Another 3D Printed Proposal

Earlier we wrote of how an Objet employee created a special engagement ring using 3D printing and successfully proposed marriage with it. Now we're pointed to another similar scenario, this time involving 3D print service MyRobotNation. 

 

MyRobotNation is one of several small 3D print services that specialize in a particular genre. Of course, theirs is Robots! You can choose from a variety of Robot components (arms, legs, etc.) to cook up a custom robot of your own. They you can apply colors and stamps to finish the design before printing. 

 

That's where MyRobotNation user Jennifer's creativity came in: She put a special stamp on the front of the robot saying "Will You Marry Me?" The robot was wrapped up under the Christmas tree awaiting opening by boyfriend Tom on Christmas day. What happened? Just look at the image above and you'll figure it out.

  

Via MyRobotNation

My Robot Nation Lives

This past August we learned of a new specialized 3D print service under development, My Robot Nation. It specializes (obviously) in printed robots.  The service works much like 2D web-based composition tools and games, where you select parts from a library to build up your robot. 

 

My Robot Nation provides a variety of stickers, colors and other bits (rivets, plugs, eyes, hearts, switches, hats, etc.) you may attach to your personalized robot. One terrific feature is the ability to pose your robot by dragging sliders to twist the torso or raise/lower the arms. 

 

They don't explicitly say, but it appears they're using a ZCorp color 3D printer behind the scenes to produce these cute robots. 

 

Once you've finished designing your robot you select a size (ranging from 2 inches high for USD$17.99 to a big but not huge six inches at USD$169.00) and hit print. Oh, and pay, too!

 

Via My Robot Nation

My Robot Nation is Coming

Design News tells of a not-quite-opened 3D printing service: My Robot Nation. It's a joint venture between ZCorp, Kodama Studios and Offload Studios (one of ZCorp's print services clients). They're attempting to bridge the gap that exists in the 3D printing space right now: where are some great printable objects? Specifically, robots.

 

There's not much information about how My Robot Nation will operate, but we suspect it would be similar to other 3D print services that provide a means to customize objects within a limited range of options. Probably there will be collections of robot parts that can be assembled into, well, robots. Then you'd print them using the My Robot Nation print service (Offload Studios). The next thing you know, there's a robot in your mailbox. 

  

Via Design News and My Robot Nation

3D Printed Ornithopter Wings

Researchers at the Cornell Computational Synthesis Laboratory building a miniature ornithopter (that's a flying device that uses flapping wing motions for lift) had a problem: the wings were difficult to create due to their small size and mechanical requirements.  

 

The problem was solved by using 3D printing techniques to create the wings. The 3D printing approach also was substantially faster than previous methods: "reduced the time of a wing design cycle to a matter of minutes".

 

According to their paper's abstract:

 

An ornithopter with a mass of 3.89g has been constructed using the 3D printing technique and has demonstrated an 85-second passively stable untethered hovering flight. This flight exhibits the functional utility of printed materials for flapping wing experimentation and ornithopter construction and for understanding the mechanical principles underlying insect flight and control.

 

Via Cornell

Hexapod Emerges from 3D Printer

Matt Bunting is a student who's been interested in building robots for many years. Finally at the University of Arizona he was able to do so, partly by using the University's Dimension 3D printer. The very complex leg assemblies were printed in eleven hours, using a great deal of support material. The design was such that it was not possible to produce using conventional CNC tooling, but easy to do on the 3D printer. 

 

Adding electronics, sensors, software and a PlayStation 3 controller, Matt was able to get the amazing hexapod going. The hexapod learns how to move on it's own, and the results are, well, quite eerie to watch. Well done!'

 

Via YouTube and Dimension Printing

Wallpaper Magazine Awards "R-O-B" Best Builder Award

Normally we who follow the 3D printing world expect to see a (probably) beige printer-like box containing a steamy build chamber from which excellent 3D objects are extracted. But the R-O-B is a very different kind of additive "printer".

It's actually a full-scale industrial robot that's mounted inside a standard shipping container. The shipping container is dropped adjacent to the building site, and the side of the container swings open to reveal the R-O-B robotic arm. Then it begins to build.

 

Additive manufacturing in this case is a simple matter: the robotic arm merely picks up a standard block from its vast store, applies some cement and then carefully places (lays) the brick in the intended position. The process is repeated many times. Actually, an enormous number of times. Eventually the final structure emerges. 

 

We're tickled by this radical approach, which is essentially the same as traditional 3D printing, except it's a lot bigger. And slower. But the interesting angle is that you can build some incredibly interesting structures that might be quite difficult for carbon-based bricklayers to attempt. At least we would find it tricky. 

 

The video shows the R-O-B in place at New York City's Pike Street where it constructs an interesting wall over the course of some four weeks. The wall will be exhibited until July 2010. This is but one of several structures that it's built over the past year or so. The wall was devised by Swiss architects Gramazio & Kohler using technology developed by ETH Zurich.

 

We're wondering what this might lead to, as the question of 3D printing buildings seems to come up from time to time. However, R-O-B is likely a bit too slow to build larger structures. Its build chamber, erm, "build reach" would have to be extended as well. 

 

Via Wallpaper and dezeen (Hat tip to Andrew)

Printing the NanoSeeker

Once in a while we read another piece about 3D printing and it causes us to step back and take stock of what's really going on. This time it was an entry from Jon Hyland's blog, where he's been using a newly acquired 3D printer. Jon appears to be one who's pushing the edge of hobby tech by leveraging all the latest gear.

In his post (and subsequent posts on his blog) he explains how he's obtained his own Dimension uPrint 3D printer (it's one of the least expensive commercial models available today.) He's using it to print out various designs for his NanoSeeker prototype - that's a Micro AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle). Great idea, and we wish Jon all success. But then it struck us:

There's a guy using a home replicator to build robot submarines!

If it isn't the 21st century already, it must be close.

Via Jon's Place

"Fully Functional Biorobots"

 

Do you know about the new Biorobotics and Biometrics lab in Israel?

Founded in 2006 byDr. Alon Wolf, BRML, is a new lab in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology. The scope of work done in the BRML provides the framework for fundamental theories in kinematics and mechanism design with applications in Biomechanics, medical robotics and hyper Redundant mechanisms (snake robots)

Yes, that's right: SNAKE ROBOTS! They're combining robotics, 3D printing and millennia of snake motion evolution to create real snake robots. The video shows the snakes moving about in a not-quite-smooth, but eerily lifelike manner.

The 3D connection is that major portions of the snakes are built using 3D printing technology (from Objet). Dr. Wolf explains the advantages of using 3D printing for construction of the snakes: "just throw your parts" together, you don't have to worry as much about building parts, instead you focus on the repeatedly improving the design. We can't agree more - spend your time where it is most useful. Another advantage is the potential simplicity of mechanical design. By using Objet's multi-material printing capability, they are able to produce a far simpler design that uses solid yet flexible mechanics, instead of separate parts with hinges or bearings - which of course, tend to fail. Even better, these simpler parts can be printed "in one shot".

Via YouTube (Hat tip to Shimrit)