Chapter 1
I like the unlimited possibilities that 3D printing technology can bring in the future. This chapter illustrates the potential of this new technology, including food fabricating, self-construction, duplicating organs as well as robots manufacturing. Of course, most of the contents are fiction and probably will never be realized. On the other hand, as a fan of dark fantasy, this 3D printing technology could also very well be the source of catastrophic power if it ended up in the wrong hand.
“A few of the roaming robots, however, seemed to have mastered a few unauthorized and slightly more colorful bits of wisdom.” (pg 4)
The ability of the printing machine to mass-produce robots reminded of the animated film ‘9’. The printing machine or fabricating machine was abused by a dictator to create an army of war machine to destroy his enemies. At the end, the machine went wrong and turned against humans, causing all lives to perish.
Chapter 2
This chapter basically describes how 3D printing works and its benefits. In short, we feed in data via computer to the printer and then the printer will do the work.
“The secret to 3D printing could be summed up as follows: 3D printers are
more accurate and versatile than any other mode of production—be it a human
or machine—at fabricating a complex design into a physical object, combining
raw materials in ways that were once impossible.” (pg 13)
The technology itself is very promising but it was too expensive and there were many limitations back then. This is very similar to the history of computer, when it used to be gigantic and occupied space up to a room with much less computational power. It will be extremely hard to predict whether 3D printing will follow the success of computer or it is another commercial flop.
Chapter 3
“3D printing is the platypus of the manufacturing world, combining the digital precision and repeatability of a factory floor with an artisan’s design freedom.” (pg 27)
This chapter tells us how 3D printing can overcome the issue of customization and mass-production. That is because the cost of printing 1000 unique objects or identical objects are the same. There is no cost of customization, unlike traditional manufacturing method.
One obstacle to this technology is that it is fairly new to public and only a fraction of the consumers know how to utilize the 3D printing system, which requires some programming skills.
Chapter 4
Cloud manufacturing
By combining 3D printing technology with the cloud technology, everyone with internet access can share, edit and print out any products.
“Today, an estimated 60 percent of the world’s population owns a cell phone.
Each phone is physically tiny, when it stands alone. However, when billions
of cell phones all over the world are woven together into a distributed global
network, the combined effect is a disruptive, powerful, and gigantic system.” (pg 46)
I could imagine that when 3D printing has become a common practice, there will be 3D printers easily accessed anywhere. We can link our phone with the 3D printer via USB or WiFi and print out anything that is needed just like having a magic wand in a fairy tale. Maybe there will be a portable 3D printer in the future, or the printer is integrated into a smartphone and etc…
