3D Printing Needs More Metal!

Here's Why 3D Printing Needs More Metal

More and more companies want to make 3D-printed metal parts.

Alcoa, a colossus of the aluminum and metals industry, is currently building a new additive manufacturing center with a $60 million price tag in Pittsburgh. Its purpose: To serve as the main production site as Alcoa begins developing a line of powdered metals made specifically for 3D-printing applications. What Alcoa’s new center represents, however, is a broader shift taking shape in the additive manufacturing industry.

More companies in a variety of sectors are interested in using 3D-printed metals for end-use parts. But when it comes to 3D printing in metals, there are currently two problems to surmount. One is the overall cost of not only the additive processes by which metal is printed, but also of the 3D printing machines and the support staff needed to run them. The other is the cost of the metal materials themselves and the lack of metal materials made specifically for 3D printing. Alcoa  AA 0.48%  is hoping to find solutions for both problems when its new additive manufacturing center opens, as Rod Heiple, the company’s director of R&D for engineered products and solutions, said during a call with Fortune.

“There are just a few materials available today that are usable within 3D printing of metals,” Heiple said. “A material developed as a feedstock for one additive process may not be, and in fact is unlikely to be, the optimal material for the next additive manufacturing process.”

Today companies that produce metal parts via additive manufacturing processes are using powdered titanium, nickel, aluminum, and steel. Direct metal laser sintering is a common way for these powdered metals to come together to make solid objects. It’s how General Electric produced the fuel nozzles for its bestselling aircraft engine and Solid Concepts created a working firearm.

MORE: Why 3D Printing Is The Future of Manufacturing

But optimizing powders for 3D printing is the challenge. Solving that challenge would not only mean a greater number of powdered metals for use in 3D printing, but also cheaper powdered metals. This is the sort of task for which Alcoa is well-suited. The company has nearly 100 years of experience in the atomizing process (the means by which a molten metal is converted into a powdered metal).

“That’s the focus we have, the optimization. We’re looking at the chemistry, the alloy elements,” said Heiple. “In the case of powdered feedstock, we’re focused on developing powders that are shapes and sizes tailored to 3D printing. Our primary focus is on titanium, aluminum, and nickel-based alloys for 3D printing.”

While the technology is fascinating in its own right, the business imperative is driving the research in cheaper powdered metals made specifically for 3D printing. Companies’ primary reasons for investing in additive manufacturing capabilities are the cost reductions that accompany collapsing the manufacturing supply chain. When GE, for example, chooses to invest $3.5 billion to purchase the 3D-printing machines that can produce metal parts and train the staff needed to run them, it’s not doing so because the technology is cool—it’s doing so because that’s where the additive manufacturing industry is headed.

A recent report from Stratasys Direct Manufacturing, the service arm of 3D-printing company Stratasys  SSYS -0.22% , bears this out: More than 80% of 700 survey respondents from the manufacturing industry said further development of strong yet lightweight metals for additive manufacturing is what they want the most. In three years’ time, Stratasys Direct Manufacturing predicts use of metals in 3D printing to double.

Stratasys and 3D Systems  DDD 0.76% , two titans of the 3D-printing sector, are keen to make inroads in metals printing as well. The increasing focus on what metals printing will do for the overall additive manufacturing industry—currently valued worldwide at $4.1 billion, according to the latest report from consulting firm Wohlers Associates—is the reason, for instance, Stratasys acquired Solid Concepts in 2014 and 3D Systems just established a partnership with the U.S. Army to develop 3D-printing materials for the automotive, medical, and aerospace industries.

The market for prototyping via 3D printing remains weak, but metals printing continues to grow at an impressive clip. More than just a new way for companies to make end-use parts, direct metal printing represents an area of revenue growth for an industry that has struggled to live up to the hype.

“The opportunity here is that these metals materials for additive manufacturing are low in number,” said Heiple, who couldn’t comment about the timeframe for when Alcoa’s new additive manufacturing center opens (although a company press release from September estimates sometime in the first quarter of 2016). “And the reason there’s an interest in metals is it all comes down to cost reduction, in end product and end solutions.”

In other words, there’s a growing movement of companies interested in crossing the chasm between 3D printing as a neat prototyping tool and 3D printing as a production tool on par with traditional manufacturing processes. To do that, they’ll need metals.

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Festo 3D Prints Robotic Ants and Butterflies

Festo 3D Prints Robotic Ants and Butterflies

Festo is an industry leader in advanced robotics and they have presented two of their projects: BionicANTs and eMotionButterfiles only made possible by using laser sintering 3D printing and 3D MID ( Molded Interconnect Device) technology. 3D MID is a control and power system where electrical circuits are attached on the surface of the laser sintered body components during the construction, and they thereby take on design and electrical functions at the same time. In this way, all the technical components can be fitted into or on the 3D printed body and be exactly coordinated with each other for complex actions of a insectoid robot.

BionicANTs

BionicANTS are biomimetic robots that modeled to resemble real ants in anatomy and behaviour. ANT stands for Autonomous Networking Technologies, and they are designed as a sort of small prototype of future applications  the factory floor, where the production systems will be founded on adaptable and intelligent components able to work under a higher overall control hierarchy. Their body as well as software mimic natural behaviour of group of ants working together. Each BionicANT measures 13.5 cm (5.3 in) and runs on two 7.2 V batteries charged when the antennae touch metal bars running along the sides of an enclosure.

Official brochure notes:

After being put into operation, an external control system is no longer required. It is possible, however, to monitor all the parameters wirelessly and to make a regulating intervention. The BionicANTs also come very close to their natural role model in terms of design and constructional layout. Even the mouth instrument used for gripping objects is replicated in very accurate detail. The pincer movement is provided by two piezo-ceramic bending transducers, which are built into the jaw as actuators. If a voltage is applied to the tiny plates, they deflect and pass on the direction of movement mechanically to the gripping jaws. All actions are based on a distributed set of rules, which have been worked out in advance using mathematical modelling and simulations and are stored on every ant. The control strategy provides for a multi-agent system in which the participants are not hierarchically ordered. Instead, all the BionicANTs contribute to the process of finding a solution together by means of distributed intelligence. The information exchange between the ants required for this takes place via the radio module located in the torso. The ants use the 3D stereo camera in their head to identify the gripping object as well as for self-localisation purposes. With its help, each ant is able to contextualise itself in its environment using landmarks. The opto-electrical sensor in the abdomen uses the floor structure to tell how the ant is moving in relation to the ground. With both systems combined, each ant knows its position – even if its sight is temporarily impaired.

Here is ae video of BionicANTs describing the technology and their operations:

With on-board batteries the ANT can work for 40 minutes.

eMotionButterflies

Designed to mimic real butterflies, this small robots are ultralight and have coordinated flying behaviour in a collective. They are are able to autonomously avoid crashing into each other in real-time controlled by networked external guidance and monitoring system with 10 cameras, interior GPS and IR markers on their bodies. The entire system is very impressive combination of prcise guidance, raw processing power, optical tracking and delicate 3D printed flying robot design.

Technical specifications of entire system:

• 
  
• 10 infrared cameras
• Frame rate: 160 images per second
• Exposure time: 250 µs
• 1 central master computer
• Analysed pixels: 3.7 billion pixels per second
• Flying object:
• Wingspan: 50 cm
• Weight: 32 g
• Wing beat frequency: approx. 1–2 Hz
• Flying speed: 1–2.5 m/s
• Flying time: 3–4 min.
• Recharging time: 15 min.
• Integrated components: 1 ATxmega32E5 microcontroller , 1 ATmega328 microcontroller, 2 servo motors made by MARK STAR Servo-tech Co., Ltd. to activate the wings, 1 inertial sensor (inertial measurement unit, IMU) MPU-9150 with gyroscope, accelerometer and compass, 2 radio modules, 2 LiPo cells 7.4 V 90 mAh, 2 infrared LEDs as active markers

Here is a video of graceful eMotionButterflies:

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Nat Geo's Robots 3D turns out to be science fiction to be convincing

Nat Geo's Robots 3D turns out to be science fiction to be convincing 

Close up, in 3D, what bounced out at you is the way amazing today's humanoid robots are, as well as how supernatural the human body they copy is. National Geographic's Robots 3D is appearing in extra large screen, IMAX and advanced silver screens all through the world this mid year. It displays a genuine and intriguing look into the work of duplicating some of our most difficult human qualities. 

Storyteller "RoboThespian" (getting the voice of Simon Pegg), goes up against us a shriek stop voyage through what's happening in mechanical technology labs around the globe, where analysts are putting robots through their paces. We're gathering to the victories and also the disappointments of a zoological garden of humanoids including CHIMP, ATLAS, PR2, Herb the Butler, iCub, and others. 

Presenting them one by one, the film highlights how most by far of robots included must concentrate on accomplishing only a solitary, particular assignment. This is intercut with footage indicating exactly how deft, versatile and all-round astonishing the human body is, and how mechanical autonomy battles to imitate this. Take Herb, for occasion; the robot head servant's present level of accomplishment in clearing a table is surprising just for its satire esteem. Rollin' Justin, created by the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics in Germany, admissions to some degree better with its 90 for every penny achievement rate in getting balls. It's striking that it has taken Honda over 15 years of improvement to get ASIMO, named "the world's most exceptional humanoid robot," to the phase where it can perform different activities, for example, running, hopping and perceiving voices. 

Coordinated by Mike Slee and delivered by Jini Dürr (both National Geographic narrative veterans) and improved with an emotional soundtrack, Robots 3D gives an uncommon look off camera. What runs over with singing trustworthiness is exactly that it is so difficult to reproduce the most essential human activities, for example, strolling, getting a ball and clearing up after supper. Along these lines, while the motion picture lets us know how we as a general public may profit by robots, we likewise see them coming up short the most basic of errands. 

They're noteworthy in any case and the film draws out some abnormally amiable identities. There were additionally a couple of robots I'd not yet experienced, including the profoundly capable Robonaut, used to help space explorers on board the International Space Station. It can deal with the same devices as people and perform assignments, for example, changing an air channel. Also, COMAN, a headless miracle with adaptable joints that declines to be thumped down. 

We saw Robots 3D at London's Science Museum, where it's appearing at the IMAX silver screen. The children in our gathering affirmed it "mind blowing" and "dead intriguing" – definitely the most noteworthy awards for a film that is the same amount of about how far the investigation of mechanical autonomy still needs to go as its late advance. 

NAO and iCub both scored exceedingly in the adorableness stakes, however it was ASIMO that rose as the children's general most loved in the appear. 

The youngsters additionally proclaimed themselves inspired by HRP-2 (a bipedal bot that can slither, and also walk), Rollin' Justin (of ball-getting popularity), and CHIMP (for its capacity to output its neighborhood laser light and conveying beats that skip back). They were captivated that a percentage of the robots could transfer data to the cloud for others to share. 

The ATLAS salvage robot, outlined by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for use in crisis circumstances, is likewise highlighted in the motion picture, as was footage of the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) trials. Yet, fairly tellingly, regardless of DARPA's endeavors to push their philanthropic applications, the children needed to see "more of the military robots." Perhaps ATLAS needs to tackle some of iCub's adorableness to disperse these sorts of originations. 

Truth be told, the children needed to see all the more by and large and weren't fulfilled by the 40 odd moment length of the film. They additionally needed the robots to accomplish all the more moving and climbing. 

Be that as it may, as a vehicle for changing open recognition towards apply autonomy, Robots 3D is without uncertainty an awesome achievement. It's a path for individuals to find out about humanoid robots from the researchers who make them, as opposed to from films like iRobot and Terminator, where they're depicted as savage and unnerving. 

At Robohub, we're additionally pleased with our own little commitment to the Robots 3D venture, in giving a portion of the instructive material to supplement the narrative. 

Robots 3D is a refreshingly practical tackle the present condition of humanoid mechanical technology, without minimizing the immense steps that have been made to date. Be that as it may, despite the fact that the motion picture acquaints viewers with probably the most extraordinary humanoid robots out there today, similar to any depiction of a quick creating innovation, this representation won't be best in class until the end of time. So go out and see it while it's new!

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Man builds $50,000 humanoid robot built from scratch in Hong Kong 3D printed life-sized robot that looks just like Scarlett Johansson

Man builds $50,000 humanoid robot built from scratch in Hong Kong

 3D printed life-sized robot that looks just like Scarlett Johansson

In what is either the most impressive or downright creepy 3D printing project of the year, 42-year-old Ricky Ma has designed and built an extremely realistic 3D printed humanoid robot that looks (and moves) eerily like Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson.

Ma, a graphic and product designer from Hong Kong who had no previous experience in robotics, electronic engineering, or programming when he started, built the entire humanoid robot--which is 70% 3D printed--from scratch, spending more than $50,000 and a year and a half of his time for the simple sake of fulfilling his childhood dream.

The 3D printed female robot prototype is known simply as Mark 1, despite ‘her’ obvious semblance to the woman once ranked as Sexiest Woman Alive (Ma would only confirm that his design was based on “a famous Hollywood actress” but wouldn’t name Johansson specifically).

The Mark 1 is life-size, has strawberry blonde hair, and can respond to a set of pre-programmed verbal commands by talking and forming eerily realistic facial expressions—including raising her eyebrows, smiling coyly, and even winking. She can also move her arms, legs and fingers, turn her head and bow.

In technical terms, the humanoid robot consists of a 3D printed skeleton enveloped in silicone skin that hides her internal mechanics and gives her a very realistic humanoid look. Ma took the illusion even further by dressing her in a trendy crop top and skirt and realistic makeup that accentuates Scarlett—I mean the Mark 1’s—full lips, eyebrows, and hazel-colored eyes.

Whether you’re a fan or not, the end result is truly impressive, though Ma admits that it was no easy task. Though he grew up ‘obsessed’ with robots from movies and cartoons and dreamt of building his own one day, Ma never pursued any formal or technical training in robotic engineering. He also didn’t know of anyone in the robotics community in Hong Kong pursuing a similar goal.

Thus, when it came time to make his dream a reality and create a humanoid robot from scratch, Ma had to teach himself every technical skill in the book through a painful trial-and-error process. Electric motors burnt out, the Mark 1 continuously toppled over, yet Ma persisted, eventually mastering robotics, engineering, 3D modeling and 3D printing technology.

“During this process, a lot of people would say things like, ‘Are you stupid? This takes a lot of money. Do you even know how to do it?’” said Ma. However, he refused to quit. “I figured I should just do it when the timing is right and realise my dream. If I realise my dream, I will have no regrets in life.”

Currently, Ma is looking for investors to buy his $50,000 Scarlett Johansson look-a-like, so that he can have the capital to build even more. He also plans to write a book about his experience to encourage other robotic enthusiasts to pursue their dreams.

The Mark 1 3D printed female prototype robot is an incredible story of one man's unbreakable determination to fulfill his dream against all odds, using the latest 3D printing and advanced technologies. In fact, it has all the makings of a Hollywood hit. Scarlett Johansson herself is no stranger to science fiction: she’s starred as an AI construct in Her, a genetically-modified superhuman warrior in Lucy, and of course, as ass-kicking superhero Black Widow in The Avengers. Should Ma’s forthcoming book ever get a studio contract, this seems like a match made in Hollywood heaven.

Watch the video below to see Ricky Ma's 3D printed Mark 1 humanoid robot in action:

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