3D printing’s future – Malta 3D Printing

3D printed parts for a car

Posted on 07/09/201509/09/2015 by aneczka2307

http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/news/71751824/the-car-of-the-future-to-use-3d-printed-parts

Car parts could use 3D printing techniques in the future, according to BMW

The car of the future to use 3D printed parts

Car companies will soon make use of 3D printing to manufacture parts, bringing benefits in cost and strength that will improve the affordability and driving character of future vehicles, according to BMW’s head of lightweight design Florian Schek.

While most vehicle manufacturers use the advanced technology during the development and design phase to quickly create prototype parts or models, Schek believes it won’t be long before the technology is transferred into end-consumer production techniques.

He admitted that it is likely to be used on low-volume speciality vehicles first as the time needed to mass-produce parts by 3D printing is not as quick as conventional methods such as casting and forging for metals, or as affordable as plastics. But he said the rapid advances in the technology will ensure its future application is viable.

“We have that already in prototyping,” he told Drive.

“But there is definitely a future for it in mainstream production. It will come.

“I think it will take some time in high-volume production, but it is not that far away for specialist models like the i8. We can do some very interesting things with 3D printing that we cannot do with other methods and it is quite exciting about the benefits, both in terms of design and structure.”

Schek said the benefits of 3D printing structural elements – including major components such as shock absorber towers – could see improvements in weight reductions and rigidity, as the printing process could create components more intricately.

“With 3D printing we can see advantages in being able to build parts with strength where it is needed and not in places where it isn’t, and this will help improve decreasing weight. We can design the part according to the forces that are running through it, this will be a big step forward for some areas,” he told Drive during the launch of the all-new BMW 7-Series, which uses different materials in its skeleton – including steel, aluminium and carbon fibre – to reduce weight and increase overall strength.

“I can also see it eventually improving time to production in some circumstances too, because some components currently need to go through many processes to be ready for assembly whereas with 3D printing it is designed to be a finished product.”

stuff.co.nz

by ANDREW MACLEAN | 06:00, September 6 2015

3D printing – the future of global food?

Posted on 24/08/201508/09/2015 by aneczka2307

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-commentary/is-3-d-printing-the-future-of-global-food/article24981139/

Is 3D printing the future of global food?

A few weeks ago, Londoners were able to eat at the world’s first 3D-printed pop-up restaurant. In early June, a German-based company introduced the word’s first plug-and-play food printer, which may be ready for shipping as early as next year. With the cost to produce this technology dropping, making it increasingly accessible, 3D printing could fundamentally change our relationship with food.

Simply put, the process uses ingredients to generate three-dimensional meals by placing layers of compounded food on top of each other. Since 2012, the food industry has used this technology to produce products, including candy, chocolate, pizza, noodles and even crackers. Despite its relative novelty, many companies are recognizing its potential – and recognizing how 3D food printing can revolutionize our global food systems.

In particular, 3D printing could radically alter food production practices by enabling companies to manage resources more responsibly and reduce waste across the food continuum – whether you are a processor, a distributor or a consumer with leftovers. Indeed, many well-known agribusiness corporations have already dedicated a great deal of time and research on 3D systems. There is a potential benefit to consumer health, as well. For example, PepsiCo recently announced that it is using 3D printing to develop a healthier potato chip.

Beyond manufacturing, 3D printing could also boost culinary creativity by allowing renowned chefs to create shapes and forms that were previously thought impossible. Some have argued that it can give the food-service industry the ability to customize products based on individual nutritional needs.

Given the demographic challenges we face in coming decades, this can become a key benefit. In Germany, many nursing homes already produce a pureed 3D-printed food product called smoothfoods to residents who have difficulty ingesting food, or even chewing them. Regular smoothies have been on the menu, but haven’t proved as popular. Elderly residents eating smoothfoods can receive all the nutrients they require while enjoying an aesthetically pleasing meal. As a result, they can live healthier, higher quality lives.

More significantly, some experts believe 3D printing could effectively address global food security challenges. Ingredients such as algae, duckweed and grass could be imbedded into familiar dishes. A recent study in Holland added milled mealworm to a shortbread cookie recipe through 3D printing – most would agree that a cookie-shaped food product is much more appetizing than the look and feel of a worm. By using insects and other protein sources, the growing need for protein the globe is currently experiencing, which adds increased pressure to beef and pork prices, could be mitigated.

3D food printing does still face major obstacles. The technology remains expensive and complex. The engineering required to produce food is much more sophisticated than producing objects with metal and plastic. Food scientists acknowledge how difficult it is to effectively make edible meals in 3D food printing – ingredients in food interact in many complex ways, particularly with meats. At this point, 3D food printers are not known to produce great tasting food, and still do not have the overwhelming endorsement of the culinary world.

However, the technology is improving at an incredible pace, allowing us to believe that very soon, anything might be possible.

The concept of 3D printed food is foreign to many of us, and may challenge our collective appreciation of where food comes from, and how it is produced. Let’s face it – when it comes to food, we are all traditionalists to some extent, protective of our food heritage. Printing food is a drastic departure from the art of cooking as a way of celebrating nature’s bounty.

But the reality is that in just a few years, we will have more than nine billion people to feed. One way to responsibly address global food security challenges is to consider technology as a primary source for sustainable solutions. Treating alternatives to established food production systems as mere fads may not be the best approach.

After all, the future of the dinner table may be as different, and as simple as “Press print and eat.”

theglobeandmail.com

by SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS | Jun. 17, 2015 10:39AM EDT

3D printed eggs used to study the art of deception among birds

Posted on 24/08/201508/09/2015 by aneczka2307

http://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/6777/20150528/scientists-use-3d-printed-eggs-to-study-the-art-of-deception-among-birds.htm

Scientists Use 3D Printed Eggs to Study the Art of Deception among Birds

3D printing has already established itself within the scientific community. It’s been used to produce tools aboard the International Space Station, replicate body parts for surgical procedures, and now it’s found a new niche among biologists studying bird behavior. It turns out, 3D printers produce mighty fine eggs.

Animal behaviorists at Hunter College of the City University of New York are using 3D printers to produce eggs used in experiments that examine nesting behavior among birds. They’re particularly interested in brood parasites – birds that lay their eggs in other birds’ nests, for the behavior of such birds offers insight into the evolutionary arms race between species.

Successful brood parasites are well-adapted to their deceptive practice, laying eggs that resemble those whose nests they target for takeover. But the foster birds have evolved means of detecting such eggs, based on their size, shape, color, and pattern, and will cast them out of the nests when the interlopers are identified.

“Hosts of brood parasites vary widely in how they respond to parasitic eggs, and this raises lots of cool questions about egg mimicry, the visual system of birds, the ability to count, cognitive rules about similarity, and the biomechanics of picking things up,” says Prof. Don Dearborn, chair of the Biology Department at Bates College, a brood parasitism expert who was not involved in the 3D printing study.

Biologists have been studying brood parasitic behavior for decades, but it was always a challenge to produce realistic eggs for use in their experiments. They tried a variety of materials, such as wood and plaster, but the eggs were expensive and time consuming to produce and a challenge to reproduce consistently.

And that’s where the 3D printers come in.

The scientists from Hunter College used a 3D printer to produce model eggs based on those of the Brown-headed Cowbirds, a North American brood parasite. Some eggs were painted beige to match real cowbird eggs; other were painted blue-green to match eggs of the American robin, a typical target of cowbirds. They were able to fill the model eggs with water or gel, so that the eggs retained the weight and properties of real eggs.

Their experiments were a rousing success. The robins accepted 100% of the blue-green eggs while they rejected 79% of the beige eggs. Similar results were achieved using plaster eggs, but the 3D printed eggs are more consistent and easier to produce. And since they are based on digital models, it makes for easy sharing across scientific communities, which improves the reproducibility of experiments.

“For decades, tackling these questions has meant making your own fake eggs — something we all find to be slow, inexact, and frustrating,” says Dearborn. “This study uses 3D printing for a more nuanced and repeatable egg-making process, which in turn will allow more refined experiments on host-parasite coevolution. I’m also hopeful that this method can be extended to making thin-shelled, puncturable eggs, which would overcome another one of the constraints on these kinds of behavioral experiments.”

“3D printing technology is not just in our future – it has already revolutionized medical and basic sciences,” says Mark Hauber, an animal behaviorist at Hunter College and the study’s senior author. “Now it steps out into the world of wild birds, allowing standardized egg rejection experiments to be conducted throughout the world.”

sciencetimes.com

by Rachel K Wentz | May 28, 2015 11:29 PM EDT

The future of food!

Posted on 20/08/201503/09/2015 by aneczka2307

http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/3d-food-printers-how-they-could-change-what-you-eat/

WHY 3D FOOD PRINTING IS MORE THAN JUST A NOVELTY; IT’S THE FUTURE OF FOOD

It was Marcel Boulestin, the first cook-turned-television star from the BBC’s 1937 show Cook’s Night Out, who insisted that cooking was not chemistry but an art. “It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements,” he said.

If only he could see the world now.

It’s 2015, and 3D printing, a technology long priced beyond many people’s reach, is quickly undergoing democratization. So much democratization that companies are trying to 3D print all kinds of new things, including food.

Think about the replicators on Star Trek and the many other machines that litter science fiction movies, which prep, cook, and serve meals on command. This could actually be our future. 3D food printing has the potential to revolutionize food production by boosting culinary creativity, food sustainability, and nutritional customizability, but technical and market barriers still face it in the years to come.

3D printing food ain’t easy

Most 3D printers work by slowly depositing layers of material, one on top of the other, until an object is constructed. The process is called “additive manufacturing,” and it uses deposition printers. Others bind layers together with adhesive — they’re called binding printers.

3D food printers are more difficult to explain. Hod Lipson, director of Cornell University’s Creative Machines Lab, laid out the three dominant methods of printing food at the 2015 Inside 3D Printing conference in New York City, which are nozzles, powdery material, and lasers. “You can think of it as the ‘RGB of food,’” he told Digital Trends.

Many systems mix and match those approaches. The 3D Systems ChefJet crystalizes thin layers of fine-grain sugar into virtually any geometric configuration, while Natural Foods’ Choc Edge dispenses chocolate from syringes in beautiful, melty patterns. The Foodini uses fresh ingredients loaded into stainless steel capsules to prepare a surprisingly wide array of dishes. Its latest model isn’t a soup-to-nuts solution — it only prints raw doughs, which then must be cooked as normal — but the printer can partially make pizza, filled pasta, quiche, and even brownies.

None of these machines will be next in line for the Bocuse d’Or chef championship, though. Emilio Sepulveda, co-founder of Foodini maker Natural Machines, has said publically that food synthesizers like those seen in Star Trekand The Fifth Element will take “many more years” of development.

But that’s not stopping early adopters. Some German nursing homes serve a 3D-printed food product called Smoothfoods to elderly residents who have difficulty chewing. Purees, the conventional alternative, typically aren’t very appetizing, which sometimes leads to under eating. Residents “get malnourished in certain cases,” said Kjeld van Bommel, a research scientist at the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research, in an interview with the Washington Post.

The tastier Smoothfoods — made of mashed carrots, peas, and broccoli, which 3D printers congealed with an edible glue — are already a hit; 1,000 of the country’s facilities now serve them daily.

3D food printers invade the gourmet world

On the opposite end of the gastronomic spectrum, 3D food printers are beginning to breach gourmet spaces. Earlier this year at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) unveiled a partnership with 3D Systems, maker of the ChefJet. The CIA plans to begin beta testing with the ChefJef, and 3D Systems will provide CIA students with fellowship and internship programs at the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles.

Tom Vacarro, dean of Baking and Pastry Arts at CIA,spoke to WAMC Northeast Public Radio about the arrangement. “We just took that ran with it and said, okay, we could do many different things with these printers and here’s our ideas” he said. “[You can] design your mold on the screen, and hit print, and out it comes. It just shaves off all of that back-and-forth time.”

3D Systems Creative Director Liz von Hasseln, speaking at CES, said she sees food printing “as something that … will become a part of the culinary fabric.”

“I think the way that happens really powerfully is when it impacts the cultural ritual of eating, which is actually a really powerful part of being a person in the world,” she clarified. Hasseln predicts most of her team’s culinary experiments, which include shaping chocolate and sugar into wedding cake toppers and cocktail garnishes, are just the beginning. Cornell’s Lipson agrees.

“These are things that no pastry chef, no confectionary chef could ever make,” he said. “They represent a new design space in food. We’re getting to that point of artistry.”

Food printing moves beyond the kitchen

Other chefs are looking beyond the kitchen. Dutch food designer Chloé Rutzerveld documented the creation of cracker-like yeast structures containing seeds and spores that sprout over time, and thinks the snack he synthesized and those like it — natural, transportable products printed efficiently — could someday transform the food industry. And he’s not alone.

Some experts believe food printers could minimize waste by using cartridges of hydrocolloids, substances that form gels with water. Those same machines, they theorize, could also use unpalatable but plentiful ingredients — ingredients such as algae, duckweed, and grass — to form the basis of familiar dishes. In a study headed by Van Bommel, scientists added milled mealworm to a shortbread cookie recipe. “The look [of the worms] put me off, but in the shape of a cookie I’ll eat it,” he said in an interview with Popular Mechanics.

To that point, people are very conservative when it comes to food, Lipson said. “Most people will only enjoy foods that are very similar to what they’ve had before. We have a very deep, visceral reaction to foods we don’t recognize,” he said. 3D food printers could be used to make the unappetizing, appetizing.

“Consider a food source that’s not something you’d want to eat in its raw form but a good source of protein, like insects,” Lipson said. “There’s an interesting advantage there — being able to make something that looks and tastes good from something that doesn’t.”

Anajan Contract, an engineer who’s currently developing a pizza-making printer with a $125,000 grant from NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research program, envisions a machine that can produce food from capsules of powders and oils with shelf lives up to 30 years. He believes such a printer would not only reduce the environmental impact of cooking, but also offer a renewable form of sustenance to a growing world population.

“I think, and many economists think, that current food systems can’t supply 12 billion people sufficiently,” he told Quartz. “So we eventually have to change our perception of what we see as food.”

Beyond sustainability, 3D food printing holds great promise for nutrition. Lynette Kucsma, CMO and co-founder of Natural Machines, says printers like the Foodini can help people cut down on the amount of chemical additives in their food and reduce overconsumption. The food printers of tomorrow could even allow customization at the macronutritional level, allowing users individualize the amounts of calcium, protein, omega-3, and carbohydrates in their meals.

“You’ll be able to say when I wake up in the morning I want the printer to print my breakfast and I want to have the right amount of trans fats, whatever we need,” said Lipson.

The many obstacles ahead

But 3D food printing has many challenges to overcome, chief among them speed. Devices like the recently announced Carbon3D can fabricate a mind-boggling number of objects in minutes, but that level of advancement hasn’t trickled down to food printers yet. The most common designs require successive layers of ingredient to cool, leading to exceedingly long wait times for some foods.

Many food printers have chocolate, dough, and sugar nailed, but more complicated products like meat are tougher to master. “Printing in food materials is a lot more difficult from an engineering point of view than plastic of metals,” said Lipson. “They interact with each other in very complex ways.”

That’s not to say producing them isn’t feasible. Modern Meadow, a company in New York, raised $10 million in funding to research the production of printable biomaterials — but achieving the right texture and flavor is a lot harder. And even if scientists are able to closely replicate natural beef, consumers might not bite; in a survey by GlobalMeatNews.com, only 34 percent of respondents said they’d even try 3D-printed meat.

There’s also the issue of expectations. The Star Trek replicator comes to mind when many people think about food synthesizers, but such a device would hardly be practical — a simple vegetable, like a tomato, would likely require tens of millions of different ingredient cartridges alone. “It sounds simple to say ‘we’ll have a fat cartridge,’ but there are hundreds of kinds of fats,” van Brommel explained.

And how does the culinary world at large feel about 3D food printers? I’ll let Tony Tantillo, food expert and contributor to CBS in New York, expresses a sentiment felt by many: “Those two things shouldn’t be together. ‘Printed food’ for a magazine, yes. But to eat? Nah, nah.” Vacarro thinks they might have a place… in cheap in-and-out joints. “If I think about what’s happening in fast food, there might be something there where some fast foods are printed instead of handmade,” he said.

But perhaps like any new technology, 3D food printers just take some getting used to. “When people first heard about microwaves they didn’t understand the technology,” Lynette Kucsama, Chief Marketing Officer at Natural Machines told Fortune. “Now 90 percent of households have microwaves.”

3D food printers may not produce great-tasting food right now, or be able to cook meals from scratch. Or have the wholehearted endorsement of the epicurean elite. But they’re getting better every year, and what they promise — sustainable, nutritional perfection — is worth the pursuit.

“I don’t see 3D food printing as a novelty. I see it as something that really will become a part of the culinary fabric for years to come,” von Hasseln said recently.

A lot changes in 70 years. Boulestin, like any great chef on the bleeding edge of gastronomy, would understand that.

digitaltrends.com

by Kyle Wiggers | April 26, 2015

The future of music

Posted on 19/08/201531/08/2015 by aneczka2307

http://news.discovery.com/tech/gear-and-gadgets/3d-printed-violin-looks-like-the-future-of-music-150330.htm

3D Printed Violin Looks Like the Future of Music

It doesn’t irk me that one cannot applaud at the symphony until the end of the movement as much as it irks me that this symphonic norm was established in the late 1880s.

I think it’s time the symphony unstuffed its shirt and got a little jolt from the future.

New Da Vinci Instrument Unveiled

Just feast your eyes on this gorgeous two-string Piezoelectric Violin from architects Eric Goldemberg and Veronica Zalcberg of Miami’s MONAD studio.

They created it with multi-instrumentalist Scott F Hall for a musical exhibition next month at New York City’s Javits Center for the Inside 3D Printing conference.

In an interview with BBC, Goldemberg told reporter Clemency Burton-Hill that the violin preserves the functionality and ergonomics of the classic violin, but has a character all its own thanks to the materials and methods in which it was formed.

Old Or New Violin? Musicians Can’t Tell

“Consider the tonality of classical guitar against that of the Les Paul electric guitar: they do sound the same in a sense, yet also quite different,” Goldemberg said.

The violin will be exhibited with other extreme interpretations of classic instruments, including a hornucopia, which is their take on the cello.

“Innovation in instrument design is a balancing act of paying homage to history and tradition while at the same time looking forward boldly into the future,” Goldemberg said.

I hope that after the group has finished playing, the audience will be allowed to clap.

news.discovery.com

by TRACY STAEDTER | MAR 30, 2015 04:54 PM ET

The future of 3D printing

Posted on 19/08/201531/08/2015 by aneczka2307

http://3dprint.com/54120/3d-printing-future-2/

3D Printing: The Next 5 years

The 3D printing field is expected to grow more than 14% annually to become an $8.4 billion industry by 2020, according to a 2013 report by MarketsandMarkets. Currently, North America and Asia-Pacific are the two largest 3D printing markets. Europe is following close behind and expected to overtake North America by 2020. 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is poised to reinvent the way our culture brings an idea to life, shifting how we think about ideation and production. Let’s take a look at 3D printing and how additive manufacturing will revolutionize the technological futures of countless industries.

Disruptive Technologies

You can’t explore the use of 3D printing throughout industries without addressing disruptive innovation, the process of replacing old technologies by completely eradicating or coexisting with what existed before. Disruptive technology is defined as technology designed to create a new market by generating a unique set of standards that eventually overtake the existing market. 3D printing joins a list of disruptive technologies that includes smartphones, the Internet, cloud technology, and laparoscopic surgery.

For example, when Ford introduced the mass-produced automobile, it changed the horse and buggy culture of the Western world. Subsequently, electric cars are changing the future of today’s gasoline cars. The outcome influences the current market, but it’s the change in the ideation process that creates revolutionary effects.

User Convenience

“3D printing empowers the user — not just the business owner and investor,”according to Apple Rubber, a leading designer and manufacturer of rubber compounds and sealing technology. Apple Rubber’s manufacturing process doesn’t quite align with 3D printing just yet, due to price and the need to produce custom parts for specific applications. But as a proponent of 3D printing, the company is keeping a close eye on how evolving 3D technologies can enhance Apple Rubber’s future and advocates its benefits.

“Inventors now have everything they need,” informs Andrew Rich, an Apple Rubber project engineer. “People can now design on their own home computer and print it out—not pay thousands of dollars to have larger companies make prototypes. Manufacturers may end up touching it in the production phase, but not early on. 3D printing is bringing innovation to the general public.”

3D printing provides equal opportunities and even consumer convenience. The technology enables consumers to go online where they can find prototypes and print the schematics right from their home. Being able to create your idea in the comfort of your home is shifting the creative assets of the world away from singular companies.

The New DIY

Since 3D printing allows prototyping to be accessible to individuals, it takes the first steps to democratize manufacturing. We can shift away from big business manufacturing to economical do-it-yourself production. For example, instead of a big biomedical firm investing millions into development, doctors at St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospitals in Manhattan were able to 3D print a trachea for implantation at a fraction of the cost, the Daily News reported. Using stem cells and 3D printing technology, Dr. Faiz Bhora created bioengineered tracheas. Dr. Faiz Bhora and his team printed a 3D silicone model of the trachea created from biologic material and based on CAT scan data, using a Fab@Home 3D printer (in only 15 minutes). The vision is to implant these 3D trachea models in human patients within a few years.

Even jewelers like David Wilkinson use 3D printing to render models of design concepts. The jewelry designer created a one-of-a-kind custom Legend of Zeldaengagement ring. The engagement ring was initially designed in Wings3D to replicate hero Link’s iconic weapon. Wilkinson refined the design and used a Minitech milling machine to give it a detailed 3D render. The band was cast in 14K white gold and the three-pronged Triforce head was made with 14K yellow gold. White stone diamond baguettes sparkle in each link along the band, and the lab-grown yellow sapphire stands out as the ring’s focal point.

Mainstream Resistance

The adoption of additive manufacturing is increasing dramatically, but there is still an overall resistance to its place in mainstream companies. Estimates vary, but all show that less than 10% of companies use additive manufacturing technologies, according to the report “Fostering Mainstream Adoption of Industrial 3D Printing.” Much of this has to do with the effect it will have on the process of idea generation and fulfillment. Using a 3D printer, a developer can go directly from idea to functional prototype without the need for a mockup team, parts runners, or interim managerial approval. It diminishes the strength of large companies and uses staff-intensive supportive departments. It places feet under smaller businesses embracing rapid innovation.

The Internet of Things

Our new digital world links human behavior to the devices we use every day. A smartphone can control our TV watching, the environment of our homes, and how often we work out. This Internet of Things is predicted to have 26 billion devices attached to it by the year 2020. Additive manufacturing is the development arm of the IoT — an interconnection of computing devices inside the framework of the Internet. IoT aims to enable automation through advanced connectivity of devices, systems, and services, from human heart monitor plants to field operation tools, explains 3DPrint.com.

In our “How Nano 3D Electronics Printing Will Drive the Internet of Things,” TE Edwards delves into how plastic printed electronics produced by 3D printing technologies are critical to developing IoT advancements. Within 10 years, plastic circuits could operate at the same performance levels of today’s silicon circuits. Also, plastic printed transistors will be essential for creating wearable electronics and other IoT innovations.

Terminator-Inspired 3D Printing: From Liquid to Object

Recently, developments in 3D printing have even innovated continuous liquid interface production. Materializing objects out of a pool of liquid can increase the production speed to up to 100 times faster than conventional 3D printing, according to the startup Carbon3D. The CLIP (Continuous Liquid Interface Production) technique uses photochemistry. Designs come from liquid resin, and the media is solidified into the object using light and water, according to IFLScience.com.

CLIP produces complex objects that can have microscopic features and incredible geometries crafted at radically fast speeds. “Growing” objects out of a pool of liquid opens a world of opportunity. In medicine, for example, this type of 3D production could even produce custom stents to treat weakened arteries.

shutterstock_235449427

Speed, opportunity for innovations, and the ability to design remotely position additive manufacturing as the most game-changing disruptive technology of our future. Let us know your thoughts on the future of 3D printing in the Disruptive Technology forum thread over at 3DPB.com.

3dprint.com

by HEIDI MILKERT | MARCH 28, 2015

Morality of 3D printing’s future

Posted on 23/03/201518/08/2015 by Malta 3D Printing

Superstar Will.i.am Asks a Few Questions About the Morality of 3D Printing’s Future

http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/06/will-i-am-interview-future-3d-printing-people/

Will.i.am

Will.i.am calls for ethical stance on 3D-printing human bodies

Will.i.am has called for “new morals, new laws and new codes” for 3D printing, a technology he says is evolving so rapidly that we will soon be able to print humans (+ interview).

Speaking to Dezeen at the launch of his Ekocycle range of sustainable lifestyle products yesterday, the music producer and Black Eyed Peas frontman said that we will be 3D-printing entire people in “our lifetime”.

“Eventually 3D printing will print people,” said Will.i.am. “I’m not saying I agree with it, I’m just saying what’s fact based on plausible growth in technology.”

“Unfortunately that is the reality, but at the same time it pushes humanity to have to adhere to new responsibilities,” he said. “So new morals, new laws and new codes are going to have to be implemented. Humans – as great as we are – are pretty irresponsible. Ask the planet. Ask the environment.”

Will.i.am is chief creative officer of 3D-printing company 3D Systems and has just launched his Ekocycle collection with Coca-Cola at London department store Harrods. Items in the range – which encompasses clothing, bicycles and luggage – are all made from waste materials, including 3D-printer filament produced from recycled plastic bottles.

Will-i-am-Ekocycle-3D-printer_dezeen

Researchers have already used 3D-printing technology to produce prototype organs using living cells. Experts predict that the ability to print complete human tissues is less than 10 years away.

“If you can print a liver or a kidney, god dang it, you’re going to be able to print a whole freaking person,” said Will.i.am. “Now we’re getting into a whole new territory. Moses comes down with the 10 commandments and says ‘Thou shalt not…’. He didn’t say shit about 3D printing.”

“When you have god-like tools, who’s governing me? I don’t know. I could create life. So new codes and morals – beyond laws – something has to be instilled into us. Before, when it was time to reproduce you had to mate. But now…”

He also believes that 3D printing will one day evolve into Star Trek-esque teleportation.

“You’re starting with beef, and leathers, and body parts, eventually it will get more complex,” he said. “It’s basically ‘Beam me up, Scotty’, a 3D printer that disintegrates the source.”

Will.i.am has launched a series of design- and tech-focussed initiatives in the past year, including a smartwatch designed with architect Zaha Hadid and an eyewear range with fashion designer George Garrow.

He is one of a number of well-known musicians that are making the leap into the design and technology industries, including Kanye Westand Pharrell Williams who both recently released clothing and footwear collections with sports brand Adidas.

“Musicians will be taken seriously when their business sells seriously,” said Will.i.am. “When you have serious partners and the products make serious money. Or when your products have serious design features that render it sustainable and they don’t break.”

“You can’t demand that because your famous, everyone’s supposed to like what you’re passionate about,” he continued. “No bro, you have to earn it. Just like the designers earned their respect. Just like you earned your respect as a musician, you have to earn it, it doesn’t just come.”

Will.i.am’s Ekocycle range is now available from a dedicated shop-in-shop on the third floor of Harrods.

Here’s the transcript of our interview with Will.i.am:

Dan Howarth: How is 3D printing going to change?

Will.i.am: I’m going to say something controversial. Eventually 3D-printing will print people. That’s scary. I’m not saying I agree with it, I’m just saying what’s fact based on plausible growth in technology and Moore’s law.

So right now we can print in post-consumer plastics, which is awesome. We can print in aluminium, which is bigger machines and awesome. We can print in titanium, which is pretty freaking crazy and amazing. We can print in steel, which is freaking hardcore. You can print in chocolate, and that’s sweet. You can print in freaking protein, you can make freaking meat. You can print leather. You can print a liver.

So if you can print a liver or a kidney. God dang it, you’re going to be able to print a whole freaking person. And that’s scary. That’s when it’s like, whah! And I’m not saying I agree, but plausible growth would say that with multiple machines that print in different materials, you could print in protein an aluminium combo.

Dan Howarth: How far away from that are we?

Will.i.am: Our lifetime. That’s scary. So unfortunately that is the reality, but at the same time it pushes humanity to have to adhere to new responsibilities, new morals. New lessons are going to have to be implemented. For real. Now we’re getting into a whole new territory. I don’t know what year it was, Moses comes down with the 10 commandments and says “Thou shalt not…” He didn’t say shit about 3D printing.

So new morals, new laws and new codes are going to have to be implemented. Humans – as great as we are – are pretty irresponsible. Ask the planet. Ask the environment.

Dan Howarth: So you think we’re going to need a whole set of laws to regulate what we 3D print?

Will.i.am: Morals, ethics, codes. Laws means someone governs. When you have god-like tools, who’s governing me? I don’t know. I could create life. So new codes and morals – beyond laws. Something has to be instilled into us. We’re going to a place we’ve never been before. We made a Will, we made a car, we made a house, we made a boat, we made flying machines. Before, when it was time to reproduce you had to mate. But now…

You’re starting with beef, and leathers, and body parts. Eventually it will get more complex. It’s basically “Beam me up, Scotty”, a 3D printer that disintegrates the source. Star Trek is pretty cool, because they had things like iPhones, and the internet. They also had 3D printers, that was “beam me up, Scotty”. Teleportation.

Dan Howarth: A number of musicians have transitioned into product and fashion design over the past few years. Do you think they’re taken seriously enough in the design industry?

Will.i.am: Musicians will be taken seriously when their business sells seriously. When you have serious partners and the products make serious money. Or when your products have serious design features that render it sustainable and they don’t break. More importantly, it’s successful in business.

Just like anybody jumping different careers. Say for example Bill Gates was the most amazing guitarist in the world, and he came up there and ripped it, with the facial expressions and everything. It would take you a long time to take Bill Gates seriously as a musician. The more he focuses and believes in it – the test of time will make you see him as a genius if he truly was an amazing guitarist.

Unfortunately those are the laws, and if he truly believes he will understand that. You can’t demand that because your famous, everyone’s supposed to like what you’re passionate about. No bro, you have to earn it. Just like the designers earned their respect. Just like you earned your respect as a musician, you have to earn it, it doesn’t just come.

References:

DEZEEN.COM

http://www.dezeen.com/2015/03/06/will-i-am-interview-future-3d-printing-people/