Robot Prototyping Program

I've talked about 3D printing (aka. Additive Manufacture) in other posts.  The "limits" there are often thought of the be only in your mind.  Of course that doesn't address the fact that you can't easily make moving arts in those additive manufacturing processes.  And you can't use every material for home 3D printers.  And you have to be a designer to get it all to work for you.  Wow, there are a lot of barriers, aren't there...

One company is trying to remove that last one.  This article discusses the possibility of a universal robot prototyping software that helps you build a robot in just a few hours.  Again, the "possibilities are endless", but a) they haven't finished the program yet and b) you need to have additive manufacturing capabilities.

Automation like this is a great thing.  It looks like designers are learning from computer programmers.  Additive printing is a new technology that started by only taking CAD drawing or other drafting documents.  They're adding a layer of intelligence to it, making it much easier to program.

-sjk

Impossible Photography

I listened to a Ted Talk by Erik Johansson, at this link.  He discusses his desire to create photo-realistic images using photoshop.  He seems to be a modern incarnation of M.C. Echer, an artist famous for perspective drawings that were not possible in a three dimensional world.  

One thing he said struck me quite profoundly - his comment that he felt traditional photography was limited.  It is all about the setup.  For a photograph, you have to set up the right lighting conditions, the right scene, and have the right film in the right camera.  And so the photography process ended when you snapped the picture and created an indelible image.  With Photoshop, he was able to extend the creative process beyond taking the picture.  Technology allowed him to modify photography, allowing him freedoms previously reserved for painting and drawing.  

Overcoming a limitation is a great way to come up with innovative processes and products.  For instance, Google Docs allows collaborative editing of google-formatted presentations, documents, and spreadsheets.  They worked to overcome the barriers to collaborative editing by taking advantage of cloud computing and storage technology. 

If I look at another traditional media - sculpting - what can we come up with from there?  The ability to digitize and recreate sculptures at different locations?  A tracking glove or other device that allows you to sculpt in 3D using analog tools?  How about an installation where you combine the two and have a single piece of art that can be modified by others, where you can highlight its evolution over time?  

My first inclination is to put photography in its own category, because it has such a clear delineation between setup and post-processing.  I'm going to continue looking for other places where people move the immovable, or could if they wanted. 

3D Printers

3D printing is super awesome!  It allows you to repeatedly deposit layers of material, eventually creating a full three dimensaional object.  They run off CAD designs, and can create an enormous number of different objects.  Additionally, it can also create those objects using a crazy big number of different materials.  Reading today, I found out that there are 3D printers that can work with many different types of metals, plastics, food (such as frosting), and even human tissue (printered bladders are real).  You can hear about a printed human kidney here.

I've been thinking of the application possibilities for this type of technology.  The most blatant is to replace traditional manufacturing, specifically fabricating a part out of a single material.  That would likely be with single-material printers, but could become more robust with multi-material heads based on the sophistication of the system.  You could also sell items to people over the internet that are able to be printed on a 3D printer.  This one is more problematic until the technology become pervasive in the consumer home.  That said, you can certainly use it for artwork and small through-the-internet sales of artsy or specialty products.

I'm very excited about this technology, and am thinking about investing in a 3D printer of my own.  To do so, I'd need to overcome a couple barriers - the biggest one is that I don't know how to design 3D objects in CAD software.  Not impossible, but something I'd have to learn.