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Why 2014 is poised to be a breakout year for 3D printing
3D printing technology is becoming more ubiquitous by the day thanks to regular releases of new, cheaper and simpler printers.
What was once a novel market is beginning to poke out of its niche, though the tech certainly hasn't gained widespread adoption. Still, is 3D printing becoming a buyers market?
The short answer is yes. Throughout 2013 we saw an explosion of new 3D printers, some of which reached their lowest price points yet, such as the $199 (about £121/AU$217) QU-BD OneUp 3D. Admittedly, some assembly is required, but at a budget offering is certainly a sign of growing choice (and broader market reach) for the machinery.
With a sizeable contingent of more affordable next-gen printers launching with the help of resources like Kickstarter, 3D printing is beginning to take a plunge in the mainstream consumer market. There's still a long way to go before we're all printing whatever item we need from the comfort of home, but the groundwork is certainly lain for next year and beyond to see a boom in 3D printing.
In stores now
In the last year alone, MakerBot Replicator 2 machines found themselves on sale in Microsoft retail stores with Windows 8.1 support to boot. Staples, meanwhile, started carrying 3D Systems' Cube 3D printers in May.
One of the latest printers to join the big box store circuit was the Solidoodle 4, which is one of the few fully assembled 3D printers available for $999 (about £607/AU$1,092) at Micro Centers around the US. To help get a sense of the challenges of bringing 3D printers to retail, we spoke with Solidoodle's CEO and Founder Sam Cervantes.
Cervantes said the Solidoodle 4 was made to be a retail evolution of the company's last printer, which produced 8-inch-squared parts with the same 0.1mm resolution as the MakerBot Replicator 2. What has changed is the outer casing - now it has it's finished with a plastic exterior.
It's a small difference, but it makes the printer look more like a mini refrigerator that belong in the home than an out-of-place steel cube.
"We want to make a machine with a clean, finished appearance and an easy-to-use product," Cervantes explained. Beyond looks, the Solidoodle 4 is also more user friendly.
"The Solidoodle 4 is usable with no tools required. Previously, you had to use a screwdriver to set the first layer height [the starting layer of the print], but now we've included a thumbwheel that's accessible from the outside. You don't have to open the machine and use a tool."
Easy on the eyes and not a lot of brains
Beyond the availability of affordable, accessible and user-friendly machines, one of the largest barriers to 3D printing has always been the steep learning curve of sending designs to the printer.
Cervantes said that the hardware is just one component; he and this team at Solidoodle have worked hard to create a series of one-click software for Macs, Windows and Linux to get its printers up and running within a few hours.
"After you install the software you open the STL file and slice it just a couple of clicks and warm up your printer," Cervantes explained. "Once you're familiar with the whole process to go from turning on your printer and warming it up, it usually takes about five minutes, and most of that is warm up time."
"It's easier than ever before to purchase a printer and start creating right away - your own 3D designs or the ones you find online," he continued.
3D printing is actually a decades old technology that's existed since the 1980s but primarily was only accessible to the manufacturing sector and community of tinkerers, such as the RepRap project.
Along with the development of consumer priced printers that can sit on top of someone's desk, manufactuerers have strived to simplify the entire 3D model design process.
For those without AutoCad knowhow or expertise in creating their own STL files (the 3D blueprint used by 3D printers), there are cloud services such as MakerBot's Thingiverse and 3D System's Cubify to let you pick out designs by other makers. Object replication is also quickly becoming a simple matter thanks to consumer targeted 3D scanners like the Digitizer and Sense.
Source: http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/future-tech/why-2014-is-poised-to-be-a-breakout-year-for-3d-printing-1206560
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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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