Lifeboat Foundation

There’s really no sector in the United States (or much of the world) that has been untouched by the development of advanced manufacturing technologies – and no one seems to be underestimating the importance of the further development of those technologies in order to keep the country competitive. To that end, in 2014 the government established the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation (NNMI), more commonly known as Manufacturing USA.

The program brought together the industrial, academic, nonprofit and governmental sectors to establish a network of advanced manufacturing institutes for the purpose of accelerating new manufacturing technologies. President Obama proposed that the network grow to 45 institutes over the course of 10 years, and as of today, 12 have been established. The 12th, which was just announced by the Department of Defense, will be the Advanced Tissue Biofabrication (ATB) Manufacturing USA Institute, and will be led by the Advanced Regenerative Manufacturing Institute (ARMI), based in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Continue reading “Advanced Tissue Biofabrication (ATB) Manufacturing USA Institute Will Focus on 3D Bioprinting Among Other Biofabrication Technologies” »

Millennium Space Systems have reached a major development milestone for their ALTAIR satellite ahead of a proposed launch in March 2017. They have announced that the first satellite has completed development and been shipped. The satellite was enabled by additive manufacturing and has now gained flight qualification.

Paul Swanson, Millennium Space’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations program manager, explained the importance of reaching this target,

This flight qualification of our ALTAIR™ spacecraft represents a key milestone in providing low-risk and very high-platform performance coupled with affordability as the company transitions to full-scale manufacturing of our ALTAIR™ product line and anticipated ALTAIR™ constellations.

Continue reading “3D printing enabled ALTAIR satellite ready to launch in 2017” »

NESS ZIONA, Israel, December 12, 2016 – Nano Dimension Ltd., a leader in the field of 3D Printed Electronics (NASDAQ, TASE: NNDM), will showcase its 3D printer for professional printed circuit boards (PCBs) and electric circuits in Eureka Park during CES 2017. The technology sits firmly at the intersection of 3D printing and printed electronics, and sets new standards for accuracy, complexity and multi-materiality in the fields of 3D printing and electronics prototyping.

For makers, 3D printed circuit boards are no longer a mere dream. 3D printers. which can do DIY PCB printing, will become commercially available soon.

The making of DIY circuit boards is a complex task. First, you’ll have to plan the PCB, make a 2D print of the layout, cut a copper plate, transfer the PCB layout to the copper plate, iron the circuit, go through the process of etching, cleaning, disposing… and after some hours of manual labor, you should be ready.

There must be a way to do this more efficiently, right? Wouldn’t a 3D printer be perfect for that job? Fortunately, the first PCB 3D printers will become available soon. Currently, these machines are able to 3D print electronics.

Customizing/building your own hotel experience to fit your dream stay experience — that truly is achieving superior customer experience.

A NEW study has uncovered how the travel and hotel experience will be different in a year, 25 years and as far ahead as 2060, finding Neuro-dreaming could soon be a reality.

Eco hotels and augmented reality hotels that will transport guests to fantasy worlds are also on the cards.

Continue reading “Robo-Butlers and 3D printers could all be part of a hotel service in the future” »

The U.S may soon have 3D printed homes, and a new partnership are claiming they will be created in just one day. Construction company Sunconomy have teamed up with Russian 3D printers Apis Cor and their 3D concrete printer and realize this ambition. Larry Haines, founder of Sunconomy, wants the public to join them on a “revolutionary journey to build affordable, smart, sustainable housing with Apis Cor’s new 3D concrete printer “. Sunconomy are currently crowd-funding for this project with a goal of over $500,000.

Published on December 10th, 2016 | by Steve Hanley.

The US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) are at an advanced stage of with their synthetic biology research. The work could see bacteria being used to send signals and sense in a way similar to computers, the advantage being that it could potentially provide a more intuitive sensory experience to a piece of tech, and bypass some of the pitfalls unique to electrical structures. The research also has application for new 3D printing materials.

An Australian hospital is building a facility dedicated to 3D-Printing organs.