Education
3D printing is a great tool to teach students about engineering and design. A number of universities around Australia – including Swinburne, University of Melbourne and ANU – have purchased 3D printers and have included their use in various curricula.
It’s a great way to introduce principles around design, manufacturing, sustainability and 3D modelling to students early on. It’s also a lot more fun for students to learn by doing (assuming they get to make their own parts) than through theory.
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3D printing in construction.
Retail
3D printing can also be a product in and of itself. The website Shapeways allows customers to order objects made of plastic, glass, metal, and other materials, then prints the objects and mails them off. Shapeways is also planning to open a 3D printing factory in the US where people can see how these objects get made.
MakerBot Industries, a leader in the 3D printing industry, has recently opened a shop in Manhattan where people can purchase a large variety of 3D printed objects as well as small 3D printers.
3D printing may also open the door to a new marketplace for 3D designs – assuming you have a 3D printer at home. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, has said that the future of online retail will be shaped by 3D printing.
And many others
Other applications include reconstructing fossils, replicating ancient artifacts, and reconstructing heavily damaged evidence acquired from crime scene investigations.
Researchers have also investigated customised 3D-printed running shoes, which would fit you perfectly and would be designed to meet your needs.
And, rather more bizarrely, US-based start-up Modern Meadow is currently working on producing printed edible meat. How about a 3D-printed steak (made as you wish) for your next BBQ?
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Challenges remain
As wonderful as 3D printing is, the technology and its uses have raised a number of legal and ethical concerns.
Experts point out the copyright infringements that could result if an original 3D CAD model is based on scanning a real 3D object – a real object that might have been designed (and copyrighted) by some someone else.
As an article in The Economist in September 2012 points out, unless the object is in the public domain, copyright law could well apply. There have already been a number of users who have been caught out using 3D printers to reproduce popular merchandise.
Illegal printing?
In the US, the production of a partially 3D printed (and fully operational) gun has created much controversy and raised concerns over the potential misuse of the technology.
Forbes also recently reported that “Wiki Weapon”, a project aimed at creating the first fully printable plastic gun, has received the funding required to get off the ground.
The project’s aim to create a usable open-source blueprint so that individuals can download and print their own gun. As the Guardian reports, 3D printing technology is so new, the legality of the gun publication is still somewhat opaque.
Some commentators have also argued that 3D printing technology could be used to make drugs, both illicit and legal, using a CAD-designed structural model leading to more accurate and (most worryingly) faster production.
As discussed, 3D printing is already being used across a range of industries for myriad different uses. And, in the years to come we’re likely to see further applications emerge.
It probably won’t be too long before we start to see 3D printers become a regular fixture in homes in the same way ink printers have.
Hamza is a doctoral candidate at the Australian National University (ANU). His research looks at novel methods for composite materials manufacturing by using automated/robotic solutions. This article first appeared on The Conversation.