In other words, produce many different foods from a limited set of edible materials.

This problem can be observed in the design of MIT’s concept Cornucopia device, which requires as many as twelve different food [...]]]> Researchers from Cornell University have been exploring a new angle on food printing: the use of hydrocolloids. What the heck is that?

In other words, produce many different foods from a limited set of edible materials.

This problem can be observed in the design of MIT’s concept Cornucopia device, which requires as many as twelve different food material canisters – and perhaps even more on the shelf. One can imagine a future 3D kitchen with racks of these canisters. That’s likely impractical and besot with logistical difficulties. The new approach tries to circumvent this issue.

Some of the hydrocolloid techniques sound very interesting (not to mention tasty):

The result is “culinary magic” including “flavored gelatin spheres with liquid centers, sauce foams, hot liquid deserts with flash frozen shells, syringe-extrudable meats, and much more.” They describe several incredible uses of the technology, including messages inside cakes or “prime rib with a hidden message”.

We’ve had prime rib like that, but not quite the same thing…

Via: ccsl.mae.cornell.edu

The RepRap team are working on a “head changer” that would enable two or [...]]]> There are many differences between commercial 3D printers and hobbyist equivalents, including build quality, size, ability to print in color, etc., but now there’s one item that might be crossed off the list: the ability to print in more than one material.

The RepRap team are working on a “head changer” that would enable two or more materials to be used during a single print operation. Imagine printing tweezers with a silicone grip – which was actually accomplished in the image above. The approach is to use a “bowden” extruder and build a carriage for several of them.

In their post, they describe a model that supports up to three such extruders, but the build quality is somewhat degraded. Needless to say, it’s very early in development, but when successful, it will bring many more options to low-cost 3D printing operators.

Via: blog.reprap.org

He describes a special moment in the evolution of technology where the previously “impossible”, suddenly becomes possible. This is the “sweet [...]]]> Tom Wujec, Fellow at AutoDesk, spoke at the Thinking Digital event earlier this year. In a video of his fascinating talk, Tom speaks of the nature of emerging technologies, specifically tech evolution and tech possibilities.

He describes a special moment in the evolution of technology where the previously “impossible”, suddenly becomes possible. This is the “sweet spot” where investment recognizes the opportunity and companies actually bring the concept to life. However, he says, timing is always critical. A product too early may fail, even if it’s a great idea (Newton? Google Wave?)

He reviews several key technology concepts, including Computation, Analog to Digital, Digital to Analog, User Interaction/Augmented Reality, Mobile and Bioinformatics, most of which focus on the notion of a digital representation of actual objects. The one most interesting to us is Digital to Analog, where digital models are transformed into physical objects.

He describes a class of objects that are not producible by any other means, including an “insane” model made by one of his clients: a running shoe made from four different materials, including rubber, cloth, etc. The really interesting part was derived from a spiderweb inspiration: an intricate series of thin strands wove over the shoe. Evidently this was printed by a complex six-axis device that extruded the strands and then carefully tied the strings together in 3D!

Tom believes this type of technology could transform the shoe (and other) industries into a manufacturing-by-one model. For example, scan your feet, then select a design and await the printout. However, the shoe lasts “only about ten minutes” as it’s made of very fragile stuff.

He also describes a concrete printer able to print buildings and bioprinters, capable of printing various replacement body parts. We’ve written of these concepts before many times, but it’s still quite amazing to think about.

Is 3D printing ahead of its time? What happens next?

Via : eos.info

In this example they’ve managed to produce a cookie with an embedded “C” (click for larger image). The “C” is made of chocolate dough – illustrating the critical [...]]]> This week they have more spectacular announcements. They’ve been working with the French Culinary Institute to produce what is perhaps the most advanced forms of printed food yet.

In this example they’ve managed to produce a cookie with an embedded “C” (click for larger image). The “C” is made of chocolate dough – illustrating the critical importance of printing multiple materials, er ingredients, by a printer. The team is using a Fab@Home Model 2 for these culinary experiments.

That was not all. The team then went on to attempt the impossible: 3D Printed Meats! In the image above, they’ve printed a shape with scallops. (Presumably the scallops have been diced into uniform bits suitable for extrusion.) The shapes were subsequently deep-fried and no doubt eaten. Scallop Shuttle?

inally, the ultimate: 3D Printed Turkey. Again, the turkey has been reduced to an extrudable form and then formed into the shapes above. These shapes are not as imaginative as the Scallop Shuttle, but then, It’s Real Turkey!

Can we print a SPAM cube? Yum!

Via : fabathome.org

The Pentagon’s Defense Advance Projects Research Agency (DARPA) is in need of micro-aircraft to explore caves and other hiding places and transmit information back to base. And tiny robotic insects would make the perfect fly-on-the-wall snooping devices.

Although miniature helicopters [...]]]> London: 3D printers could soon create the perfect insect wing, a feat perfected by nature over millennia.

The Pentagon’s Defense Advance Projects Research Agency (DARPA) is in need of micro-aircraft to explore caves and other hiding places and transmit information back to base. And tiny robotic insects would make the perfect fly-on-the-wall snooping devices.

Although miniature helicopters already exist, a flapping mechanism is necessary for making aircraft as small as insects, according to Hod Lipson at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York.

The same is true for fixed winged flight.

Even as several researchers around the world have demonstrated flapping machines, wing design can be hit or miss because its physics is difficult to understand and realise, said Lipson. Here’s where the role of 3D printers becomes important – by providing insights on flight dynamics they could be an important step towards the development of smaller and more efficient wings, believe Lipson and his colleague Charlie Richter.

3D printers allow the creation of complex structures, such as wings that are warped to improve performance, like the manually curved wings of a paper aeroplane, said Richter. Their printer can produce features just 16 micrometres wide, and thin films just 40 micrometres thick.

Speed is another advantage of printing, said Lipson. Once they have arrived at a new wing design, printing a set takes less than an hour.

Barring its motor and battery, their latest four-winged creation is almost entirely printed from polyester films stretched over carbon fibre rods. Weighing 3.89 grams, it is capable of hovering untethered for up to 85 seconds.

Lipson and Richter feel their approach could help to take some of the guesswork out of the physics of wing design.

Lipson said: “People understand fixed winged flight very well. But when it comes to flapping – especially untethered, hovering flight, there is very little theory.”

Lipson and Richter plan to use their 3D printing approach to cycle through and analyse the performance of a broad range of different wing designs and plug the information into a computer model, which has a genetic algorithm that can then use the data to evolve the perfect set of wings.

Lipson and Richter will present their work at the Conference on Artificial Life (Alife XII) in Odense, Denmark, in August.

Via: zeenews.com

Germany company, envisionTEC, has developed a Rapid Prototyping tool for processing biomaterials. Using a process called Computer Aided Tissue Engineering, which has nothing to do with Kleenex but everything with us, the Bioplotter can fabricate [...]]]> The 3D-Bioplotter takes computer aided designs from a PC and build biomaterials. Anxious geeks building girlfriends in AutoCAD as we speak.

Germany company, envisionTEC, has developed a Rapid Prototyping tool for processing biomaterials. Using a process called Computer Aided Tissue Engineering, which has nothing to do with Kleenex but everything with us, the Bioplotter can fabricate 3D scaffolds made up of various biomaterials from soft hydrogels to hard ceramics and metals.

Soft tissue fabrication, the notion of  building human organs, can be achieved using scaffolds built on Agar, Gelatine, Collagen, Chitosin, Alginate, and Fibrin. Currently, the printer is being used to create biogradable scaffolds used for custome bone implants.

In an interview given to Doug Smock at Design News, during Rapid 2010, Dr. Vladimir Mironov, director of the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication Center at the Medical University of South Carolina, said that one of the long term goals is to print human organs such as kidneys and livers.

Tissue engineering is a promising solution to the problem of tissue or organ shortage. The notion that we can manufacture organs, bones, and skin is not a pipe dream, but a possibility. In a very simplistic terms, because I am a simpleton, a matrix of nanotubes made from a variety of biomaterials can be organized in such a way as to coalesce or attract other organic matter and build into engineering tissue, whether it be a blood vessel, or eventually, the ultimate prize, an organ.

Would be Frankensteins and Re-Animators (props and much love to H.P. Lovecraft, people) will need a little under $200,000 to get this baby.

Via: tgdaily.com