3D Printing – Lifeboat News: The Blog

Jan 22
2016

Here come the robots, welcome to the next industrial revolution

Go Hubo

The so-called ‘fourth industrial revolution’ will bring ever faster cycles of innovation, posing huge challenges to companies, workers, governments and societies alike Implantable mobile phones. 3D-printed organs for transplant. Clothes and reading-glasses connected to the Internet.

Such things may be science fiction today but they will be scientific fact by 2025 as the world enters an era of advanced robotics, artificial intelligence and gene editing, according to executives surveyed by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Nearly half of those questioned also expect an artificial intelligence machine to be sitting on a corporate board of directors within the next decade.

Jan 21
2016

How to modify a 3D printer to print high-performance products

Ultrasonic waves form microscopic glass fibers into a pattern of lines, collectively creating a reinforcing microstructure that gives the printed component increased strength. (credit: Tom Llewellyn-Jones, Bruce Drinkwater and Richard Trask)

University of Bristol engineers have developed a new type of 3-D printing that can print strong composite materials.

The new method is based on a modification of an off-the-shelf 3D printer: mounting a switchable, focused laser module and an ultrasonic alignment apparatus.

Jan 21
2016

Here come the robots: Davos bosses brace for big technology shocks

Leaders at Davos are bracing for huge technology shocks.

Implantable mobile phones. 3D-printed organs for transplant. Clothes and reading-glasses connected to the Internet.

Jan 20
2016

Copper deposition to fabricate tiny 3D objects

A new 3-D microprinting process allows scientists to easily manufacture tiny, complex metal components. The used technology was designed by ETH researchers years ago for biological research and has now been further developed for a completely different application.

Jan 18
2016

Report from Davos: 5 million jobs to be lost by 2020 because of tech advances

In less than 4 yrs. 5 million jobs will be lost is the prediction.

A new report predicts a loss of 5 million jobs in the next five years because of technological advances, but don’t blame it all on the robots.

The other culprits: artificial intelligence, 3-D printers and advances in genetics, biotech and more.

The World Economic Forum, which is holding its annual meeting in Davos this week, in its report details the effects of modern technology on the labor market, for better or for worse. It says “the fourth industrial revolution” will be “more comprehensive and all-encompassing than anything we have ever seen.”

Jan 18
2016

Jan Woerner: ESA chief wants to establish a Moon Village

European Space Agency building a space colony by 2030.

The European Space Agency unveiled plans on Friday to build a “lunar village” by 2030 as a stepping stone to Mars.

ESA chief Jan Woerner said the lunar “village” would be a series of structures made by robots and 3D printers that use moon dust as building material.

“I looked into the requirements I see for a project after ISS. As of today, I see the moon village as the ideal successor of the International Space Station for [space] exploration,” Woerner said at a news briefing in Paris on Friday.

Jan 16
2016

European Space Agency unveils ‘lunar village’ plans as stepping stone to Mars

Moon “village”, a successor to International Space Station, would be series of structures made by robots and 3D printers that use moon dust as building material.

Jan 12
2016

Ballantine designs ‘space glass’ for drinking whiskey in microgravity

Anyone offended by the prospect of drinking fine whiskey inside sealed space packs with straws after Suntory sent its finest variety to the ISS for testing? Don’t worry: Ballantine’s got your back. The liquor company has commissioned Open Space Agency’s James Parr — who also created a Lumia-powered 3D-printed telescope in the past — to design a high-tech whiskey glass especially for zero-G environments. He tested a number of designs before settling on a rounded glass with a spiral convex stainless steel base plated in rose gold that can create the surface tension necessary to hold the liquor down. The liquid then passes through channels on the sides of the glass all the way up to the golden mouthpiece.

The “glass” part itself is actually 3D-printed medical-grade PLA plastic, the same kind used for heart valves. Since everything tends to float in microgravity, the base hides a 22-pound magnet that can be used to stick the glass on magnetic surfaces. Plus, it has a one way valve where a customized whiskey bottle nozzle can be inserted to pour out a shot. Parr and Ballantine published more details about the design process on Medium, if you’d like to read more about how the “space glass” was created. Sure, it could be nothing but a marketing stunt, but it’s amazing how much thought went into designing a whiskey glass. It’s unfortunate that most of us might never get to use it in its intended environment; good thing the final product at least looks fancy enough to display.

Jan 11
2016

Audi building 3D printed rover to drive across the Moon

As part of of the Google Lunar X Prize competition, Audi and Part Time Scientists have teamed up to 3D print a rover capable of landing on the moon’s surface, and traversing at least 500 meters thanks to metal 3D printing technology.

Jan 8
2016

Why 3D Printing Will Be a Key Technology in the Next Space Race

NASA recently announced that they test fired a research rocket engine. Nothing special about that—other than the fact said engine was 75 percent 3D printed parts.

As industrial 3D printing has moved from prototyping to actually manufacturing finished products, the aerospace industry has become an avid early adopter. Although in many industries mass production techniques still make economic sense—for the ultra-precise, almost bespoke parts in rockets? 3D printing is a great fit.

Last year, GE showed off a scaled down 3D printed jet engine firing at 33,000 RPM. SpaceX’s recent recovery of a Falcon 9 rocket was not only spectacular, but the rocket has long used 3D printed parts too. And NASA’s latest trial shows 3D printing is set to become an even bigger part of rocket engine manufacturing.