Genetic Robots made with 3D printing without a human designer
The German high tech research Fraunhofer-Institut has just unveiled its Genetic Robots. The robots are made by using genetic algorithms that come up with the optimal robot shape and form without the involvement of any human designer. The optimal form is decided based on a physics engine that takes into account the tasks and terrain and then designs the robot accordingly. The robots are made of ball and socket joints and connecting tubes and can change shape depending on the required tasks. The resulting robot is then 3D printed.
This is nothing short of the future of design. By looking at the fitness of a design before the robot is made and by individually designing and 3D printing only the best suited designs, more optimal designs can be produced. No longer do designs have to be “for all terrains” or for all uses but they can suffice for a single task. In effect you have disposable highly specialized robots. With Moore’s law and other technology accelerators in effect this comm
3D Printing Architectural Models
Karel Honigs made a 3D print of a house he was constructing together with his twin brother. They made it in polyamide and designed it so you could see both the exterior and interior.
To view our house in 3D before we actually started constructing it, we decided to design it in Google SketchUp. We, that”s my twin brother and I. Therefore, we called the project ”The Brothers”.
This 3D model is the symbol of our hard work and fine cooperation. We spent many hours working on the model since we started out with the 2D files we got from our architect.
What”s nice about our 3D printed model, is that it can be disassembled and viewed from the inside. We are really happy with the produced result. In the end the effort was well worth it.
— Karel Honings
Fiction vs. Reality: What 3D Printing Is and How Pop Culture Sees It
How Pop Culture Sees New Technologies
I love CSI and its legion of lab coat wearing copies. One of the reasons I like those shows is that science is one of the heroes of these series. I enjoy hearing about new technologies such as tricorder-like scanners, new ways to lift fingerprints and minute trace evidence that can be tracked back to its source.
My only worry is that every time one of these shows deals with a subject that I understand they screw it up. Probably the most famous example is the CSI New York episode where one cast member says she will “create a GUI interface using Visual Basic to see if I can track an IP address.” Believe it, there is a clip right here.
It’s as if someone got the 1997 edition of ‘The Information Superhighway for Dummies’ and randomly strung glossary entries together to form a sentence. This error could have been averted by one phone call placed to most of the people I know.
A 3D Printer in the TV Show ‘Bones’
Recently I watched a Bones epi
Customize Your Ikea furniture with Mykea
Mykea is a Dutch company that lets you personalize your Ikea furniture. According to the company, “We are now the company that enables everybody to customize their Ikea furniture and thereby giving their interior a trendy look and making their homes more personal and unique with the MyKea Design Covers.” The covers, giant stickers, can be made for a number of furniture pieces. You could take your own design or buy one from a designer. Once you order a piece it is delivered to you and you can stick the cover on your furniture.
Designers can participate and earn money by uploading designs and selling them on the site. The company aims to create a community and the website is very slick and easy to use. I wonder if they”ll stick to the covers or offer more services such as painting or even more fundamental customization. Previously several groups of artists and designers were involved in more radical customization with Ikea furniture with Hacking Ikea projects. Do check ou
New SketchUp 3D Printing Plugin & Cheap 3D Printing Tip
Make 3D printing your SketchUp models easier: here is the i.materialise 3D printing plugin you’ve been waiting for. As the for the cheapest 3D printing in the world? I’ll qualify and explain that statement below. The process of going from SketchUp model to 3D print can be a complex one. Architects, students and people renovating there homes are using this tool to make it easier for them to 3D print their architectural designs. We’d love to get feedback from you on what you like (or dislike) about our newest plug in so we can make it better. We think this is the easiest way to take a SketchUp design and get it 3D printed, but we want to improve it even more. (more…)
Objectified – A documentary about industrial design
“Objectified is a documentary about industrial design; it’s about the manufactured objects we surround ourselves with, and the people who make them. On an average day, each of us uses hundreds of objects. (Don’t believe it? Start counting: alarm clock, light switch, faucet, shampoo bottle, toothbrush, razor…) Who makes all these things, and why do they look and feel the way they do? All of these objects are “designed,” but how can good design make them, and our lives, better?” – Gary Hustwit –
According to director Gary Hustwit, the term objectified has two meanings. One is ‘to be treated with the status of a mere object.’ But the other is ‘something abstract expressed in a concrete form,’ as in the way a sculpture objectifies an artist’s thoughts. It’s the act of transforming creative thought into a tangible object, which is what designers in this film do every day. But maybe there’s a third meaning to this title, regarding the ways these objects are affecting us and our e
3D printing in contemporary art: Nick Ervinck
3D printing is becoming more and more the technology of choice for artists nowadays. Artists’ models often employ a variety of different materials involving small and intricately detailed pieces with various shapes and curves, and special kinds of finishes that accentuate artistic elements. 3D printing allows artists to manufacture forms and shapes that cannot be fabricated in any other way. A lot of them are collaborating with Materialise because sometimes the unthinkable becomes a tangible reality. Meet Nick Ervinck.
“I make sculptures that are on the edge of the physical and digital realm in terms of sculpture and architecture. The art of sculpting has evolved through history with the help of technology. Because architects design mainly with computers now, a new type of language is created. In light of this, I see this new world of architecture as a precursor for what will happen in the world of art and sculpture. It’s great that high-tech companies like Materialise are help
i.materialise buys a Makerbot!
Our software development team and most of our customer services team are in Kiev, Ukraine. Since we don”t have a production facility there they aren”t surrounded by 3D printers like the rest of us here in Belgium. To compensate the team bought and built a Makerbot. One of the main reasons for getting it was to show job applicants going through the interview process a 3D printer in action. Franky (our designer) took some pictures of the wonderful little device while he was over there. The team loves it and enjoyed building it very much.
The first thing the team 3D printed was the Materialise Ukraine logo.
Maksym, one of the builders reports that, “It took 3 evenings * 3 hours each * 5.5 people = 49.5 man hours to assemble the thing. The build went smoothly but they did have some issues,
- Initially it was difficult for plastic to stick to the platform:
- When the structure is flat and thick it starts to deform and peel off the platform
- Small details can cause plastic
Shapeways: Revenue, Profit, Competitors
In a Dutch interview Shapeways CEO Peter Weijmarshausen talks about some interesting Shapeways facts. The company generated 244,000 Euro in Revenue over 2009. During the same period Shapeways lost 1,400,000 Euro. He also mentions that the outsourced production companies Shapeways uses to make its 3D prints are 3D printing 7 days a week and 24 hours a day. Peter mentions that the Shapeways sells 10,000 objects a month and reiterates that Union Square Ventures & Index Ventures have put $5 million into the company.
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The Cutest 3D Printed Robot Ever
Robots are mostly portrayed as evil cold calculating creatures. Cylons, HAL, ASH have a cute deficit. Even Commander Data misses a certain degree of warmth. As you may know we’re doing a lot of work with customizing robots using 3D printing. We love the idea of “pimp your robot” and think that there is a lot of potential there.
But, in Japan..in Japan people are always light years ahead. Our Business Development guy in Japan Hiro shot a video of an extremely customized robot at Dekinnoka!7. She, wears a skirt, has glasses, is a competitor in robot wrestling and has had us all in stitches laughing all morning. Introducing, the world’s cutest robot… wanmi be sure to watch the video, we think its hilarious. She comes on stage at around 55 seconds.
