Week 1 – inventor’s myopia
Often times inventors see their products being used for functions different from those intended. The same story may play out for 3D printers. Computers, for instance, were never meant to serve the mass. For a long time, people could not imagine why anyone would want personal computers in their homes. Now, many of us spend most of our time with this machine that was invented to “compute.” Similarly, the Internet was created by scientists at CERN to share files. Now, anyone, regardless of scientific knowledge, can use the Internet to look at cat pictures. The radio was used in the 1920’s by farmers in the West coast to simply share updates of the weather. Now, the radio has been elevated to national broadcast for many entertainment purposes.
Currently, the most common use associated with 3D printers is rapid prototyping. Compared to the traditional production process, 3D printing is significantly rapid. However, users of 3D printing may not have had experience with the conventional manufacturing model and also live in an age of “instant.” Printing a bracelet over two hours is barely rapid. Like other great inventions before them, 3D printers will adopt more worthwhile functions beyond rapid prototyping.
Week 2 (11/18) – think of other uses for 3D printers, similar to what happened in class with different coffee articles
If not rapid prototyping, then what? Rapid supplying, perhaps? The main difference between prototyping and supplying is that the former produces something new while the latter produces something immediately needed. Our guest speaker Duane “supplied” the fix to his child’s broken stroller by designing and printing the broken piece. Although he did not invent anything new, he was able to fulfill a meaningful need and by way solved the problem for other parents experiencing the same issue. Likewise, NASA is aiming to print many things in space, including food for the astronauts and part replacements for the shuttles. In both cases, 3D printing also solves problems instead of creating novel products. This is not to say that 3D printers will only serve to replicate the old rather than fabricating the new. The printers will satisfy both functions, but it is up to the users to decide which use is more beneficial.
Week 3 (11/25) – ask experts on their take on the pace with which 3D printers will improve in printing time, printing resolution, ease of use, etc
A clear winner will not surface until the user base expands tremendously and becomes more diverse beyond experts. One of the factors that is barricading the mainstream expansion of 3D printers is the limited print materials. However, patents for different printing techniques and materials are expiring within the end of the decade, allowing companies like MakerBot to release more versatile printers.
Experts also expect 3D printers to be able to print products with logic, like electric boards or body parts. Much like the bike chain from NRI that was printed in one piece, electric boards will also be printed in one go and will be fully functional when done printing. Static objects are just the beginning of 3D printing.
However, in the same way the microwave did not replace cooking as predicted, 3D printers will not replace manufacturing. In Makers, Anderson pointed out the “rubber duck” model in which the first duck will cost the same money as the 10,000th duck to 3D print. Therefore, Anderson’s theory that 3D printing will help bring manufacturing back into the US is overly optimistic.
Week 4 (12/2) – what happens when 3D printers become more mainstream? My hunch is that people won’t be able to adapt as quickly to 3D printers as they do to things like the iPad. This learning curve will be the creative space for people to come up with different uses of 3D printers.
Even if 3D printing becomes mainstream, not everyone will opt to own a printer, much in the same way that not everyone owns a paper printer. The 3D printers will become available in more public places, like schools and libraries, and printing services will increase in number and capabilities. Printing prices, therefore, will also go down.
However, using the printers is tougher than getting access to a printer. Liz, who has graciously assisted all of our printing attempts in the Field Center, can most likely attest to the inconstant nature of the printers. The plate, the print speed, the ejection speed, and the temperature are among the variables that need to be adjusted depending on each print. Moreover, the printing interface on the computer is not quite user-friendly.
Learning to design in 3D is also a challenge. Unlike Apple products that emphasize on intuition, 3D printers require deliberate thoughts on foreign objects. People will continue to rely on open source models and professional 3D modelers even when 3D printing becomes mainstream. However, inventions like Elon Musk’s Iron Man-like hand molding 3D design program will make designing much more intuitive.
Week 5 (12/9) – ask people not too familiar with 3D printers what they expect the printers to be able to do and how they’d like to use the printers.
Looking around at what our class expects 3D printing to evolve to in the future, I can see two trends. One is commercial, such as fashion or food. The other is social, such as bioprinting and education. Those in the former group tend to ask the question “what happens when we can print anything we want in an instant?” For one, materialism may finally dilute. People in the latter group are more concerned with how they could use 3D printers to solve the world’s problems. Without attempting to be objective, I wholeheartedly support the social over commercial function of 3D printers. There are already too many factories that can produce bracelets but not nearly enough, if any at all, that create solutions to the most pressing issues that people face. This is the time for 3D printers to rise above as the source of good.
Week 6 (12/16) – conclude with at least one use of 3D printers besides printing
Astonishing solutions can come about if 3D printing is incorporated into the design thinking process. In the future when 3D printers actually print rapidly, they can be deployed to crisis areas to print exactly what the people need. People will no longer have to wait for trucks that deliver irrelevant goods from the Red Cross. For instance, during Sandy the Red Cross delivered many necessities to the people stranded on Staten Island, but among the goods were containers of applesauce that did not fulfill the dire need of the situation. Instead, what people needed were tools to clean up their destroyed neighborhoods. The ideal rapid 3D printers would have satisfied that need. In hospitals, 3D printers can print on demand the body parts that patients need so that they no longer have to sit on a waitlist in despair or a match and availability. The main use of 3D printers may be rapid prototyping now but in the future, it could very well be rapid supplying – supplying for good causes to be precise.
As a big believer in doing well by doing good, I am very excited about the prospects of entrepreneurship endeavors using 3D printers contribute to solving social issues. The technology is already being used for some amazing prints, such as prosthetics, food, and bones. However, the printers used to print those objects are still currently reserved for professionals. In the future, 3D printing together with design thinking will not only result in prosthetics to repair the body but also living layouts that accommodate disabilities. Why spend 2 days to print a bracelet when we can print a robohand to significantly improve people’s living quality? As materialistic, literally, as 3D printing may be, it can bring much happiness to the world by addressing pressing needs.
