3-D+Printing

teenage engineering has added custom hacks to the Frekvens universe, which can be 3D-printed at home

Around The Home

Ikea's modular lights and speakers get 3D-printed accessories

Last month, Ikea and teenage engineering launched the Frekvens collection of lighting and speaker modules. Now teenage engineering has added a bunch of CAD files to the mix so that owners can print off some nifty hacks.

A mesh of the Stanford Bunny model, which researchers have now embedded into DNA – and in turn, 3D printed the model containing the DNA

Science

Plastic rabbits can be "cloned" from their embedded synthetic DNA

Researchers from ETH Zurich have created 3D rabbit models embedded with synthetic DNA that contained their own blueprints. That allows them to effectively "clone" the models, printing copies by clipping small pieces off the original.

BigRep's Loci prototype was 3D-printed using the company's Pro, Studio G2 and One machines

3D Printing

BigRep 3D prints Loci autonomous electric pod car

Germany's BigRep has unveiled a design prototype of a sporty little number called Loci made up of 14 3D-printed parts, plus an electric powertrain and self-driving tech. Two more concept variants have also been revealed.

3D Printing

3D-printed clay dwelling under construction in Italy

Italian 3D printing company WASP has joined forces with Mario Cucinella Architects to construct an innovative 3D printed dwelling. Dubbed TECLA, the first prototype is undergoing construction and is located just outside of Bologna, Italy.

The new welcome center at the Community First! Village in Austin was 3D printed in a total of 27 hours

Architecture

3D-printed houses come to a Texas village for the homeless

From space exploration to robotics to medicine, 3D printing has huge potential in all kinds of areas, but one where it is starting to make a real impact is the world of low-cost housing.

The remora family of fish have a suction cup structure on the back of their head that allows them to latch onto sharks and other animals

Materials

Remora-inspired suction cup outperforms the real thing

Inspired by remora fish, researchers at NJIT have designed a new suction cup that’s far more adhesive than the real thing.

Dubbed AMIE (Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy), the innovative platform features special technology that allows a bi-directional flow of energy between a dwelling and a vehicle

3D Printing

Researchers create a 3D-printed vehicle that can power a 3D-printed home (and vice versa)

A research team from Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) Department of Energy has created a new model for how we can connect the way we power our homes and vehicles.

Open Bionics has create superhero-inspired prostheses for the smallest of users, designed to transform being different into a good thing

Health & Wellbeing

Open Bionics adds superhero appeal to prostheses for kids

Open Bionics, with support from Disney Accelerator, transforms prostheses that kids would rather hide into those that Iron Man or Frozen's Elsa would wear. The company says that for kids it transforms being different into being cool.

Ice House is based on NASA's "follow the water" approach to exploration

3D Printing

3D-printed ice shelter wins NASA's Mars habitat design competition

NASA has announced the winners of its 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge Design Competition. The contest sought architectural concepts for how 3D printing might be used to create shelters on the Red Planet. The overall winner, Ice House, would be built using the planet's predicted abundant water supply.

Foster + Parterns' 3D-printed Mars shelter would cover an area of 93 sq m (1,001 sq ft)

3D Printing

Foster + Partners designs robot-built 3D-printed Mars shelter

Foster + Partners has designed some of the most famous buildings in the world and, if one of its recent designs is anything to go by, it may soon have buildings on other planets, too. The firm has designed a shelter for up to four astronauts on Mars that would be 3D printed by a fleet of robots.

Researchers have created the first-ever 3D printed guide to assist in the regrowth of the sensory and motor functions of complex nerves

Medical

3D-printed guide aids in complex nerve regeneration

US researchers have created the first-ever 3D printed guide specifically designed to assist in the regrowth of the sensory and motor functions of complex nerves which may, one day, lead to a cure for many types of paralysis.

Examples of multi-material items printed by the MultiFab 3D printer

3D Printing

MultiFab mixes and matches 10 different materials in a single 3D print

MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab's (CSAIL) MutliFab printer takes 3D printing technology a step further by combining 3D optical scanning with the ability to print using 10 different materials on the same job.