Obsoleting Barbie

[Tex]

Imagine a soldier/murderer on a distant battlefield that experiences an equipment malfunction, either his weapon isn’t working properly or an essential piece of field gear broke. He runs back to his forward operating base, walks into a tent where a 3-D printer is set up. He uploads the dimensions of the broken piece of his equipment that broke, hits print, and a few minutes later he has his gear up and functioning again. No, this is not some whimsical science fiction fantasy, at least according to the Pentagon. more

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Last summer we contemplated the idea that China could be harmed by 3D printing, based on a post in Forbes. The idea was that legions of inexpensive Asian workers who've been displacing expensive North American workers would have the tables turned when 3D printing takes hold in North America, permitting consumers to simply print their own stuff.

We predicted some level of that effect would eventually occur, but not anytime soon. Now we see another view from Innovation News Daily, who say:

Undoubtedly, 3-D printing will profoundly affect how consumers obtain the objects they desire. But projections about 3-D printing replacing all manufacturing ignore how economies of scale help bring down the cost of the many complex raw materials used in the most highly coveted products. A 3-D printer may excrete a great plastic mug or metallic ring, but until they can spit out an iPad or a car, most traditional factories won't go anywhere.

This is absolutely correct; true consumer products, other than basic, mono-material items have yet to emerge from today's replicators. We're optimistic that developments will eventually make this possible, to some degree. Why? Because engineers are busily and continually working on improving the 3D print experience by developing the ability to print in color, print multiple materials with different properties and even print electronics. No, it can't be practically done yet. But it's all being deeply investigated.

But what about economies of scale? That's true, individual 3D printers will always be more expensive to produce a given item than a mass production operation - with one assumption: all items are the same. When the world begins to prefer exact fits with extreme customization, we'll see a growing niche in personally printed products.

However, if this vision comes to pass there will be decreased need for both Asian and North American factory workers. Time to train more designers?

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Inexpensive home-brewed prostheses created using 3D printers







According to the International Society of Prosthetics and Orthotics (ISPO), there are some 32 million amputees in the world today, around 80 percent (25 million) of whom live in developing countries where only five percent have been fitted with an artificial limb. It is estimated that 200,000 people lost a limb as a result of the 2010 Haiti earthquake alone. Two low-cost, printable prostheses highlight the potential impact 3D printing could have on the quality of life for millions as the technology becomes more accessible around the world.



When Ivan Owen from Washington State posted a video of his handmade mechanical hand prop on YouTube, little did he expect that he would be contacted by Richard Van As, a South African amputee and fellow craftsman living 10,000 miles away. Together, they designed and built a working prosthetic finger for Richard that we covered last October. After raising money to build more prototypes, the two went on to complete an entire prosthetic hand for a young boy named Liam who was born without fingers on his right hand, the design of which they are sharing online free of charge.

After only a few days, five-year-old Liam had already become proficient at grasping small objects with his "Robohand," which cost his family nothing. The mechanical fingers were made using a Replicator 2 3D printer and are attached to a brace that is worn over Liam's hand. The fingers are controlled via cables and return bungees, which, while relatively low-tech, provide a functional and comfortable to wear prosthesis. The design can also be scaled for other individuals using Makerware software.

"We are now expanding our efforts to share the knowledge we've obtained freely with everyone as well as building more devices for people in need at no cost," Owen says. "All of our designs are being released into the public domain and we want to build prosthetics at no cost to people who need them. To do this we are relying on donations and a key component of that is finding ways to share our story across the globe."

The design of Liam’s Robohand is available for free on Thingiverse with a public-domain license.

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Defense Distributed, the project that aims to release an open-source, print-it-yourself assault rifle, has succeeded in 3D-printing a high-capacity AR-15 magazine, dubbed Cuomo. The magazine has so far survived the firing of 342 rounds — 227 of which were in full auto mode.



You might think that Cuomo is an odd name for a gun magazine, but in actual fact it’s DefDist’s way of attacking the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, who supports gun control. In January, a law was passed in New York that restricts magazines to seven bullets — and thus a 30-bullet magazine called Cuomo is DefDist’s way of sticking it to the man. January also saw New York congressman Steve Israel stating that he wanted to add a provision to the Undetectable Firearms Act that outlaws 3D-printed gun parts.





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[Tex]

bump, hey team the above video is a glismps of the future, comments very welcome.

[Tex]