The future of 3D printing
We’ve already alluded to a few uses for 3D printing — prototyping, making stuff at home — but it’s worth diving into some of the crazier things that 3D printing is capable of now, and what it will be capable of in the future.
3D printers can be used to create titanium aircraft parts, human bones, complex, nano-scale machines, and more. In the future, it’s fairly safe to assume that we’ll be able to manufacture almost anything with a 3D printer — and everything we can’t make with a printer (clothes, textiles), automated CNC machines, or something like them, will take care of. Ultimately, 3D printers might also be the key to matter replicators, just like in Star Trek. It’s important to note that we already have very accurate tools for creating 3D models of existing objects; we have the ability to scan a cup, and then create an exact copy using a 3D printer.
Eventually, one day, you will walk up to a 3D printer and say “make me an iPad,” and it will make you an iPad. If we can create 3D printers with atomic-level resolution, they might also usher in another Star Trek gadget: teleporters. There’s also the (rather worrying?) fact that many commercial printers are labeled as “self-replicating,” in that they’re capable of printing their own replacement parts. In other words, if we gave a 3D printer some kind of artificial intelligence, who knows what it would into.
We’ve already alluded to a few uses for 3D printing — prototyping, making stuff at home — but it’s worth diving into some of the crazier things that 3D printing is capable of now, and what it will be capable of in the future.3D printers can be used to create titanium aircraft parts, human bones, complex, nano-scale machines, and more. In the future, it’s fairly safe to assume that we’ll be able to manufacture almost anything with a 3D printer — and everything we can’t make with a printer (clothes, textiles), automated CNC machines, or something like them, will take care of. Ultimately, 3D printers might also be the key to matter replicators, just like in Star Trek. It’s important to note that we already have very accurate tools for creating 3D models of existing objects; we have the ability to scan a cup, and then create an exact copy using a 3D printer.
Eventually, one day, you will walk up to a 3D printer and say “make me an iPad,” and it will make you an iPad. If we can create 3D printers with atomic-level resolution, they might also usher in another Star Trek gadget: teleporters. There’s also the (rather worrying?) fact that many commercial printers are labeled as “self-replicating,” in that they’re capable of printing their own replacement parts. In other words, if we gave a 3D printer some kind of artificial intelligence, who knows what it would into.
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