Could anything be more Zeitgeisty than a 3D printer that can produce things to fit into the Internet of Things?<\/p>\n
The first generation of 3D printers are mostly used for producing small items. But Jennifer Lewis of Harvard University has helped create a new kind of 3D printer, one that can print electronics.<\/p>\n
The Voxel8 printer<\/p>\n
Voxel8 only bega developing a product last year, but the printer is the result of more than 8 years of research by Ms. Lewis and her Harvard colleagues. Right now, it can\u2019t quite print things as sophisticated as a smartphone. But it is able to make quite complex gadgets, like helicopter drones.<\/p>\n
The printer costs about $10, 000 and is aimed firmly at professionals, not the domestic market. Currently, Voxel8 is trying to get feedback from designers to optimize the product for them.<\/p>\n
Talking about the future of manufacturing<\/p>\n
The Voxel8 team foresees their technology being used around the world. Ms. lewis says that in the next decade, \u2018rather than shipping components, you are going to be shipping CAD (Computer Aided Design) files and then you\u2019re going to have local centers of manufacturing excellence, where these CAD files are just ported and then directly products come out.\u2019<\/p>\n
Until now 3D printers have largely been used by hobbyists. That doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re not being used industrially – in China, they\u2019re 3D printing houses, and in the USA and Europe car parts and, notoriously, firearms are getting the treatment too. But 3D printing is especially good for electronics.<\/p>\n
Why are Voxel8 betting on a 3D future for electronics?<\/p>\n
Voxel8\u2019s co-founder, Daniel Oliver, says, \u2018for 3D printing to push the limits of what\u2019s done now, it has to solve key issues that current manufacturing technologies don\u2019t.\u2019 For electronics, that\u2019s the duality of the circuitry and the physical object. Currently, electronic circuit boards are manufactured in standard shapes and sizes and the designer\u2019s job is to fit them into the product. With 3D printing technology, the device and its electronics can be manufactured at the same time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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