New technologies to support the planet.
Remember those cool replicator machines you used to see on Star Trek? The future may be here, my friends.
In the video clip below from National Geographic, a new 3D “printer” actually replicates an item that it scans.
Theoretical physicist David Kaplan travels to Burlington, Mass. to visit Z Corporation, developers of this amazing 3D printing technology. He brings with him a crescent wrench to see if their machines will be able to replicate it.
Believe it or not, they do. The new wrench even works!
Joe Titlow, the Vice President of Product Management at Z Corporation, explains how 3D printing works:
“Most printers will print things in two dimensions. A 3-dimensional printer will then take that to the third dimension and make it something you hold in your hand.”
3D objects are printed using a specially engineered composite material that starts out as a powder. A binder material is then added to the powder to bind the object together.
So is this real or fake? Given that it’s been shown on National Geographic, my first inclination is to say that this is real. Still, it just seems too unbelievable.
What do YOU think?
http://www.blippitt.com/wait-what-3d-printer-replicates-working-wrench-video/
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