Rapid Ready Roundup: Manufacturing Innovation Institutes, MakerBot, 3D Medical and Zelda
In the course of my diligent efforts to keep you good people up to date on the state of additive manufacturing (AM), I come across many interesting news items. I’ll gather them up every so often and present them in a Rapid Ready Roundup (like this one). You can find the last Roundup here.
Let’s start this Roundup with an update from the US government about its manufacturing initiative. Apparently NAMII has been considered a success, as the White House has announced the launch of competitions for three new manufacturing innovation institute sites. This represents $200 million in additional funding for the project and President Obama has continued to call for congress to approve the investment of $1 billion to complete 15 sites nationally. Continue reading
Rapid Ready Roundup: State Department, Printers for Peace, Food and Star Trek
In the course of my diligent efforts to keep you good people up to date on the state of additive manufacturing (AM), I come across many interesting news items. I’ll gather them up every so often and present them in a Rapid Ready Roundup (like this one). You can find the last Roundup here.
If you follow AM news you’ll almost certainly be aware of the controversy surrounding Defense Distributed’s successful firing of a 3D printed firearm. The US State Department apparently heard about it as well and sent the company a takedown order, along with a suggestion the “Liberator” breaks international gun control laws. Continue reading
Staples Bets on 3D Printing
While major news agencies have been running stories about additive manufacturing (AM) for a goodly amount of time now, you can still find plenty of people who have never heard of the technology. Unless your place of work uses a 3D printer or you are a technophile (or know one), the odds of running across an AM system in the wild isn’t all that great, even with some of the retail stores that have begun popping up. That might well be about to change.
Last December, Rapid Ready ran a short piece about a new partnership between Staples and Mcor Technologies that would bring 3D printers into the stores. The first Staples Experience Center featuring the Mcor Iris opened for business on April 29 in Almere, The Netherlands. Other locations are set to follow, including American stores. Continue reading
Barobo Offers 3D Printed Robot Kit
At this point, I think it’s fair to claim that additive manufacturing (AM) is a transformative technology. AM allows companies freedom of design that would be impossible with other forms of manufacturing, and through companies like Shapeways, can democratize on-demand manufacturing.
Robotics was (and is) another transformative technology, and while the promise of a robot servant in every home hasn’t quite materialized, there can be no question the technology has changed the face of manufacturing. Given the generally modular nature of robots, it was only a matter of time before AM and robotics joined forces, and that time is at hand. Continue reading
Rapid Ready Roundup: Kinect, Modular Lamp, Custom OUYA Console Case, and Really Old Cups
In the course of my diligent efforts to keep you good people up to date on the state of additive manufacturing (AM), I come across many interesting news items. I’ll gather them up every so often and present them in a Rapid Ready Roundup (like this one). You can find the last Roundup here.
Let’s start today’s Roundup with some 3D imaging news. In the land of hacked hardware, the Kinect is royalty. One common hack is to use the Kinect to record 3D images that can then be used in a number of ways, including 3D printing. Rather than fighting against this use, Microsoft has released Kinect for Windows SDK 1.7, which supports more accurate 3D capture. Continue reading
