DailyDirt: 3D Printing Gone Wild

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

The capabilities of 3D printing are just starting to become a mainstream phenomenon. Printing custom parts for prototype devices doesn't sound too cool to non-geeks, but when 3D printers are common household appliances, people will look back and wonder how we lived without being able to instantly produce unlimited copies of almost any object. Here are just a few examples of some 3D printed items that are pretty cool.

• Paleontologists are playing with 3D printers and making some huge dinosaur parts for life-sized dinobots. Dinosaur robots could help us better understand how real dinosaurs moved and how they might have interacted. [url]
• Stratasys 3D printers have been used to print out lightweight prosthetic devices, custom-fitted for the wearer. Someday we might all have 3D printed exoskeletons to make us stronger... and everyone will say, "I want that." [url]
• A 3D photo booth can print out tiny figurines that look almost like custom GI Joe action figures -- or very detailed wedding cake statuettes. The printed dolls go for about $265 for a 4-inch figurine and $530 for an 8-inch size. [url]

If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post.