3D Printed Electronic Devices Are Coming
Voxel8’s new 3D printer, which can print functioning electronic devices all in one piece, heralds just such a radical possibility. It should be noted that Voxel8’s printer can’t print every component yet. But that doesn’t lessen its significance.
How does it work? In one sense, just like your standard 3D printer, the device is guided by digital modeling software to build shapes out of consecutive layers of plastic. When instructed, the printer pauses and a second print nozzle lays down highly conductive circuits while the operator pops in key components like processor, battery, and motors.
In either case, it'll be one disruptive technology disrupting another. Why, for example, would Foxconn need to replace humans assembling iPhones with industrial robots, if the manufacturing and assembly process was radically simplified by advanced 3D printers? Or, eventually, perhaps we won't need a big, centralized manufacturing hub like Foxconn at all.
See the full story here: http://singularityhub.com/2015/01/15/3d-printed-electronic-devices-are-coming/