You are exposed to the most interesting concepts at the annual Additive Manufacturing Users Group Conference. This morning, attendees received a look at how several innovative companies around the world are thinking about using the layer-by-layer approach to build objects.

Imagine using a drone to extrude material to construct buildings. Dedibot, out of China, is thinking about this. It’s at the concept stage, but the company has produced a video to show how special drones can hover in the air and deposit material to build small and large buildings. The company’s engineers have even imagined how this approach could be used in the water to build structures.

Another company is re-imagining how to make tires and vehicles using additive technology. One example is tires on a unicycle type ride that can take stairs. Another example is tires on vehicles that can maneuver sideways to take tight corners.

Another developer is experimenting with 3D printing with glass. Using extrusion to deposit glass in what looks like bubbles, the object then goes into a furnace where the “bubbles” condense into a solid glass object. Camera lenses are one use of this technology. Glass offers some characteristics that make it a better fit than some polymers for applications requiring transparency.

And another group has used 3D printing to develop artificial muscle. These muscles would primarily be used for robotics applications to develop more human-like robots.

And I’ve already seen 3D printed magnetized dice at this conference.

At AMUG, you do get exposed to new ideas and technology.

Leslie Langnau
llangnau@wtwhmedia.com