The first patent that deals with a process much like 3D printing was filed by Johannes F Gottwald in 1971. He patented the Liquid Metal Recorder, (U.S. patent 3596285A), a continuous inkjet metal material device to form a removable metal fabrication on a reusable surface for immediate use or salvaged for printing again by remelting.
3D printing or Additive Manufacture has come a long way since then, with ever-expanding uses far beyond our imagination, and extending to scales beyond the purely desktop scale we are used to seeing.
Additive manufacture in the late 2020s played some role in almost every industry, from high performance medical applications to the conservation and architecture fields. Additive manufacture technology and processes were deployed from the smallest nano-scales to massive terraforming projects. As the investment grew, so did the use cases.
Two separate events in the US captured the imagination of the globe, pushing the limits of additive manufacture into bold new territory.
The Prosthesis Endurance challenge in Los Angeles 2045 featured a biohacking marathon supported by the biggest 3D printing factories creating a completely new format of man-machine hybrid runners. Global records were broken across almost all track and field events, with endurance races going on for over 1800 kilometres, more than 3 times the previous record held by Dean Karnazes.
He had held the record since 2005, running 560 km non-stop. It took him 80 hours and 44 minutes. The new prostheses allowed runners to complete the same run in 1/3rd the time.
The second event at almost the same time in San Francisco involved custom performative prostheses developed for Firemen and first responders, to endow them emergency super-human powers. Candidates who had lost limbs in service volunteered for custom fitted additive limbs that made them invaluable additions to the force.
With prostheses like welding arms and superhuman lifting arms that could lift loads upto a ton, the new additions remained to be tested. The floods of 2045 provided the ideal testing ground, with well documented search and rescue operations saving multiple lives, and ushering in a whole new generation of 3D printed add-ons.
3D Printed prosthetic Endurance races : Los Angeles 2045
3D Printed prosthetic Endurance races : Los Angeles 2045
First responder 3D printed Utility suits : San Francisco 2045
First responder 3D printed Utility suits : San Francisco 2045
As use cases grew on the planet, more ambitious start-ups started emerging. The low orbit manufacturing facility startup from Chennai Vedika Astrolabs began with a single production unit specialising in making super high quality fibreoptics. The microgravity environment in low earth orbit allowed the production of high-quality ZBLAN (a type of fluoride glass) optical fibers, which vastly outperformed traditional silica-based fibers in terms of signal loss and bandwidth.
Microgravity allowed for the 3D bioprinting of tissues and potentially organs without the issue of gravitational collapse, enabling more complex and accurate tissue structures to be created. Metals and special alloys 3D printed in space were found to have more uniform compositions and fewer defects.
Off-planet 3D printing Factory Hub : Low Earth Orbit 2045
Off-planet 3D printing Factory Hub : Low Earth Orbit 2045
Delivery drones from Offplanet Manufacturing Hub : Low Earth Orbit 2045
At Nano scales, innovation in 3D printing was driven by huge advances in printing nano batteries for EVs. Several innovations focused on advancements in electrical technologies while others converged on nano-printing methods that utilised photochemical reactions including working with proteins glycans and genes.
AI driven tech paired with 3D Nano printers to print batteries in a manner that allowed electrons to pass through the entire cell at once, versus having to pass through from one side of the cell to the other. This created an almost 500X jump in the efficiency of charging EVs, powering the next generation of Nano Printing.
Nano assembly of Protein molecules : South Korea 2045
Nano assembly of Protein molecules : South Korea 2045
The Military was the biggest closet spender of 3D printing technology, pushing the size and scale of prints beyond imagination. The first generation of fully working zero supply chain tanks rolled off the factory floor complete in all respects, with metal and ABS parts being printed simultaneously.
Now that the technology has been established and made domestically available, a hacker based in Texas managed to get his hands on the print files and print his own version of the tank, adding multiple aerodynamic features to the base model, raising multiple dilemmas. He is currently using this tank to seed his fields, but future uses remain to be seen.
Military tank 3D printing facility : Ukraine 2045
Military tank 3D printing facility : Ukraine 2045
Hobby tank printed over base model : Texas 2045
Additive Manufactured Military base : Texas 2045
Ayaz Basrai is co-founder of The Busride Design Studio, a leading architecture and interior design firm in India. Busrai graduated in industrial design, specialising in product design, from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, in 2003. More recently, Busrai heads The Busride Lab in Goa, working with speculative fiction, heritage conservation, and their ongoing India Futures Project, trying to visualise and birth meaningful Indian futures.
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