When we say a sculpture is impressive because of its scale, we're usually alluding to how big or tall it is.

But in the case of artist Jonty Hurwitz' nano-sculptures, the scale is impressive — mind-boggling, really — because of how tiny it is.

Hurwitz claims the sculptures are the smallest depiction of the human form, and that they've been seen "in one way or another, in the web sphere, by 20 or 30 million people so far."

The South African-born artist used more than 200 cameras in a warehouse in Sussex, England, to capture live models. The cameras all go off at the same time to provide data for reconstruction.

Technicians at Nanoscribe, a spin-off of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, recreated the models in a sterile lab. Light is focused on one point of a polymer to create "a tiny 3D pixel (called a Voxel)," Hurwitz writes on his website. "The sculpture is then moved along fractionally by a computer controlled process and the next pixel is created."

These voxels number in the "tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands" per sculpture, each voxel measuring between three and five hundred nanometers, Hurwitz told Business Insider. This tiny figure is still small enough to fit on a human hair.

3D-printing may have just had its proper “wow” moment on the first day of TED2015 in Vancouver, Canada.

Watch this and try not to think of the moment T-1000 stepped out of liquid metal in Terminator 2:

The extraordinary process was demonstrated by Carbon3D, which says it has found a way to harness light and oxygen to print a range of 3D shapes from shoes to medical devices.

And yes, they admit they were inspired by the T-1000.

While the video above was sped up seven times, Carbon3D showed its machine on stage producing a plastic ball from a pool of resin in 10 minutes.

“It would traditionally take up to 10 hours to print this,” Carbon3D chief executive Prof Joseph De Simone told the audience, adding that traditional 3D printing was actually “2D printing over and over”.

The light hardens the resin, he said, and oxygen counteracts the hardening. Control the levels of both and you can create intricate shapes.

De Simone told the BBC the printer can conceivably print teeth “while the patient sits in the dentist’s chair”.

Carbon3D plans to have its printer on the market “within a year”.

Here is the full video:

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Rapid prototyping may soon get a whole lot more rapid, thanks to an entirely new method of 3D printing. Instead of taking hours to 3D-print something, it might soon take minutes.

The UNC-Chapel Hill researchers, who described their new process in the journal Science, named it CLIP for "continuous liquid interface production."

They argue their method confronts two of the most annoying aspects of 3D printing: waiting hours for a creation, and one with rough surfaces. CLIP, they claim, can print smooth, complex objects in a fraction of the time as existing systems, and using a wider variety of materials.

Existing 3D-printing methods that use liquid resin build objects layer-by-layer in a slow process: print a layer, cure it, replenish the resin supply, repeat. In the CLIP system, a projector displays successive, imperceptibly thin cross-sections of the object from below in ultraviolet light.

This light hardens a layer of liquid just above the bottom of a pool of liquid resin. Meanwhile, a platform continuously lifts the forming object out of the resin.

The killer feature of a CLIP printer is the bottom of the pool: a window that lets oxygen as well as ultraviolet light pass through. Because oxygen blocks the curing process, the membrane effectively--and continuously--forms a "dead zone" of non-curable resin on the bottom.

Yet the layer is only about as thin as few red blood cells. This lets ultraviolet light pass through and cure any low-oxygen resin sitting right above the dead zone. Presto: No resin sticks to the bottom, and printing goes faster because it's not happening at the surface, where oxygen is present and slows things down.

As the printer pulls up the forming object, suction feeds more low-oxygen resin toward the bottom.

Drastically speeding up the curing process also makes for smoother 3D prints.

Instead of waiting around for a single slice of a 3D object to cure, CLIP prints continuously, creating objects that rival injection-molded parts. CLIP's makers also claim they can produce much finer parts--with features smaller than 20 microns (as thick as an acrylic fiber)--and potentially use elastomers as well as tissue-compatible biological materials, which most 3D printers can't use.

It also doesn't hurt that the CLIP process looks really cool--the creators even say they were inspired by Terminator 2's iconic liquid metal T-1000.

But at the end of the day, it's really the speed that sets this new process apart. CLIP's creators say objects can be produced 25 to 100 times faster than old-school methods.

The researchers are leveraging the patent-pending process into a startup called Carbon3D, Inc., which plans to produce a commercial version of a CLIP printer by the end of the year.

No word yet on its cost or specifications, but we expect the first batch of Carbon 3D devices will go to startups and research institutions that have a great need for high-quality rapid prototyping--and a lot of cash sitting around.

This article originally appeared on Popular Science

This article was written by Dan Moren from Popular Science and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.

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Architects around the globe are racing to build the world's first 3D printed houses — a breakthrough with profound implications for housing affordability and customization.

In China, a company named Winsun this year said it built 10 3D printed houses in just one day. The reported cost for each: just $5,000.

In Amsterdam, a team of architects has started construction of the 3D Print Canal House, using bio-based, renewable materials. The site is both construction site and public museum; President Obama was among the visitors this year. Hedwig Heinsman, co-founder of DUS architects, the team behind the project, tells Business Insider that in addition to being ec0-friendly, "The main goal, I think, is really to deliver custom-made architecture."

3D printers build structures layer by layer. But at USC in California, Professor Behrokh Khoshnevis is pushing the fabrication process one step further with what he calls "contour crafting." He hopes to develop a gigantic 3D printer, able to print whole house in a single run, from its structure to its electrical and plumbing conduits.

The revolution in 3D printed housing, in other words, is well underway.

Produced by France Costrel. Edited by Sam Rega.

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Multinational 3D design company Autodesk, and Mattel, the makers of Barbie, have teamed up to enable kids to design and make their own toys.

The companies will release a number of 3D design and printing apps which kids can use to create their dream toys.

“One of the best ways for children to learn is through play. Through this collaboration we can engage kids in design thinking and fuel their creativity with digital tools and toys that fit effortlessly into their everyday lives,” Autodesk senior education manager Brenton Wyett said.

The companies haven’t revealed which toy lines kids will be able to customise. But did say the first in a series of new apps is scheduled to launch in the second half of 2015 along with a dedicated online hub for Mattel’s 3D printing initiatives.

Autodesk has been one tech outfit which rode the mining investment boom all the way from Silicon Valley to Australia and then back to China.

Watching manufacturing contract in Australia and mining investment drop off the cliff, the company’s Asia Pacific MD Pat Williams told Business Insider Tony Abbott’s plan to build infrastructure has buoyed that part of its local Australian operations.

“We refer to him as Mr. Infrastructure,” he said.

The company, which has divided its operations between infrastructure, construction, manufacturing, mining and media, has a keen eye on what’s happening in global markets and sees it flow straight through to its bottom line.

“Here in Australia, it hasn’t been good for manufacturing,” Autodesk APAC sales director Rob Malkin said.

But he holds out hope for the industry with the emergence of 3D printing technology lowering the cost of production for auto-parts manufacturers.

“The industry needs to focus on things where you can add value – leave the mass manufacturing to places like China,” he said.

Pointing to examples in Detroit and Japan, the execs said with Australia’s pool of engineers there was an opportunity to build out a strong smart tech and green tech sector.

And now, the fall of the Aussie dollar has bolstered its media and entertainment design business, Malkin said.

Companies like Animal Logic, an Autodesk customer, have scored additional animation work in big blockbuster films because the currency fluctuation has made it more competitive, especially on the cost of labour.

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Graphene is a layer of graphite material discovered in 2004 that has drawn considerable enthusiasm from the scientific community for its potential for use in several industries. It's strong, but also thin and versatile enough to be deposited onto virtually any type of material. 

Produced by Jason Gaines. Video courtesy of Associated Press.

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The dirty little secret of 3D printing is that it only barely works. 

For every totally sweet 3D-printed bust of President Obama, there's a good chance that the printer is going to spit out "spaghetti," only print part of the design, or just jam up entirely.

The reason that happens is straightforward: You have a really cool 3D printer, and you have software that lets you design the thing you want to print, but the digital plumbing that connects the two is often super complicated and unreliable. It's really hard to plug one of these newfangled 3D printers into a computer and just make it work. 

This is why 3D printing has kept its reputation as something for hobbyists and for large companies who have the time to set them up correctly and the money to not care if it fails.

"If the designer can't click 'print' and get what they're trying to print," it's a big problem, says Autodesk Manager of Business Development Kevin Tracy.

It's a problem that's been solved once before: Microsoft Windows 95 introduced plug-and-play device installation 20 years ago, getting things like printers and joysticks (remember those?) to automatically work with a computer. Today it's taken for granted. 

Microsoft and Autodesk want to do the same thing for 3D printing. 

Autodesk, the big design software company, is pushing a 3D printing standard called Spark, which is designed to streamline the process of making printers work with software. And today at Microsoft Build, Microsoft announced that Spark would be built into Windows 10.

So plug any Spark-compatible 3D printer into any Windows 10 device, and it'll automatically download and install whatever mojo it needs on the backend to make it work like it should — just as with your standard off-the-shelf paper printer.

In the short term, the effects of Spark will be most keenly felt in manufacturing industries, where a failed print of a metal part can cost upwards of $1,000, Tracy says.

Companies like GE have turned to 3D printing to make pieces that would be too small and too intricate for any human welder, he says, and soon any company of any size will be able to do the same. 

In the long term,  Tracy believes that this could bring 3D printing to the masses. Any startup, design company, or average person, will be able to print 3D objects without a hassle.

"It removes the need for a 3D printing expert to sit next to a 3D design expert," Tracy says. 

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In a heartwarming demonstration of how modern technology can help people achieve something that simply wasn't possible years ago, a blind mother was recently able to "see" her unborn son for the first time by touching a 3D printout of his ultrasound.

Tatiana Guerra, who has been blind since she was 17, was 20 weeks pregnant when diaper company Huggies Brazil offered her the chance to meet her meet her unborn son, Murilo, for the first time.

Unable to see ultrasounds, expecting mothers like Tatiana have traditionally relied on verbal descriptions to get a sense of what their child will look like. But thanks to advancements in 3D printing that make it cheaper to print out physical models that can be touched and felt, that's beginning to change.

Working with 3D printing company The Goodfellas, Tatiana was surprised with an accurate mold of Murilo's face, accompanied by the phrase "I am your son" inscribed in Braille, according to 3DPrint.com.

You can watch the entire video of Tatiana's first time getting acquainted with Murilo in the video below (skip to the 1:20 mark if you want to skip the Huggies intro).

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A few months ago, I was at the 2015 Game Developers Conference (GDC), when a booth outside the main hall caught my eye.

A company called 3DPlusMe had a station set up where they were scanning the faces of attendees with a 3D camera array and then printing them on to custom 3D-printed vinyl action figures. 

3DPlusMe partners with various companies for some recognizable licenses. At some Major League Baseball or Major League Soccer games, 3DPlusMe sets up shop you can get your face plastered on to a figure wearing your favorite team's jersey. They've also offered Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings custom action figures. 

At GDC, there were two action figure options: Marvel Super Heroes, where I could have had my face printed on to Iron Man or Captain America, or Halo 5: Guardians, based on Microsoft's hit first-person shooter series, where I could make myself into a power-armored Spartan II space marine. 

I chose the shorter line. Halo 5 space marine glory awaited. 

Here's the final result, as arrived to my apartment last night. The final products usually takes between six and eight weeks to ship. 

If you squint while looking at the photo above, you can see that they print your Xbox Live gamertag on the base. Here's a close-up of the face:

 My girlfriend says it's pretty creepy and makes me look like a supervillain, but it looks just like the scan they took at the conference: 

 The real problem, however, is that they're not very good action figures, since they're basically stuck in place, and the vinyl 3DPlusMe uses has a weird, gritty texture.

Plus, the price is a little steep: A custom figure the size of mine runs about $45, with prices varying based on the size. Still, it's definitely a one-of-a-kind collectible.

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Machines have 3D-printed everything from fashion statements to weapons, but now the technology will be used to create infrastructure.

A Dutch design company plans to use special robots to 3D-print a steel bridge across the Amsterdam Canal, like this:

A company called MX3D, which specializes in using robotics to 3D print, and Dutch designer Joris Laaram are behind the project. They've also partnered with Autodesk and the construction company Heijmans to make the arch a reality.

The company wants to start printing the bridge on-site, in the center of Amsterdam, sometime in 2017, an MX3D spokesperson told Business Insider. While the group has the technology to print such complex structures, it still has to validate, design for, and test the bridge's specific location, which has yet to be disclosed, the spokesperson said. 

One thing that makes MX3D’s technology special is that it's able to print with metals and resin in mid-air. Typically, 3D printing in metal is done inside machines that lay down powdered metal and zap it with lasers, one layer at a time.

But not MX3D's devices:

The bridge project will put this technique to the ultimate test by having the robots print their own supportive railing as they move over the water while constructing the pathway.

And once it's finished, people will be allowed to cross over  the 3D-printed arch.

Check out how the whole thing will work in the clip below.

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One day soon, printing skin will be as easy as printing money. At least, this is the take of some experts who claim that the 3-D printed skin industry will be worth $1 billion by 2025.

With the 3-D printing trend already taking the tech world by storm, and offering 3-D printed luxury homes, food, and even organs, it is no wonder that some believe that 3-D printing will revolutionize the manufacturing business at large. And with the medical and health implications of this new technology considered among the most exciting on the horizon, 3-D printed skin now appears to be one of the most promising 3-D innovations, and one of the most lucrative new investments.

For decades now, cosmetics company L’Oreal has been attempting to develop artificial skin, but nothing has been as exciting or as groundbreaking in their quest as the arrival of this new printing technique, which not only increases efficiency, but more importantly, precision.

Just last month, Guive Balooch, global vice president of L’Oreal’s technology incubator, told The Washington Post, “L’Oreal’s focus right now is not to increase the quantity of skin we produce but instead to continue to build on the accuracy and consistent replication of the skin engineering process.” And given that L’Oreal spent $1 billion on research and development in 2013 alone, a number of investors are waiting for this cash influx to pay off big-time.

But despite the popularity of 3-D printing, not everyone is convinced of its wonders just quite yet. On Tuesday, the Harvard Business Review published a piece exploring “The Limits of 3D Printing,” insisting that the technology “is not going to revolutionize the manufacturing sector, rendering traditional factories obsolete.” Rather, the Review claims, the practice has “unique capabilities to complement traditional manufacturing processes.”

Of course, skin has never been something that has come off an assembly line anyway, while the production of body tissue is already a proven capability of 3-D printing. And it is in this new potential that all the excitement (and money) lies.

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IoT TECHNOLOGIES WILL CREATE AT LEAST $3.9 TRILLION IN ECONOMIC VALUE BY 2025: A new report from research firm McKinsey projects that IoT technologies will have an economic impact between $3.9 trillion and $11.1 trillion by 2025.

That gulf in the potential value that McKinsey forecasted is because of the variety of factors that could play into the IoT’s economic impact. For instance, 40% of the potential economic value of IoT technologies (about $4 trillion) can only be realized if the issue of interoperability – enabling different IoT devices from different providers to communicate and share data – is resolved, McKinsey said. There are several different standards for interoperability being developed by different companies and consortiums, but no universal standard has emerged that would create that value. 

Another major issue that will determine how much economic value is realized from the IoT is the ability to collect, aggregate, and analyze data from various IoT devices and systems, according to the report. The vast majority of the data coming from IoT devices and systems is not collected at all today, and the data that is gathered isn’t fully exploited, McKinsey said. For example, McKinsey found that only one percent of the data being generated from the 30,000 sensors on one offshore oilrig was being analyzed for decisions. The more data
that is captured and analyzed from IoT technologies, the more economic value will be created. 

The areas where the IoT will have the greatest potential economic impact will be in manufacturing, cities, and healthcare, according to the report. Manufacturing accounted for about a quarter of McKinsey’s overall estimates for economic impact, with the sector creating between $1.2 trillion and $3.7 trillion in value from the adoption of IoT. Cities will gain between $900 billion and $1.7 trillion dollars in value, and the healthcare sector will have an impact between $200 billion and $1.6 trillion.  

BI Intelligence estimates that the adoption of IoT technologies will have an economic impact of $1.7 trillion by 2019.

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FORD’S 3-D PRINTING PARTNERSHIP: Ford is partnering with 3-D printing startup Carbon3D to build personalized car parts for customers. For instance, a new customer could have a steering wheel molded to specifically fit their hand.

Carbon3D has raised $51 million in funding and uses a 3D printing technology that can make materials that are harder and more durable than most 3D printers, which make objects layer by layer, like a printer prints ink. However, that makes the objects easy to break apart at the seams in between the layers with a chisel or screwdriver. Carbon3D’s printer creates objects out of a special formula of resins that are hardened by controlled access to light and oxygen.

That durability drew Ford’s interest in the company. Right now 3D printing isn’t fast enough to create parts needed for mass manufacturing of cars, but it could be used to make the customizable parts that Ford is interested in making with Carbon3D.

Ford is also interested in a couple other use cases with Carbon3D’s technology. It would like a bigger Carbon3D printer to create parts for car prototypes, and it’s looking into using Carbon3D’s technology for injection molding to make more durable car parts.

SIX MEASURES FOR IoT DEVICE SECURITY: BII estimates that by 2020 there will be more than 23 billion IoT devices connected to the internet. One of the biggest challenges in connecting so many devices will be in securing them to prevent hackers from controlling them or using them to infiltrate networks and databases. Many low-power IoT devices don’t have the computing power to run antivirus software like a computer. A recent blog post on EETimes discussed six measures that can be used to protect IoT devices from hackers: 

• Use a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) for authentication. A TPM is a dedicated microprocessor that integrates cryptographic keys into devices to uniquely identify and authenticate them. Each device then has its own identifier that is encrypted by the keys. This will prevent hackers from hacking and impersonating a device to gain access to home, enterprise, or government networks. 

• Use the Trusted Network Connect (TNC) standards to check for malicious software or firmware. The TNC standards offer a way to check devices for malicious software or firmware whenever they try to access networks or other devices. This would help prevent hackers from using hacked devices to upload spyware or other malicious software to networks or other devices.

• Isolate and remediate infected devices with security software and protocols. If a device is infected with malware or other malicious programs, it needs to be quarantined. The IF-PEP protocol can isolate an infected machine from other devices and networks. There are numerous solutions from security software vendors for clearing the device of the infection once its isolated. 

• Layered security can limit the damage a hacker can do once device is hacked. A Mandatory Access Control system limits access to certain functions or files on a device for a given user. This acts as a choke point that can prevent hackers from gaining sensitive information through the hacked device. 

• Data encryption is a must. This should go without saying, but data needs to be encrypted when stored on a device or in transit. The post recommended using a read-only mechanism to obstruct hackers’ efforts to tamper with data on a device.

• Secure legacy systems through industrial control systems. To reach their full potential, IoT devices and systems have to be integrated with legacy machines or appliances that were never built to be connected or secured against hacking. Industrial Control Systems can segment that legacy hardware from other systems and secure communications between them with encryption. This, for instance, could prevent a hacker who has infiltrated the network of a connected factory from then taking control of the machinery on the assembly line. 

BI Intelligence estimates that spending on security for IoT devices and systems will increase fivefold from 2015 to 2019.

AMAZON ECHO NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE: Amazon announced yesterday that its Echo smart home assistant and voice-controlled speaker would go on sale to the public on July 14 for $179. The device had previously only been available by invitation to select Amazon customers. The Echo had previously been priced at $99 for Amazon prime members, and $199 for non-prime members.

The Echo is Amazon’s answer to the smart home hub. It can control smart lights and switches from Philips Hue and WeMo, so users can adjust their lights with voice commands. It can also play music from Pandora and Amazon Prime Music, make Amazon orders by voice command, and provide voice alerts for news and weather updates. 

3D ROBOTICS AIMS TO BREAK DJI’S DOMINANCE IN CONSUMER DRONE MARKET: China-based DJI accounts for 70% of the small but fast-growing consumer drone market. The company made $500 million last year, and expects to revenues to top $1 billion this year. But rival drone maker 3D Robotics, which is based in Berkley, CA, aims to take on DJI’s dominance of the market. 3D Robotics’ new Solo drones for consumers, released last week, will be sold at Best Buy’s stores and on its website. 

The Solo drones feature more onboard computing power than DJI’s new Phantom 3 drones, making them easier to fly. They also have an open software architecture that will allow different cameras, sensors, software, and applications to be integrated with the drones.

That open architecture could appeal to enterprises looking to buy drones for commercial use and then customize them with different hardware or software for specific tasks. The use of commercial drones in the US has been limited by FAA regulations, but the FAA has been granting exemptions in cases where drones can complete tasks that would be dangerous for humans, like inspecting oil rigs or damaged houses. BII still expects military drones to make up the bulk of drones shipped through 2024.

HOW JOHN DEERE IS SPREADING SELF-DRIVING TECHNOLOGY: Self-driving cars might be years away from being sold to consumers, but John Deere is already selling self-driving tractors in more than 100 countries, making it the largest supplier of self-driving vehicles, according to The Washington Post. The technology behind John Deere’s self-driving tractors is far less complex than what is needed for a self-driving car because tractors don’t have to navigate crowded streets and highways.

The tractors feature a satellite guidance system and touchscreen interface, and customers can purchase additional software modules, like auto-steering. Self-driving tractors can costs as much as $20,000 more than the standard variety.

The extra cost is worth it for some farmers, since the self-driving technology allows the tractor to make more precise turns, so it can cover a field in less time with fewer passes. That extra time is valuable for US farmers, who are facing a labor shortage right now as young people from rural areas flock to cities. John Deere says that a driver is still supposed to be behind the wheel of its self-driving tractors, but The Washington Post’s story shares some examples of farmers letting the tractors drive themselves while they do other things.

One of the biggest barriers to selling self-driving cars is the prevalent notion that consumers won’t believe they’re safe. However, if self-driving technology is already showing up in their lives – John Deere sells a self-driving lawn mower too – then consumers could warm up to the idea of a self-driving car faster than expected. BI Intelligence expects self-driving cars to make up 3% of global new car shipments in 2020.

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3D printing marketplace Shapeways announced on Tuesday that it had raised $30 million in funding from investors including Andreesen Horowitz, Lux Capital, INKEF Capital, and tech giant Hewlett-Packard.

Shapeways CEO and co-founder Peter Weijmarshausen says 3D printing is disrupting how companies are manufacturing products, and Shapeways is leading the charge.

Already the largest 3D printing company in the world, Shapeways is an Etsy-like e-commerce platform allowing its 620,000 users to create designs and submit them to the online marketplace. Founded in 2007, Shapeways says there are 3.6 million uniquely printed products on the site to date.

"If you can run a 'factory' based in New York, you can run a factory anywhere," Weijmarshausen told Business Insider. "Everyone is engaging because we're making it possible to create locally instead of in factory far away." 

Submitting a 3D product to Shapeways costs anywhere from $1 to $5 to cover the labor cost, which Shapeways says helps cover the cost of manually checking each submission for quality. Weijmarshausen contrasted this to high labor costs, racking up thousands in mass manufacturing. 

"We're fast. It can take one day to get a product to [Shapeways]," Weijmarshausen told Business Insider. "24 hours after Katy Perry performed during the Superbowl, left shark figurines were on the site for people to buy." 

This 3D printing technique can also print elaborate physical shapes using materials that people don't realize are even possible, Weijmarshausen says, including products crafted out of stainless steel, silver, and bronze. He says the most popular items people create are jewelry, game pieces, and home decorations. 

"All kinds of people are doing it," Weijmarshausen said. "It's a hobby, another way to make money, and to become an entrepreneur as you can run your own store. People are really engaged. They're rarely unhappy with their products since the items are custom made."

There is one roadblock: current 3D program can be tricky to navigate. Shapeways has a school under Skillshare, an online class platform, that teaches tutorials and crash courses. Weijmarshausen said some talented users take just one afternoon of messing around with the software to catch on to the basics. 

Weijmarshausen says he isn't worried about possible rivals in the 3D printing space, however.

"We are by far the leader in the marketplace community perspective, but competition is good. The more that both they and [Shapeways] can spread the word about 3D printing, the better."  

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The Office of Naval Research will meet with 200 industry reps later this month in advance of the Navy’s deep dive into additive manufacturing — aka 3D printing.

The Navy wants to give its ships at sea the capability of making parts as needed, something that not only will come in handy in emergency but would preclude the need to carry many spare parts that — ideally — never have to be used.

In September, the Navy expects to formally ask for proposals and will use the upcoming July 15 Industry Day to brief industry officials about what it’s looking for and get them to think about how to improve existing 3D printing technology, ONR said in an announcement Monday.

“We’re developing quality AM [additive manufacturing] metal processes for naval applications with titanium, aluminum and stainless-steel alloys,” said Program Manager Billy Short. “Ideally, we would one day like to see additive manufacturing machines built that could be placed on vessels and perform well even in the toughest sea conditions, but that is another technical leap beyond this current program.”

But ONR envisions the advances benefiting ground and aviation assets, as well, and Short said ONR will be looking for new ideas for the additive manufacture of critical metal-cast parts such as impellers, engine mounts and transmission housings.

Among the challenges the Navy faces for shipboard 3D manufacturing is materials storage.

“There are significant safety concerns,” Lt. Ben Kohlman of the Chief of Naval Operations’ Rapid Innovation Cell noted during a discussion of the technology last year. “The powder that’s used in the aluminum or titanium is highly flammable.”

All the briefings will be unclassified, but industry reps taking part must be U.S. citizens, according to the announcement.

The event will be held at the Stonegate 2 Conference Center in Chantilly, Virginia.

Additional information and registration may be found here.

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Self-driving cars haven’t hit the streets in masses yet, but 3D printed cars may be on the road soon.

The Arizona-based company Local Motors recently revealed designs for what its first consumer-ready 3D printed electric car might look like, and said that it aims to begin selling its first street model as soon as next year.

With 3D printing, consumers "will be able to customize our cars in ways that are not available today from any other manufacturer," a company spokesperson told Business Insider. Specifically, 3D printing allows for customizing various aspects of the car, like its color and trim. 

The first model of Local Motors' 3D-printed vehicle will sell for anywhere between $18,000 to $30,000 for a low-speed neighborhood car, the spokesperson said. 

To come up with the ideal consumer model, the company hosted a design competition and enlisted industry experts as judges, as well as car enthusiast and former host of “The Tonight Show” Jay Leno.

On Tuesday, Kevin Lo, an engineer living in Vancouver, Washington, was announced the winner.

Lo’s design is called the “Reload Redacted Swim/Sport.” It's a modular car that allows for customized, interchangeable body panels.

The side panels of the car are the same, no matter what you make, but the front and back panels can be changed making the car look completely different.

Lo’s design will “act as the foundation” for the road-ready 3D-printed vehicles, according to a company statement.

Last year at the International Manufacturing Technology Show, Local Motors showed off the world’s first 3D-printed car using a massive 3D printer. The car, called the Strati, consists of a small body and uses an electric engine. But that car isn't a consumer model; the car it plans to start selling next year would be.

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Scientists sometimes look to nature for inspiration when designing robots. Why not take advantage of the hundreds of years of optimization work that evolution has already done?

Nicholas Bartlett and colleagues at Harvard University, the University of California in San Diego, and Weill Cornell Medical College did just that when making a robot that hops like a frog, they reported in Science.

Unlike a frog, the robot powers its hops with a small explosion of butane and oxygen. Close up and in slow motion, it looks a little like a miniature rocket taking off:

The natural inspiration comes in with the robot's soft body, which mimics the bodies of animals like snakes and insect larvae.

The stiffness of the body gradually transitions from the bottom, which is flexible like rubber, to the top, which is hard like plastic. The gradual transition, rather than an abrupt change from flexible to hard, minimizes stress on the body and absorbs the shock from landing.

Minimizing stress makes the robot more durable, and the special animal-inspired structure also enables the robot to control where it jumps by inflating its legs.

You can watch the robot take a couple more jumps in this video from Science:

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Dubai’s newest office building will not be a traditional construction project.

The United Arab Emirates has partnered with WinSun Global — a joint venture between Chinese 3-D printing tech company WinSun and architecture and engineering firms Gensler, Thornton Tomasetti, and Syska Hennessy — to 3-D print the structure.

The office will stand in front of the ring-shaped Museum of the Future, now under construction, and will serve as temporary headquarters for its staff.

Made with a combination of reinforced concrete, glass-fiber-reinforced gypsum, and fiber-reinforced plastic, the office building’s parts will be printed in thin layers by a 20-foot-tall industrial printer and then assembled on-site.

The entire structure, including the furniture, will be printed, making it one of the most intricate and advanced 3-D–printed buildings to date. It will take only a few weeks to construct, and is set to open in October.

The Museum of the Future will be dedicated to all things cutting-edge, 3-D printing included. Sheikh Mohammed confirmed his country’s commitment to new technologies: “The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it, and execute it. Here in the UAE, we think differently. While others try to predict the future, we create it.”

More from Architectural Digest: 

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Building your dream house could get a lot easier if 3D-printing takes off in the construction industry. 

Last week, the Chinese developer Zhuoda Group assembled a home in Xi'an, China in only three hours.

All of the modules to construct the home were printed in a factory ahead of time and then put together on site, according to a report from China Central Television (CCTV). 

Six modules were printed in total, each modules representing a different room. The cost of each module ranged from 2,500 to 3,500 RMB ($400 to $560 USD)  per square meter.

It took about ten days in total to produce the modules and construct the home, according to the report. 

An engineer for the developer said that despite the fact that the house can be constructed so quickly, it is also capable of withstanding strong earthquakes, because it features a steel fram structure and each module bears it's own weight independently. 

 Three-dimensional printing has gained some traction in construction recently. Last year a Chinese company was able to 3D-print ten houses in one day. And in June a Dutch design company revealed plans to use robots to 3D-print a bridge over the Amsterdam Canal in 2017. 

Check out some images of the house below. 

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Researchers have used 3D printing to develop a sensor that can be placed inside a carton of milk to detect if the milk is fit for drinking and to alert if the milk has "gone off."

The idea being trialed is a "smart cap"— a device to be placed inside a milk carton to sense the quality of the milk inside. This represents a breakthrough in terms of three dimensional printing of electronic circuits.

Polymers are poor conductors of electricity and 3D printing is based primarily around a set range of plastics. To overcome this, Controlled Environments reports that the research group designed materials based around polymers and wax. This created hollow tubes suitable for the addition of a liquid metal. For initial studies, silver was used to fill the tubes via nano-injection.

Various experiments found the shape and design of the material affected how it performed and its suitability in different applications. For instance, thin wires functioned well as resistors; whereas flat plates made for useful capacitors.

The basis of this led to the production of the sensor cap for milk cartons. The sensor functioned by detecting an increase in level of electrical signal as would be accompanied by a growth in bacterial population. When this occurs a signal can be sent wirelessly.

The sensor was tested on various cartons of milk, some held at room temperature and some in a refrigerator. It was found that the cartons kept at room temperature produced the electrical signal far earlier, which was consistent with bacterial growth (or the rate at which milk goes off).

The potential for such technology goes beyond milk cartons. As lead researcher Liwei Lin notes: "One day, people may simply download 3D-printing files from the Internet with customized shapes and colors and print out useful devices at home."

The study was conducted at UC Berkeley (the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center) together with Taiwan's National Chiao Tung University. The research has been published in the journal Microsystems & Nanoengineering, in an article headed "3D-printed microelectronics for integrated circuitry and passive wireless sensors."

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Earlier this month, researchers at the University of Southampton in England successfully collaborated with the British Royal Navy to launch a 3D-printed drone from the deck of a warship.

The nylon drone flew about 500 meters after being catapulted off the ship before landing safely on a nearby beach.

“The key to increased use of UAVs is the simple production of low cost and rugged airframes,” said Southampton professor Andy Keane in a press release.

“We believe our pioneering use of 3D printed nylon has advanced design thinking in the UAV community worldwide.”

The aircraft has a wingspan of almost five feet, and can reach a top speed of 58mph while flying almost silently.

“Radical advances in capability often start with small steps,” said First Sea Lord Admiral Sir George Zambellas.

“And, because it's new technology, with young people behind it, we're having fun doing it.”

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