Watch as printer prints a car ... in 3D ... that then gets driven off
The Internet: connects billions of machines together from across the world with the ability to provide virtually instantaneous feedback between computers.
Computer monitor: Continuously sends out lights in various combinations of red, green and blue in order for your eyes to detect images and motion on an otherwise colorless screen.
Printer: Puts ink onto a piece of paper.
I’ve always wondered why, of everything on a computer, the piece of machinery that has the simplest job is also often the most unreliable.
Fortunately, a guy named Jay Rogers and his company Local Motors has worked out a way to make this piece of machinery useful for something other than printing resumes and, surprisingly, he seemingly didn't encounter a whole lot of issues doing it.
Welcome the Strati: a car that was built by a printer.
For 44 hours, a crowd gathered around McCormick Place in Chicago to watch a car come to life as a printer built it upwards layer-by-layer as part of the International Manufacturing Technology Show.
Then, Rogers rolled it out of the building and onto the streets of Chicago.
The Strati (which is Italian for “layer”) is an electric-powered two-seater car with a range of 120 miles. It can go as fast as 40 mph and is built out of carbon fiber-reinforced thermoplastic.
The car contains only 50 parts as, instead of having separate pieces for bolts, nuts and washers, everything was composed of the same material. Only 40 parts were printed, with separate parts such as suspension springs added afterwards.
It is not the first vehicle to be built by a printer. The Urbee 2 was built in 2013, but took 2,500 hours to build and contained many more parts.
Rogers says that, as production time decreases, Local Motors expects to have a whole line of printed vehicles entering the market within the next year. Cars will range from affordable $18,000-$20,000 vehicles up to more expensive, sports car-like vehicles. The original Strati has already been sold, but has yet to be approved for highway use.
Click HERE for a full Q&A with Rogers.
