Lifeboat Foundation

Good luck convincing business and consumers to buy your autonomous spider-bot.

There are a number of major tech-driven companies that are researching 3D printing technology at a rapid rate, but very few invest as much as time and money into additive manufacturing as Siemens does. Whether they’re building their own €21.4 million metal 3D printing facility or helping 3D printing startups with their endeavors, the global engineering company is betting big within the 3D printing industry. Now, a research team from Siemens Corporate Technology’s Princeton campus has just revealed their latest innovation, the development of autonomous mobile 3D printing devices, which are being called spider-bots.

These unique printing devices, which look like spider-like robots, were almost entirely designed and manufactured by the Siemens Corporate Technology research team. They’re engineered with an extruder similar to the type used with FDM printing, and are able to print in polylactic acid (PLA). The spider-bots are equipped with an onboard camera and a laser scanner as well, which enables them to become aware of the surrounding environment during the print job. Software-wise, they’re all programmed with a modified version of Siemens’ NX PLM software, which is their product development, engineering, and manufacturing software solution. In the near-future, the Siemens research team hopes to utilize these spider-bots within the automotive and aerospace industries.

Continue reading “Siemens Research Team Develops Autonomous Mobile 3D Printing Spider-Bots” »

Nice

A new way of making these tough materials could be a key step in producing better airplane engines and long-lasting machine parts.

Continue reading “New 3D Printing Technique Makes Tougher Ceramics” »

The office today for some and near future for others.

Vodafone says collaboration and gaming will fuel future office design.

Young people coming into employment in the next five years will work in a virtual reality office in the future, according to Vodafone.

Continue reading “Meet your future workplace: AI bots, 3D printing and virtual reality” »

I am still not convinced that everyone fully understands how bot technology is about to change IoT and its impact to online business industry. Let me share a few ideas: Financial Auditing and accounting. Bots will be able to do a more thorough job in managing, tracking, reporting financials that many finance back office controls can be performed by bots and requiring a sign off by CFO/ Lead Controller. And, Accounting & Audit firms can easily leverage the technology to perform audits on companies remotely without having to send teams of auditors to a client’s site.

Here’s another one; I decide to set up a few 3D printers to make some unique seals for aircraft manufactures for their jets/ planes; and I need a call center plus online sales teams taking and processing orders. With bot technology my whole operation is automated and no need for sales people, call center folks, or operators. All I need is myself and couple of techies to manage the bot operations; and more profit for me and my team.

However, we still have to keep a tight oversight on hacking which is still a risk; however, we should see more micro-size companies spin up as a result of online bots and 3D printers in our immediate future.

Continue reading “How bots will change the Web, according to a bot we built to answer that question” »

The discomfort and stigma of loose or missing teeth could be a thing of the past as Griffith University researchers pioneer the use of 3D bioprinting to replace missing teeth and bone.

The three-year study, which has been granted a National Health and Medical Research Council Grant of $650,000, is being undertaken by periodontist Professor Saso Ivanovski from Griffith’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland.

As part of an Australian first, Professor Ivanovski and his team are using the latest 3D bioprinting to produce new, totally ‘bespoke,’ tissue engineered bone and gum that can be implanted into a patient’s jawbone.

Continue reading “Team uses 3D tissue engineering to revolutionize dental disease” »

Forget layer-by-layer, this awesome new 3D printer can print freely in space.

With 3D printers; many small mom-and-pop manufacturers are easy to set up anywhere. Which brings in some interesting challenges when thinking about regulatory compliance and safety. Imaging a neighbor who was laid off gets a 3D printer and begins building and shipping things from their home. Plus they’re stock piling chemicals and other things in their basement or garage as “bi-products” in the production of the goods that they are building with their $15K 3D printer. Question for many is — how safe is it? how can this be monitored and controlled?

Manufacturers haven’t been able to fully exploit advancements in new materials, because computer-aided design and engineering tools haven’t kept pace, says a program manager for the government agency.

Continue reading “DARPA Project to Seek Lightyear-Like Leap in Design, Manufacturing” »

NASA projects we’ll be on Mars by the 2030s. RedWorks has created a 3D printing system to build your first home on the red planet.

Hmmm; not sure if I can watch given my tolerance level of seeing blood.

Cutting-edge technology has a way of snaking itself into the medical field. Over the past few years, for example, we’ve seen 3D printers used to create prescription medication, prosthetic limbs, casts, replacement bones, homemade cosmetic braces and even cartilage implants.

Now, we’re beginning to see some of the ways that virtual reality will impact modern medicine with a company by the name of Medical Realities leading the way.

Continue reading “Watch a live surgery take place in virtual reality on April 14th” »