True 3D Scanners for Phones?

Developments at MIT by professor Vivek Goyal may lead to very inexpensive and ubiquitous 3D scanning equipment, perhaps even embedded in your mobile phone. A dream for many 3D printer owners is the ability to capture 3D shapes efficiently. Today one must use very expensive 3D scanners or be satisfied with rudimentary solutions such as jury-rigged Microsoft Kinects. 

 

But Goyal's work may change things. The problem is to collect distance information for each and every pixel in an image, from which a 3D model can be constructed. Typical solutions of today involve multiple or moving lasers that time light pulses to calculate distances. The MIT team discovered a way to use a single light detector that reduces the number of light pulses by 95%. Adding in some additional mathematics permits resolution of as little as 2mm. 

 

Now, imagine a world where one could quickly capture 3D models just by pointing your mobile phone at a stationary object. An app could quickly send that model off to a 3D print service or perhaps your home 3D printer, thus reproducing the object by the time you get home!

 

Via MIT and PhysOrg

One Blue Ring

The guys at Open3DP seem to have made a breakthrough in their quest to develop glass-based 3D printing. Every week they seem to make progress, and this week we see a "semi translucent blue glass ring". 

 

There's no details on their blog to describe how they managed to create this magical item, but if this is the future of glass printing, we like it a lot. Color 3D printing is wonderful - but translucent glass colored printing is simply stunning. We can imagine a plethora of applications for this, not the least of which will be jewelry. 

 

Well done, Open3DP! (Does it make you invisible?)

 

Via Open3DP (Hat tip to Mark)

Flying With Objet

Objet 3D printing technology is being used at the University of Maryland's A. James Clark School of Engineering to produce a Robotic Samara - a micro unmanned aerial system (UAS). The school focuses on advanced propulsion, composites and hypersonics for potential alternate modes of flight for military applications:

 

Micro/Nano Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) are an emerging class of vehicles uniquely suited to performing covert missions. Autonomy is an essential aspect of the intended function of UAS, and development of a dynamic model will enable control and state estimation algorithm synthesis. 

 

The 3D printing technology permitted very rapid turnaround of numerous prototypes, making the development process significantly faster (and cheaper, too). This was necessary as the project sought a unique flight mode based on nature:

 

To that end, a linear model for the heave dynamics of a mechanical samara (winged seed) in hovering flight was identified from data collected external to the vehicle by a visual tracking system. 

 

That's right - they mimicked the aerodynamics of Maple tree seeds. One can imagine the amount of trial and error involved in this venture - and how effective quick 3D prints would be as different designs were repeatedly attempted. 

Via UofMaryland and Product Design & Development (Hat tip to Rachel)

The MIT Food Printer

MIT's Fluid Interfaces Group is working on the design of a concept device that if made popular, would revolutionize how we cook, eat and even socialize.

The device shown above (and don't get your hopes up, that's merely a conceptual image) would store a variety of raw food elements in cartridges. The cartridges would be swapped into the print head, which can hold several simultaneously. A 3D model, or "recipe" would drive the head to the right spots to deposit juicy material in a delicious pattern.

This "personal food factory" implies many things:

• A new (or enhanced) 3D data format would have to be designed to accommodate for the new food and cooking oriented features - heat sequences, wait times, etc.
  
• An ecosystem of recipe repositories would erupt, complete with rating systems, images and taste tests. And then: Pirate Food!
• A highly competitive industry providing raw food materials would emerge, likely starting from home food designers, but moving up to industrial scale operations, too
• Grocery store shelves would be stocked with Tassimo-like food factory cartridges, perhaps organized into "meal kits" containing all the ingredients and recipe files for themed events. We'd probably like the bean burrito package
  
• iPhone apps would permit selection of meals remotely, allowing one to eat immediately after arriving home

And that's not all. We can imagine digital food would fundamentally alter remote meetings and teleconferences too, when you can eat the same dainties as they folks on the other end.

Ominous statement at the website: "This project is currently starting."

Via MIT

Glossy 3D Printing?

New developments are afoot in color sheen printing. Recently researchers at  Adobe Systems and Dartmouth college managed to create an inkjet printer capable of producing reflective surfaces in a variety of colors.

Their color thermal printer is "versatile enough to print many metallic inks and foils as well as standard inks." 

One issue they've encountered is a way to capture reflectivity information from objects, which would then be fed back into the printer for reproduction. How do you easily measure and capture reflectivity information?

But here's the part that interested us:

The goal is to combine the technique with 3D printing to create 3D objects that look more realistic

Imagine metallic-appearing surfaces on non-metallic objects. Or printing a MakerBot coin that actually looks like a coin. Or printing real coins. Well, perhaps not.

Via NewScientist

Real-Time 3D Scanning - With a WebCam!

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a breakthrough technique for vastly simplified 3D scanning. The system, called ProFORMA (Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition) uses 3D Delaunay tetrahedralisation to transform scanned points into a 3D surface mesh in real time by merely hand-turning an object in front of a webcam!

The video demonstrates the startling potential of this software, which theoretically could run on virtually any home computer. 

According to their paper:

ProFORMA uses a fixed video camera to allow on-line reconstruction of objects held in a user's hand. Partial models are generated very quickly and displayed instantly, allowing the user to plan how to manipulate the object's pose in order to generate additional views for reconstruction. We demonstrate how augmented reality can be used to assist the user in view planning, guiding the user to collect new keyframes from desirable views in order to complete and refine the model.

We'd like this rapid scan technique to eventually become a standard feature for home computers, as that would massively simplify some of the difficulties in consumer use of 3D systems.

Via Cambridge University Engineering Department and PhysOrg (Hat tip to Micah)

3D Printing Market to Hit $782M by 2013?

A recent report by ABI research suggests that the 3D printing market could reach heights of almost USD$800M by 2013. Is this possible? We think so - and here's why:

• The number of applications of 3D printing continues to increase. We've seen medical, artistic, manufacturing and other uses appear simply due to the creativity of makers worldwide, and every time a new use appears, a new set of folks are aware of the potential
• 3D printing capabilities continue to expand. We've recently seen printing in metal, multiple colors, more robust materials and improved resolution and build times. These will only attract more uses
• Costs of 3D printing continue to decrease. We have not yet hit the magic "it's cheap and easy enough for Mom to have one at home" level yet, but that's clearly going to happen within a few years
• Open source / hackers are now fully on the problem and are building radically new solutions to problems in the space - and at very low cost

All of these factors are sure to generate expansion of the market, and we believe the USD$782M is likely achievable. But after that how high will it go?

Via Reuters

http://www.flickr.com/photos/squeakymarmot/ / CC BY 2.0

Get Ready for Printed Electronics

We were all quite impressed when the RepRap printer managed to reproduce itself some months ago. But in fact the reproduction was only of its structural members, whereas the metal bits and electronics were not actually reproduced. No worries, it will eventually happen. Metal printing has emerged in several 3D print services, but what about the electronics? It's hard to do because conductive material typically has very high melting points - so high that it would burn or melt surrounding 3D printed material if you tried to print the wiring.

Recently a big step towards electronics printing occurred. Xerox has invented a new type of "Silver Ink", purportedly for 2D inkjet-style printing. However, we suspect this might also be ideal for 3D printers. Imagine an Objet printer (capable of handling two different print materials simultaneously) loaded with plastic and "silver ink". You could theoretically print objects with embedded (albeit simple) electronics. Well, wiring at least.

Via PhysOrg (Hat tip to Micah)