A 3D Printer Machine for Pizza Printing

NASA, a 3D printing company, built a machine that can print edible pizza.

Last year, NASA contracted material engineer (Arjan Contractor) to build a 3D food printer. The printer now exists and can print edible pizza.

The machine prints out the pizza in layers, topping the dough with ketchup and cream cheese. It then is cooked by a heated surface. Definitely still needs work, but at least it's edible.

NASA has released their creation, admitting that they haven't quite yet perfected the 3D printed pizza.

3D Printed Sugar

A 3D printing company (3D Systems) hasworked on a kitchen-ready printer that would let you print out elaborate confections.

In January this year, 3D Systems announced that it was getting ready to sell ChefJet, kitchen-ready 3D printers to create edible products.

The printer was showcased at CES and is targeting the average consumer, who probably doesn't have much experience with 3D printing.

A complimentary 'Digital Cookbook' will let users easily select a design to print out in a variety of materials, including chocolate, vanilla, mint, sour apple, cherry, and watermelon. They're aiming to launch two printers by the end of 2014 with the monochrome version in full-color, larger printer.

The Latest 100% 3D Edible Printed Food

While it may sound futuristic, 3D printed food are now in the market. A lot of the work is still in its early stages, with researchers at Cornell and MIT developing 3D printers made specifically for edible products. But there are also some commercial projects underway.

Barilla, Hershey, and Mondelez International are just a few of the consumer food brands exploring the potential of 3D printing. At this year's SXSW, Mondelez International 3D printed custom Oreosbased on what was trending on Twitter with the hashtag #eatthetweet. SXSW attendees could choose from 12 flavors including banana, mint, birthday cake, and lime, and then select either a chocolate or vanilla base for the cookie.

The Oreo would then be printed in two minutes. Apparently the cookies tasted like regular Oreos, but they fell apart a bit too easily. The 3D printing machine was created by MAYA Design using a Delta Bot 3D printer, but at this point it will probably still just be a fun marketing stunt as opposed to something you'd see in a grocery store.

3D printing startup Structur3D created a 3D printer add-on called Discov3ry, which can create a paste from all sorts of materials, including plastic, silicone, wood filler, and yes, Nutella.

Some of the Coolest Things You Can 3D Print

• Camera And Lens You can 3D print a fully-functional SLR camera in 15 hours. Assembly, with instructions, takes just one hour. The camera is capable of taking quality pictures and is compatible with any photographic lens. If it's too tantalizing to have a near-complete 3D printed camera, you can actually print a lens, too. The picture quality isn't great, but then again it can give you some really cool effects.

• Custom Busts With that new 3D printed camera and lens, you'll be able to take some stunning portraits. But 3D printing lets you up the ante: you can print accurate busts and figurines of yourself, your family, and your friends.

• Bike Hacks(Bottle Mount, Valve Cap) If you're into bike customization, 3D printing is a goldmine. Here are some highlights: a mount to make a plastic bottle fender, abike carrying handle, or personalized valve caps. And the imagination needn't stop there.

• Musical Instruments They aren't exactly professional quality, but the fact that we can 3D print instruments at all is astounding. So far, we've seen flutes,violins, and guitars. In addition, the MIT researchers who printed the flute have bigger dreams: designing and 3D printing previously unfathomable instruments, like a multi-pipe trumpet.

• Gadget Upgrades Another plethoric realm of 3D printing is gadget accessorization. There are countless examples, but here are a number of beauties: clever iPad stands, multi-purpose iPhone cases, an iPhone wall mount for charging, andgear wraps for your malicious, ever-tangling cords.

• Phone Amplifiers(Megaphone, Amplifier) No one actually enjoys the sound quality of their phone's built in speaker. Sure, it can come in handy for sharing videos with friends, but as an actual attempt to listen to music it tends to only come out in dire situations, like overnight camping or power outages. But you can change that with amplification, as these 3D printed upgrades do. There's a classy megaphone or this more directed amplifier, and the accompanying video demonstrates the difference that it makes.

• Flying Things(R/C Sailplane, Quadcopter, Gliders) Paper airplanes are passé: Print out some gliders and go to the biggest field you can find, and give them a whirl. If you're looking for something with a little more firepower, you can print out the body for a crazy remote-controlled sailplane.

• Vacuum Forming Machine You can 3D print necessary parts for a vacuum former. And a 14-year-old designed it. This product would allow you to create molds of practically anything, then fill them with chocolate (or urethane). Just imagine the power.

3D Printing – A 3D-Print Brain

A 3D-Print Brain is now in the market – it was innovated with free government library can now be downloaded, shared and edit files for use in 3D printers from a new government website. The site has files that can be used to create models of anything from a human brain to deadly viruses.

The website, launched by the National Institutes of Health, is called theNIH 3D Print Exchange, and contains a library of files that a 3D printers can read and print. The files all relate to health and science; the available files include models of a human femur bone, the West Nile virus and a white matter section of the brain.

Users can also share their own files, edit exiting ones or create files using a tool that can convert scientific data into ready-to-print 3D files.

"We created this website as kind of a way to have a YouTube-like experience, but instead of exchanging and sharing and commenting on and remixing videos, instead we are doing all of those same things with 3D-Print files," said Darrell Hurt, a researcher at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who helped build up the 3D Print Exchange.

A 3D printer generates three-dimensional objects from digital replicas by "printing" material one layer at a time.

The NIH already uses 3D printing for several purposes, including making special lab equipment and creating anatomy models that doctors can then use to plan medical procedures. Scientists who study very small things, like proteins, bacteria or viruses, can also enhance their understanding by creating 3D models.

"A researcher who's been using a computer model of this for 15 years learns something as soon as they put their hands on a real, tangible model," Hurtsaid in the video, referring to a 3D-printed representation of a protein.

All of the files on the site are free, and the site also features a tutorial for new users. The library is not intended only for professional scientists, but for everyone.

3D Printing - Muscle Tissue for Robots

Muscle tissue innovated through 3D Printing could make robots more lifelike. A robot motorized by muscle tissue could improve how engineers plan to produce future robots for disaster-relief operations, exploration or construction, new research finds.

The 3D-printed "bio-bot," created by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has more accurate and specific control over its movements and a more dramatic series of motion. It can pilot and change its movement in response to its environment. The rectangular robot measures about 0.2 inches long, and is constructed from an elastic, jelly-type material and fixed with two strips of engineered muscle tissue on either end.

Skeletal muscle tissue is what drives human movement. It covers the bones and is attached by soft tendons that we can consciously manage.

The researchers integrated skeletal muscle tissue engineered from a mouse cell line into a 3D-printed soft robot. Soft robots are made from flexible rather than unbending material, allowing it to move and adapt in new environments.

By integrating skeletal tissue into a soft robot, the researchers created a machine that can carry out more complex motor tasks and is capable of freer and more dynamic motion. The new soft robots would be lightweight, bio-compatible and match the elastic properties of natural muscle tissue, the researchers said.

When the scientists tested the robot's movement, they found that the bio-bot moved only when given an electric shock. Robots with cardiac tissue twitch constantly, making it difficult to control their movements, according to the researchers

3D Printing - A Wave of Customization and Massive Possibilities

For all we know, other nations in Asia dominate in the 3D Printing industry. But in light of recent events, it seems the two may face competition from a possible dark horse: the Philippines.

Philippines-based digital print solutions company Norde International Distributors, which caters to architecture, engineering and design industries, held its third annual Digital Innovations Summit in July where it gathered representatives from companies including HP, Stratasys, and Pantone to display their latest products and innovations.

The four day event showcased a range of 3D printers and launched an initiative to transform industries in the country with 3D printing. “Our task is to lead the change and be at the front of new technologies,” said a Norde official.

Norde International president Allan Hao Chin said he believes that 3D Printing will transfigure many industries. He told event guests he doesn’t want the Philippines to fall behind other countries that have already begun R&D with 3D Printing and additive manufacturing.

“The wave of customization is on its arrival. If we are able to ride this wave, we can turn revolutionary ideas into reality,” said Chin. “It’s better to start now than learn about it late and miss the boat,” he said.

Chin spoke to industry companies about the benefits of 3D Printing in attempt to recruit additional people and companies to the initiative.

Should other nations watch out?

So far the Philippines remains under the radar, but it could divulge itself as a would-be threat to the larger Asian countries trying to lead the industry.