Military Researchers Design Real-life 'Transformer' Plane

UK aerospace and defense contractor BAE Systems have taken the wraps off several concepts it envisions as possible tools for the military in the decades to come — and if these designs are any guide, future battlefields are going to look like the set of a science fiction movie.

The most interesting of the concepts is called the Transformer, a stealth aircraft that's actually composed of three airplanes — a large, diamond-shaped model, and two smaller flanking planes.

The Transformer is theoretically capable of longer flights that conserve fuel by reducing overall aerodynamic drag.

Right now, the most common aerial refueling techniques are the probe-and-drogue and the boom method, both of which require the delicate mid-air synchronization of separate aircraft. The Transformer would conceivably make the prospect of longer missions easier by requiring fewer mid-air fueling runs.

Alongside the Transformer, the firm also unveiled several other concept vehicles, including a self-healing aircraft called the Survivor (see video above). This plane repairs its exterior in mid-flight using a lightweight adhesive fluid within a pattern of carbon nanotubes.

BAE's concept videos also include an aircraft capable of shooting a concentrated energy beam to disable missiles as well as an aircraft (see video below) with the ability to fabricate and deploy UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) using on-board 3D printers.

But while BAE's advanced research group is known for coming up with fascinating innovations, the company is careful to mention that the concepts are mere predictions of what might be possible by 2040.

"[W]e don't know exactly what sorts of aircraft technologies will be used in 2040 with any certainty," said Nick Colosimo, an engineering manager from BAE's R&D team, in a statement. "But it's great to be able to show the public some concepts that might be possible through projecting where today’s technology could get to."

Image:youtube BAE SYSTEM

Read full Article…

Researchers Create Walking Bio-Bots That Are Powered by Muscle

Researchers at the University of Illinois are developing what they call “bio-bots," or machines that combine synthetic 3D-printed frameworks with biological muscle tissue.

When the muscle fibers are jolted with electricity, they contract. Those muscles are attached to 3D-printed "bones," which are flexible enough to bend under the strain, and the result is forward motion. Scientists can control the speed of each bot by varying the frequency of electric pulses.

Researchers here have worked on similar projects before. A walking bio-bot in 2012 used rat heart cells to provide motion. However, the heart cells were "always on"; researchers couldn’t control when they fired.

The new version solves that problem.

“Skeletal muscles cells are very attractive because you can pace them using external signals,” head researcher Rashid Bashir said. “We want to have different options that could be used by engineers to design these things.”

The Illinois group envisions bio-bots that act as surgical aids or drug delivery vehicles, perhaps even with their own neurons so they can recognize and respond to light or chemical stimuli.

The team’s findings have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Read full Article…

Scientists 3D Print a 'Tumor' of Cancer Cells

Using 3D printing, researchers have made a tumor-like lump of cancer cells in the lab, and they say this lump shows a greater resemblance to natural cancer than do the two-dimensional cultured cells grown in a lab dish.

This more realistic representation of a tumor could aid studies on cancer and drug treatments, the researchers said.

To build the tumor-like structure, the researchers mixed gelatin, fibrous proteins and cervical cancer cells, then fed the resulting mixture into a 3D cell printer they had developed. Layer by layer, the printer produced a grid structure, 10 millimeters in width and length, and 2 millimeters in height.

That structure resembles the fibrous proteins that make up the extracellular matrix of a tumor, the researchers said.

The cells were then allowed to grow, and after five days, the growth took on a spherical shape. The spheres continued to grow for three more days.

The cervical cancer cells used by the researchers were HeLa cells, the "immortal" cell line that was originally taken from a cancer patient, Henrietta Lacks, in 1951. HeLa cells can multiply indefinitely and are the most common type of cells studied in cancer research.

In general, cancer studies involve cancer cells grown in the lab, which help scientists better understand the behavior of these abnormal cells. New cancer drugs are usually tested on such cells, in the lab, before being evaluated in human studies. Therefore, 2D models of cancer that consist of a single layer of cells grown in a dish have been created to assist research and testing of new drugs.

However, compared with such 2D cell cultures, the additional dimension of a 3D culture better reveals the tumor cells' characteristics, including their shape, their proliferation, and gene and protein expression, the researchers said.

"With further understanding of these 3D models, we can use them to study the development, invasion, metastasis and treatment of cancer using specific cancer cells from patients," said study researcher Wei Sun, a professor in the department of mechanical engineering at Drexel University, in Philadelphia.

"We can also use these models to test the efficacy and safety of new cancer treatment therapies and new cancer drugs," said Sun, who is also the editor-in-chief of the journal Biofabrication, in which the new research is published April 10.

The researchers also found that using certain parameters during printing made it possible for about 90% of cells to survive the printing process. The mechanical force of printing can damage cells.

This article originally published at LiveScience.

IMAGE: NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MICROSCOPY, TOM DEERINCK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Read full Article…

World's Smallest 3D-Printing Pen Is Coming to Kickstarter

Humans are accustomed to drawing in the air. We gesture with our hands when talking and will try to illustrate charade secrets by "drawing" objects in space. 3D-printing pens takes those gestures, makes them tangible and, in the hands of an artists, beautiful. Recent 3D-printing pens have been cool, but clunky affairs. LIX Pen, however, is something different. It's light, small and apparently needs no more power than you can draw from your run-of-the-mill laptop. Now it's coming to Kickstarter.

Measuring 6.45 inches long, 0.55 inch in diameter and weighing just 1.23 ounces, the aluminum 3D-printing pen (which also comes in black) really is pen sized. You hold it just like a pen, and plug a 3.5mm-like jack into the base and the other end of your cable into your computer. The juice allows LIX to heat to over 300-degrees Fahrenheit, though the plant-based PLA filament (it can also use the stronger ABS plastic) only needs to heat to 180-degrees to work. That filament is fed in through a hole in the base and emerges as a super-heated liquid on the tip so you can start doodling in the air.

Unlike 3D printers, there is no program guiding the printing tip. Instead, to create 3D objects, you simply start drawing in the air with the LIX Pen, moving slowly as the melted filament draws out. It cools quickly so that your structure remains rigid. Each filament rod is about 10 centimeters long and should, according to the company, last for about two minutes of air-drawing.

3D pen printing works for everything from abstract sculpture to fine art and jewelry to T-shirt design. The only limit, it appears, is your skill level and ability to hold and move the pen very, very steadily.

LIX co-founder Anton Suvorov, told the company's 3D-printing pen "has no concurrence on the market," and it should arrive in Kickstarter sometime around April 14, where the company will be taking pre-orders. The starting price, at least for the campaign, will be $139.95. LIX also sells, for $59.95, a ballpoint pen replica of LIX that is nothing more than a regular pen, but why would anyone want that?

Image: LIX

Read full Article…

A 3D Printer Could Be Your Future Tattoo Artist

Ink junkies, take note— a machine could create your future tattoos.

Three French design students modified a MakerBot 3D printer to administer tattoos. One lucky volunteer is now the proud bearer of the world's first 3D-printed tattoo — a perfect circle on his forearm.

Pierre Emm, Piotr Widelka and Johan Da Silveira modified the printer as part of a challenge from France's Cultural Ministry and hosted through design school ENSCI Les Ateliers. For the challenge, the students had eight hours to create a project that remixes images, videos and sounds found in the public domain.

Though the original project used only a pen to create a temporary tattoo, the students worked in their spare time to create a printer that would create permanent tattoos.

The trio tested their machine using artificial skin before finding a volunteer and using a Scooter inner tube to the hold the skin taut.

Read full Article…

Philips Shines Light on First 3D-Printed Smart Lamp

As 3D-printed objects and smart home technology become even hotter product categories, it makes sense that Philips is rolling out an app-controlled 3D-printed lamp.

Philips announced a collection of new products on Friday — from a new app-controlled light bulb to a kinectic-energy-powered light switch — but we're most entranced by its 3D-printed lamp line.

The lamp comes in two styles that work with the company's Hue line, the Entity (pictured above) and the Tempest (pictured below, in pendant form). Users can create lighting effects using more than 16 million color variations on the lamp and control the settings via an accompanying app. Lighting can also be programmed based on the time of day and personal preferences.

But the price of cool is hefty. The table lamps are $4,445 and the pendant edition is $4,135. The products are available for pre-order on Meethue.com, starting March 31.

Philips is also launching the Hue tap ($59), a product the company calls the first ever kinetic-powered, web-enabled light switch. If you don't want to use an app to control Hue bulbs, the light switch sticks to the walls and can be re-applied throughout the house. Users can also program up to four color sequences. It doesn't need batteries (it requires a bridge that plugs into a home Wi-Fi router) and can control up to 50 Hue bulbs. It will go on sale in North America and Europe this summer.

The light bulb line is also getting an update with the addition of the Hue Lux, an app-controlled light bulb that only emits white light. This option is significantly less pricey ($99 for two bulbs and a bridge) than the color controlled ones ($199 for three bulbs and a bridge).

Philips aims to make this the entry-level product for those looking to take their first steps toward creating a smarter home, but the Hue Lux still uses the Hue system so you can access third party apps, such as the disco app that syncs the light to music.

It's also compatible with the Jawbone fitness tracker, so it knows when you wake up and can automatically switch on the light another room. The Hue Lux will launch in fall 2014. 

Image: PHILIPS

Read full Article…

NASA Wants to 3D Print Equipment in Space

The newest adopter of 3D printing isn't some hobbyist in a basement — it's NASA.

The agency is already building some of its customized spacecraft and instrument parts using 3D printing, and someday soon, astronauts might even make tools and replacement by 3D printing them in space.

NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate has launched several programs to create prototypes of tools for current or future missions using 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, a manufacturing technique that uses Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models to build objects layer-by-layer out of plastic, metal or other materials.

"With additive manufacturing, we have an opportunity to push the envelope on how this technology might be used in zero gravity — how we might ultimately manufacture in space." LaNetra Tate, the advanced-manufacturing principal investigator for the directorate's Game Changing Development Program said in a statement.

NASA's Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Md., has already flown a 3D printed battery case on a sounding-rocket mission test, and Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., used 3D-printed components for the J-2X and RS-25 rocket engines. Marshall is also working with the Silicon Valley start-up Made In Space, which plans to fly a 3D printer to the International Space Station in October.

"We're not driving the additive manufacturing train, industry is," Ted Swanson, the assistant chief for technology for the Mechanical Systems Division at Goddard said in a statement. "But NASA has the ability to get on-board to leverage it for our unique needs."

NASA is part of a team of government agencies investing in a public-private partnership called America Makes (formerly the National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute) whose goal is to incorporate 3D printers into mainstream U.S. manufacturing.

"This effort really goes beyond one center," Matt Showalter, who is overseeing Goddard's various 3D printing efforts, said in a statement.

NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., has developed a green manufacturing technique that uses a computer controlled electron-beam gun to build metal structures that could make parts or tools within hours. NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, in collaboration with Aerojet Rocketdyne of West Palm Beach, Fla., recently built and tested an engine injector for the RL-10 rocket.

Meanwhile, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is researching how to build 3D habitats and others structures on other planets using soil, or regolith.

"It's in the national interest to collaborate with other institutions," Showalter said. "This is a powerful tool and we need to look at how we can implement it."

his article originally published at Space.com

Image: JAE C. HONG/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Read full Article…

The Mark One Is World's First Carbon Fiber 3D Printer

A new 3D printer can print carbon fiber and other composite materials.

Created by Boston-based startup MarkForged, it's called the Mark One.

Company founder Gregory Mark showed off the printer at the SolidWorks World design conference in San Diego, Calif. this week.

"We took the idea of 3D printing, that process of laying things down strand by strand, and we used it as a manufacturing process to make composite parts," Mark said in an interview with Popular Mechanics. "We say it's like regular 3D printers do the form. We do form and function."

In addition to carbon fiber, the Mark One can print other composite materials, including nylon, fiberglass and PLA (a thermoplastic made from renewable materials).

The advantage of 3D printing with composite materials, as opposed to the plastics that 3D printers typically use, is their strength; they are much stronger than plastics, and therefore have a wider range of potential applications.

The 3D printer will cost $5,000, and will be available for pre-order on MarkForged's website beginning in February. Mark said the company is keeping the price of the printer low to ensure that it's as accessible to as many people as possible.

"It's a material that everybody knows, but probably most people haven't used," he said. "We wanted to make it really easy for people to start printing with it, so they can explore prosthetics, custom bones, tools and fixtures."

Image:  MARKFORGED

Read full Article…

3D Printed Food: It's What's for Dinner

Although squeezing out food, layer by layer, from a 3D printer may not yet be particularly efficient — nor sound that tasty — companies are already testing how the Jetsons-esque technology can transform the way we eat. Such old favorites as chocolate, candy, and pasta will take on groovier, sculptured forms when extruded from food printers, and the machines will allow the cooking-adverse to prepare "homemade" ravioli at the push of a button. That should free up more time to watch a tech-fantasy film like Her while the food printer is hard at work preparing dinner. Here's a look the 3D printing concepts on the menu at a range of companies:

Chocolate

This month, 3D Systems announced a development agreement with candy maker Hershey "to explore and develop innovative opportunities for using 3D printing technology in creating edible foods, including confectionery treats." The printers could allow manufacturers to create candies in new shapes and customized designs. Hershey isn't the first company to see 3D potential for chocolate: U.K.-based Choc Edge offers a printer for $4783 and a pack of syringes and chocolate for $25 that create what are essentially chocolate illustrations (pictured above).

Pizza

Because the health and happiness of astronauts is paramount, NASA granted contractor Systems & Materials Research $125,000 to develop a pizza printer. The prototype uses shelf-stable powdered food and oils, offering nutrition while minimizing garbage on board a space vehicle. It first prints a layer of dough onto a heated plate that bakes the dough and then lays down a tomato base that has been stored in powdered form and mixed with water and oil. Last comes a printed "protein layer."

Ravioli

Natural Machine's Foodini ($1,400), to launch later this year, can make many kinds of food. Here's how Mashable explains the ravioli printing process: "Prepare the dough and the filling, load them into the machine's food 'capsules' and select 'ravioli' on the printer's iPad-like interface. Foodini will then print the ingredients in the shape of fully-formed ravioli, and the only thing left to do is cook them."

Chickpea Nuggets

An additional Foodini recipe: vegetarian nuggets made of chickpeas, bread crumbs, garlic, spices, olive oil, and salt. Natural Machines co-founder Lynette Kucsma says the machine has also printed quiche, hash browns, cookies, crackers, brownies, and "upscale/designed" fish and chips.

Corn Chips

Cornell Creative Machines Lab built a printer that can create a swirly, flower-shaped corn chip, using masa dough. It can also make hamburger patties with layers of ketchup and mustard.

Sugar Candies

Looking for inspiration in sugar cubes? 3D Systems' Chefjet (one color, about $5,000) and Chefjet Pro (multi-color, about $10,000) — both available later this year — can print uniquely shaped sugar confections in flavors such as chocolate, vanilla, mint, cherry, sour apple, and watermelon. They can also print custom cake toppers — presumably in the likeness of the guest of honor.

This article originally published at Businessweek here

IMAGE: ROBYN BECK/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Read full Article…

Stratasys Unveils World's First Multi-Color, Multi-Material 3D Printer

While Star Trek replicators still don't exist, we just moved a little closer to the dream, thanks to a new kind of 3D printer. 3D-printing manufacturer Stratasys just debuted the Objet500 Connex3, the world’s first 3D printer that can produce multi-color, multi-material objects at the same time.

This means the one-dimensional design aesthetic seen in many 3D-printed prototypes can now give way to a wide range of dynamic and — more importantly — consumer-ready prototypes in terms of look and feel.

"As the first true multi-purpose 3D printer, we believe the Objet500 Connex3 color multi-material 3D printer is in a league of its own, enabling you to dream up a product in the morning, and hold it in your hands by the afternoon, with the exact intended color, material properties and surface finish," Stratasys vice-president of product marketing and sales operations Igal Zeitun, said in a statement.

Using three different base resins and 10 color palettes, the Objet500 Connex3 can craft a variety of 3D-printed objects.

Stratasys provides examples that are surprisingly elaborate, including a pair of sports goggles (complete with lenses and rubber-like components), flexible shoes, headphones, a blender and even multi-colored football and bike helmets.

However, the printer's large size suggests that it is mainly targeted toward major corporations and high-end designers, a market Stratasys believes will benefit the most from its new innovation.

"In the prototyping marketplace, people are looking to bring early realism to the production process," Jon Cobb, Stratasys' executive vice-president of marketing.

"This kind of 3D printing is important not only for a one-off process, but for a prototyping process in which you're looking for choices, including sales, marketing and engineering. Also, there's probably a lot of artists and architects that you'll start to see use this kind of wide range of materials and palette of colors. I think this will enable a whole new group of people who will be interested in 3D printing."

Stratasys also has its eye on the consumer, as proven by its 2013 acquisition of the more consumer-oriented 3D-printing company MakerBot.

However, it's unclear when — or if at all — Stratasys' multi-color, multi-material 3D printer will make it to your living room, according to Cobb.

"Down the road, three to five years, sure, there's always interest in looking at the different tech that we have and trying to combine them. But for now, there's nothing on horizon," he said.

Although Stratasys has not disclosed the exact price of the Objet500 Connex3, Cobb said it will cost around $330,000, and will be commercially available in the second quarter of 2014.

Read full Article…

Adobe Adds 3D Printing Tools to Photoshop

Adobe is adding new tools to Photoshop that let users create and edit designs for 3D printing.

Before 3D printers crank out objects, a user needs digital model — either one they create or download from the Internet. One you've got one, though, you'll need software that supports 3D imagery if you want to edit it. As of today, Photoshop users can design, edit and customize those 3D models similar to how you might adjust a 2D picture within the app.

The move is part of an effort from the company to bring 3D printing to the mainstream.

"3D printing has been around for a few decades, but most of the money spent on parts is in manufacturing and dental verticals," Andy Lauta, Product Manager at Photoshop, said during a press call. "As more consumers start to participate in 3D printing capabilities and those buying 3D printers install them in their homes, the 3D market [will grow]. The problem today — prior to the announcement — is that there is a gap between the models out there and what printers need to do to produce high-quality results."

After downloading 3D photo models from online services such as Thingiverse, Photoshop users can add color, adjust the shape or rotate the angles. Artists can also design 3D models from scratch.

"We aren't envisioning Photoshop to compete with other models, but — similar role to what the platform does in the creative workplace — it will be a finishing tool to create and edit," Lauta said.

When a user is ready to print a 3D object, the software will take you through fixing minor flaws in the model (such as patching small holes in the mesh) and preparing it for production. You can also specify the type of material you want to use for printing.

"It takes the hard part out out of 3D printing," Lauta added. "What you see on the screen will be what's printed in 3D. Photoshop now supports a range of 3D printers too, including ones from MakerBot."

The update, available now, requires Photoshop version 14.1 to be installed on computers. It's a free update for Adobe Creative Cloud members ($49.99 a month), as well as Creative Cloud app members ($19.99 each month) and CS3 customers ($9.99). The 3D printing tools can also be accessed for a free 30-day trial period.

MakerBot currently has its own editing platform on the market (MakerWare), a free solution for editing 3D designs.

Image: Adobe

Read full Article…

Here's a $499 3D printer

After the deluge of announcements from MakerBot and 3D Systems over the past two days, it's likely going to be tough for any other 3D printing companies to cut through the noise this week at CES -- though XYZprinting's got something most of the competition can't match: a sub-$500 price point; $499, to be exact. The Taiwanese company will be brushing elbows with the big boys, showcasing the da Vinci 2.0, a semi-enclosed cube printer with a 7.8 x 7.8 x 7.8 build volume, which is set to launch in Europe, Japan and the US come March.

Image: XYZprinting

Read full Article…

Deltaprintr A College Kid Built 3D Printer Himself

Deltaprintr

When college student Shai Schechter didn't have access to an affordable 3D printer on his SUNY Purchase campus in New York, he set out to build his own model — one that would still crank out 3D-printed objects, but at a much lower cost.

"We have a laser- and powder-based 3D printer at school, but it costs about $500 for a bucket of powder and that only lasts for about one or two prints," Schechter said. "It's never used because it is so expensive and classes weren’t offered that much in the curriculum."

"We are targeting educational institutions first, so people can learn how to assemble them," Schecter said. "When you buy a MakerBot, and you read a manual about how to use it, you don't learn a lot about how the printer and technology works. This is why we are offering the assembly manual on Kickstarter, too — we want people to really get their hands on it."

The Deltaprintr uses three stepper motors, located under the acrylic platform where the objects are printed. Motors control the carriages that move the hot end and ultimately create the 3D-printed objects. Since a Deltaprintr design doesn't rqeuire as many parts as other 3D printers, the savings are passed on to consumers. 

"MakerBot uses belts to move the print head, but ours uses a fishing line," Schechter said. "With the fishing line, you can expand it to make it taller if you want by changing the aluminum rods.It allows it to go faster than the MakerBot and is more accurate. It allows it to go faster than the MakerBot and is more accurate."

3D printed objects

Although the Deltaprintr team is focusing on getting the product off the ground as an educational tool, it's eying the mass market, too.

"We want it to have a place in education, but it's still for the everyday user," Schechter said. "We have a lot of ideas that we plan to execute in the next year to make the Deltaprintr even better and lower the cost even more."

Image: kickstarter

Read full Article…