3D printing

Hod Lipson and his team brought the concept of iterative design to the next level with their EndlessForms website. They combine evolutionary algorithms and generative encodings with crowd sourcing of designs. The results are interesting.

3D printing still has a few barriers to cross from a technology point of view to become successful. To overcome these limitations a few major breakthroughs are necessary which can take a decade  or more. in this post I am going to talk about what I think are developments which can (should?) happen in the coming decade.

3D printing used to be called exclusively rapid prototyping. This fitted with the primary use case of 3D printing at the time. Nowadays we see many uses of 3D printing and the industry is adapting to these new use cases. New machines are introduced focusing on these new categories.

A common theme in the media is to compare 3D printing with Star Trek’s replicator. But that analogy is nowhere near the truth. It is worrisome because it creates unrealistic expectations about 3D printing and with that comes disappoint. It completely fits the Hype Cycle phases of Gartner.

There are many important things to educate our kids on but new technologies is definitely one of them. To prepare them for a new future it is essential that they get in touch with new upcoming technologies. I can still remember that my high school had MSX computers where we learned Logo and did our typing lessons. 3D printing is a new upcoming technology and it needs its place in schools.

Marc Andreessen wrote an interesting essay today on Why Software Is Eating The World on WSJ. In the essay he makes a point that software — and the services which rely on it — makes the difference nowadays. I agree with him and I think it also applies to 3D printing as well.

In their annual Hype Cycle report technology research firm Gartner has moved 3D printing up a notch from last year. It is now entering the phase of what they call the peak of inflated expectations