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New 3D Printer Brings Full Color Artwork to Life
Most 3D printers let you create colorful objects, provided that you're willing to print out multiple pieces and connect them to each other. Artists and designers craving a little more variety in their palettes may want to take a look at the ProDesk3D printer, which can print in full color like an inkjet.
The ProDesk3D comes courtesy of botObjects, a New York- and London-based company that aims to deliver a consumer printer that's both feature-rich and affordable.
"Most [3D desktop printers] will extrude one color," Martin Warner, CEO and co-founder of botObjects, told TechNewsDaily. Warner explained that 3D printers employ technology called "extrusion heads," which emit filaments of different materials in the same way that inkjet printers produce ink.
"That allows you to have two or three predominant colors. We call those 'multicolor printers,'" Warner said. "A full color printer allows you to create your color of choice before you extrude." The ProDesk3D has two extrusion heads and provides five primary colors — including black — to allow for a much wider range of colors than the harsh pinks and muted whites that consumer-level 3D printers have traditionally used.
The ProDesk3D's creations possess fine detail in addition to rich color. "The highest resolution — the most accurate so far — had been 100 microns," Warner said, referring to how granular a layer on a printed object could be. "We can print at 25 microns, [which gives a] smooth finish."
Printing objects with realistic color gradation and no rough edges could be a boon not only for 3D printing enthusiasts, but for everyday consumers. "One of the interesting areas [for expansion] is at home. We're calling it home utility replacement," said Mike Duma, chief technology officer and co-founder of botObjects. "When you think about lightbulbs or anything with a plastic fixture, these things can be printed."
Changing lightbulbs may not be much fun, but games are. "Gaming is huge," Duma said. "Gaming consoles will start to release blueprints for their controllers." Video game controllers are sophisticated objects, and the ability to print unique controllers could be useful not only for design enthusiasts, but also for children, disabled players or pro gamers, for whom the traditional button setup may prove inefficient.
Home users may also find the device useful for building toys (RC cars are already a popular choice) and household objects that you never need until you need them, like picture frames and bookends. At 25-micron accuracy, people could even print dentures with firm enough material (although they should probably avoid the color printing feature). [See also: 10 Incredible 3-D Printed Products]
The most exciting development that consumer-grade 3D printers could foster, Duma and Warner said, is the advent of household robots.
"[3D printing] enables you to enter that world of robotics, which was always very difficult to get into," Duma said. If users can iterate designs and develop prototypes rapidly, they could develop simple, functional robots for household tasks. "That really makes robotics accessible to the end-user, to the consumer, to the average person in the home."
Warner believes that 3D printing will make waves in the tech world similar to desktop PCs in the 80s and tablets in the last few years. "Tech is about to take a huge leap," he said. "I've never seen the advent of a new era like 3D desktop printing where the opportunities are exponential, both in terms of breadth and depth."
Source: http://www.technewsdaily.com/18174-prodesk3d-brings-color-artwork.html
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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