiments in Green Fashion.
3D Printed Nano Objects: New World Record for Micro Printing
A team from the Vienna University of Technology set a new world record this week: 3D printed nano objects in just 4 minutes. Their process, called two-photon lithography, uses a focused laser to harden liquid resin.
Applications? Consider how this process could be used to make micro objects for biomedical research and treatment.
Photo above is a human figure smaller than a grain of sand. Photo below is a detailed cathedral about 50 microns in length.
Read more and see additional photos at Reuters’ World in Nano.
Fab Labs and Smart Cities: Barcelona
Fab Lab: Barcelona and Smart Cities: are we seeing societal change by way of democratization of manufacturing?
In an interview with Tomás Diez, director of the Fab Lab Barcelona project, the question was posed:
How can cities solve the need of providing more and more diverse services, in a scenario of cutting budgets, while taking advantage of the opportunities that “fabbing” bring to us? At the Fab City… how do you think that having a neighborhood fab lab would change people’s lives?
The response was quite profound:
This proposal consists on a fab city made up of an interconnected community of neighborhood fab labs. The venues’ goals would be to encourage entrepreneurship and interest in innovation that have already been present in Barcelona throughout centuries. As they see it, bringing factories back to cites will lead us through a new industrial revolution where production methods and social bonds will be transformed.
Read more in the full interview.
Barcelona image used under Creative Commons from Moyan_Brenn.
