- Would you eat a 3D-printed steak?
A couple of decades ago, 3D printers seemed pure science fiction. Sure, they have existed since the ‘80s and even earlier, but they weren’t really good for a whole heck of a lot.
The technology has advanced in strides, though. Today, you can go buy a perfectly good 3D printer for a couple hundred bucks and start printing miniatures, decorations, or pretty much whatever you want out of plastic.
With this increased availability, it’s no wonder people have made some pretty outlandish things. Of course, we can’t know what some weirdo has made in their garage, but here are seven weird things people and companies have printed.
7. A Bikini
We can’t 3D print fabric — yet. But that hasn’t stopped fashion companies from embracing 3D printing.
Case in point, Continuum Fashion printed a bikini. The N12 Bikini is appropriately named after the Nylon 12 material it’s made out of.
We’re not really sure if you’d want to wear this bikini to the beach, though. It resembles chain mail, being built out of hundreds of small plastic pieces that snap together to form a (more or less) flexible bikini.
Although this bikini is more of a novelty, 3D printers are actually making headways in fashion. A lot of shoe companies, for example, are printing soles for their products.
6. Unborn Babies
Let’s be clear — no one can (or should) 3D print an actual flesh-and-blood human embryo. But we absolutely have the technology to print life-sized or scale models of them.
There is, or at least was, a Russian company called Embryo 3D that offered its services to families expecting a baby. They would create a 3D model based on ultrasound scans and print a disturbingly realistic unborn baby out of plastic.
On one hand, it’s kind of cool that parents can hold at least a facsimile of their yet-to-be-born child and maybe save it as a memento. On the other hand, does this stuff seem a bit creepy to anyone else?
5. A Motorcycle
If you have a modern vehicle, there’s a high chance it contains at least a few 3D-printed parts. But 3D printer manufacturer BigRep went a bit further.
They printed an entire electric motorcycle.
Apart from the obvious parts — like the battery, motor, and control system — everything about the Nera motorcycle is 3D printed. Perhaps more shocking is that the bike consists of only 15 parts.
Although it’s kinda-sorta functional, you won’t see the Nera on the street since it’s really just a concept piece. But it shows that we may be riding or driving 3D-printed vehicles in the future.
4. Food
Some 3D-printing processes work kind of like icing a cake — you just pile molten plastic into layers instead of something tasty. But why couldn’t you use something edible instead?
There’s no reason to not do that, and a lot of people and companies have. For example, the Foodini printer is tailor-made for working with food.
Chocolate is one of the more popular 3D-printed food items and it makes sense why. After all, it melts at a reasonably low temperature and is easy to pile into layers.
That’s not where it all ends, though. Some researchers are toying with the idea of 3D printing meat to construct artificial steaks and chicken.
3. Human Organs
Speaking of printing meat, how about human meat? 3D-printed organs are already a thing.
The technology is pretty limited for the time being, though. So far, we’ve only managed to print a transplantable bladder.
But hey — it’s progress!
Organ printing could actually resolve a serious medical problem. Did you know a third of the people who need an organ transplant die before a suitable donation shows up?
Now, imagine if we could save all those lives by printing the organ they need.
2. Houses
It might seem ridiculous, but 3D-printed houses exist. In fact, there are quite a few of them.
The first 3D-printed apartment building was made in China already back in 2015. Since then, a lot more apartments and individual houses have been 3D printed around the world.
The process works pretty much like any other 3D printing process — the printer is just a lot bigger. Also, instead of plastic, it extrudes cement.
1. More 3D Printers
What if one 3D printer isn’t enough for your needs? Well, just print another one.
And another. And another!
In theory, 3D printers are self-replicating, meaning that you can use one to print all the plastic parts you need to build another. Sure, you’ll have to buy the metal and electrical components separately, but you can definitely make the frame for your new printer.
Who knows, maybe in the future we’ll have 3D printers that can print more fully functional 3D printers. They just have to be careful not to install some kind of rogue AI in it.
If it gets angry, it just might cover the planet in self-replicating copies of itself.