Of all the high-tech gadgets in the Star Trek universe the one that I thought always had the most potential to be really life-altering was the replicator. Yeah, the transporter would be neat, but the power to whip up any item from the ether would (as Trek presumed) basically do away with our current concept of economics. According to the New York Times, that technology isn't as far away as you might imagine. This article talks about the emerging technology of 3D printers, which allow you to feed the machine a set of blueprints and it spits out a plastic 3D doo-dad. The tech has been around for years, but is only now on the verge of becoming affordable for home and small business users. Where is all this headed?
Professor Lipson said researchers are developing ways to use the process to build parts with more complex functions. They have preliminary designs for batteries, sensors, and parts that can bend when electricity is applied.I for one welcome our new plastic overlords!
'A milestone for us would be to print a robot that would get up and walk out of the printer,' Professor Lipson said. 'Batteries included.'
1 comment:
"Robot parade, robot parade, waive the flag that the robot made!"
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