3D Printing

3D printers have been used to create everything from tiny houses to US marine barracks, and now we can add teardrop camper to the list too. The Discover 3D sleeps three and includes a tailgate galley, plus some optional off-the-grid tech.

Researchers at MIT have unexpectedly stumbled upon a way to 3D print active electronics – meaning transistors and components for controlling electrical signals – without the use of semiconductors or even special fabrication technology.

Rocket Lab's Neutron is the largest composite rocket ever made. It used to take a large team several weeks to hand-layer that much carbon fiber – but with the company's new Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) machine, it can now be done in a single day.

Until now, most 3D-printed architecture has been focused on housing or research projects. However, the burgeoning technology has come to the retail sector in a big way with a new 3D-printed extension for Walmart.

Billed as the world's first 3D-printed hotel, Icon's El Cosmico is currently rising in the Texas desert. The ambitious project will include vacation homes and shared amenities – plus some permanent starchitect-designed residences for sale too.

Using a 3D printer that works with molten glass, researchers forged LEGO-like glass bricks with a strength comparable to concrete. The bricks could have a role in circular construction in which materials are used over and over again.

We've seen 3D-printed titanium bars, stems and frame components, but the Reactor Aero takes the concept a whole lot further. Made by the No. 22 Bicycle Company in upstate New York, it's being billed as the world's first 3D-printed titanium road bike.

In an experiment that sounds about as safe as bobbing for fries, ESA carried out the first-ever 3D metal printing in space aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Built with Airbus, the Metal 3D Printer completed the first of four test shapes.

Manufacturing could be dramatically changed thanks to two new techniques for joining materials created by scientists in Austria. The two methods create super strong bonds at the pore level, eliminating the need for caustic adhesives.

The Crane WASP uses locally sourced clay, mud or cement with aggregate and natural or artificial fibers to 3D-print houses. That means all the dirt you just pushed around to level out your new yard can be used as printing material.

Most 3D-printed homes are currently arranged on one floor, however an upcoming project in the Netherlands plans to build four new houses that will include up to three floors, showcasing the growing complexity of 3D-printed architecture.

An architectural revolution is quietly taking place in the American suburbs. In Texas, a collection of high-tech robotic builders have been busily constructing the largest 3D-printed neighborhood in the world and it's now nearing completion.