A couple of days ago, under the r/Berserk subreddit, I saw several threads popping out with users showing off their 3D printed Dragon Slayer. At that point I remembered that most of the 3D printing hobbyists (including myself) use their machines for creating CS:GO knifes, Anime weapons or some other small, but cool things.
You can’t blame us though, the commercial sector just can’t offer more solutions at this point, even the best 3D printers have their limitations… But, what if the professional sector would improve?
What if the current technology is ripe enough for creating flying 3D printers which could fix micro-cracks on our skyscrapers? Or, let us say, what if we could create a ROV that could go underwater and, through 3D printing, save a damaged coral reef and its inhabitants? This is the part where “Break the Grid” comes in.
“Break the Grid”, a new 3D printing initiative, wants to tackle exactly that!
An initiative pushed by a Danish architecture company 3XN and presented by their independent research subsidiary GXN Innovation, “Break the Grid” wants to introduce physical and virtual improvements to the current 3D printing industry in order to create a new line-up that can be far more useful to humanity then the current 3D printers.
The end goal would be to cover machines that can tackle three global challenges:
- The first challenge would be to create 3D printing ROV’s that can tackle the deterioration of infrastructures, mostly focusing on the above mentioned micro-cracks.
- The second challenge is connected with the global climate change, where the goal would be to introduce improved underwater ROV’s with 3D printing capabilities.
- The third and last challenge is to create drone-based 3D printing systems that can scan older buildings, identify thermal bridges within them and treat the issue with special tools and materials.
“Converging technologies are enabling new approaches to construction,” commented Mads Kjøller Damkjær, CEO of The Danish AM Hub Fund. “We hope to inspire the additive manufacturing industry to envision new possibilities, which will require combining design and technology to shift our values and our current ways of thinking.”
The initiative is also supported by the Danish AM Hub, a platform for digital and additive manufacturing, as well as MAP Architects, a Copenhagen-based architectural design studio.
Source: https://3dprintingindustry.com