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Micro-electro-mechanical devices (MEMS) are based on the integration of mechanical and electrical components on a micrometer scale. We all use them continuously in our everyday life: For example, in our mobile phones there are at least a dozen MEMS that regulate different activities ranging from motion, position, and inclination monitoring of the phone; active filters for the different transmission bands, and the microphone itself.

Even more interesting is the extreme nanoscale miniaturization of these devices (NEMS), because it offers the possibility of creating inertial, mass and force sensors with such sensitivity that they can interact with single molecules.

However, the diffusion of NEMS sensors is still limited by the high manufacturing cost of traditional silicon-based technologies. Conversely, new technologies such as 3D printing have shown that similar structures can be created at low cost and with interesting intrinsic functionalities, but to date the performance as mass sensors are poor.

According to Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chair of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the 4-IR follows the first, second, and third Industrial Revolutions—the mechanical, electrical, and digital, respectively. The 4-IR builds on the digital revolution, but Schwab sees the 4-IR as an exponential takeoff and convergence of existing and emerging fields, including Big Data; artificial intelligence; machine learning; quantum computing; and genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics. The consequence is the merging of the physical, digital, and biological worlds. The blurring of these categories ultimately challenges the very ontologies by which we understand ourselves and the world, including “what it means to be human.”

The specific applications that make up the 4-R are too numerous and sundry to treat in full, but they include a ubiquitous internet, the internet of things, the internet of bodies, autonomous vehicles, smart cities, 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, and more.

While Schwab and the WEF promote a particular vision for the 4-IR, the developments he announces are not his brainchildren, and there is nothing original about his formulations. Transhumanists and Singularitarians (or prophets of the technological singularity), such as Ray Kurzweil and many others, forecasted these and more revolutionary developments,. long before Schwab heralded them. The significance of Schwab and the WEF’s take on the new technological revolution is the attempt to harness it to a particular end, presumably “a fairer, greener future.”

New 3D printer aims to make bioprinting more accessible with uses that range from personalised drugs to human spare parts.

But in recent years the government has signaled its intent to open up the sector to private players and last year passed a series of reforms designed to foster innovation and encourage new start ups. Earlier this month Prime Minister Narendra Modi also launched the Indian Space Association, an industry body designed to foster collaboration between public and private players.

One of the companies that has been quick to pounce on these new opportunities is Agnikul, which is being incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras in Chennai. This February, the company successfully test fired its 3D-printed Agnilet rocket engine, just four years after its founding.

While other private space companies like Relativity Space and Rocket Lab also use 3D printing to build their rockets, Agnikul is the first to print an entire rocket engine as a single piece. IEEE Spectrum spoke to co-founder and chief operating officer Moin SPM to find out why the company thinks this gives them an edge in the burgeoning “launch on-demand” market for small satellites. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

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Progress has an accelerating rate of change due to the compounding effect of these technologies, in which they will enable countless more from 3D printing, autonomous vehicles, blockchain, batteries, remote surgeries, virtual and augmented reality, robotics – the list can go on and on.

Continue reading “Our Autonomous Future (How Automation Will Change The World)” »

Known formally as additive manufacturing, or AM, in the business, the process can make almost anything—even a car.

“For our OEMs, we were able to show a print rate 50% faster than they needed for value production and an assembly rate about 35% faster than they need for full-volume production,” Kevin said. “We have a dozen programs for multi component structures,” said Kevin. “Our first production programs are going to be in vehicles on the road in early 2022. And these are with brands that are within groups that are in the top five global automotive groups by annual volume.”

So, just to review, it’s: computer-designed parts, 3D printers making those parts, which are assembled by robots, in a much smaller space than typical assembly lines.

Continue reading “3D-Printing the Czinger 21C Supercar Shows Us the Future of Car Making” »

AI paints a Picasso nude, just like Pablo did.

“Lost” Picasso nude comes out of hiding, thanks to artificial intelligence and 3D printing.

O,.o! Circa 2017

3D printers are useful devices for all kinds of reasons, but most have a critical weakness: they simply take a long time to actually make anything. That’s because additive manufacturing generally works by putting down an object one microscopic layer at a time. But a new holographic printing technique makes it possible to create the entire thing at once — in as little as a second or two.

Light-based 3D printing techniques generally use lasers to cause a layer of resin to harden in a pattern, but like extrusion printers, they have to do it layer by layer. If the laser shined all the way through the liquid resin, it would cause a big line of it to cure.

Continue reading “Holography-based 3D printing produces objects in seconds instead of hours” »

Leveraging 3D printing to make the meat appear more appetizing.

A biotech startup in China recently showcased its lab-grown pork and is aiming for cost-parity with conventionally sourced pork by 2,025 Reuters reported.

Amidst growing concerns of emissions resulting from meat production, countries are looking for protein alternates that can feed their population while also being eco-friendly. Plant-based meats have been around for a while but need further development to stand in as replacements to animal meats. Cultured or lab-grown meats are sourced from animal cells and show a high resemblance to conventional meat but lack production at scale and are expensive to manufacture, making it difficult for consumers to switch. 3D printing to make the meat appear more appetizing.