IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2015 - 79

Star Trek Food Replicator - "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot"
There are commercial food 3D printers currently available
[25]. The fundamental differences between the existing
generation of food 3D printers and the Star Trek-style
replicator are speed, user interface, and intelligence.
Scrutinizing how Captain John Luke Picard orders his tea
highlights how much more still needs to be achieved. Ultimately, it will be possible to load real-time biostats into a
computer program or mobile application. The biostats will
control the amount of vitamins, minerals, and potentially
drugs incorporated into a meal or food items, ensuring a
person receives the right composition needed to treat or
prevent particular health conditions.

Reshoring with Advanced Engineering
The integration of robotics and 3D printing is creating new
opportunities in the additive manufacturing arena [43].
With the U.S.A.'s increasing emphasis on reshoring, U.S.
policy is supporting new initiatives such as the National
Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, which is a
public-private partnership with a goal to explore industrial
3D printing applications, which will potentially facilitate
cross industry manufacturing [24]. This initiative aims to
develop highly advanced and customized tools and products locally, much more cheaply and quickly than products
imported from overseas. An example of how this trend
could impact the global manufacturing landscape of the
future is the decision by Taiwan's Foxconn to invest $30
million in a robotics factory in the United States. Foxconn
is one of the largest electronics manufacturers and largest
private employers in China, with a portfolio of prominent
products such as BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone, Kindle, Playstation, and Xbox One.

Currently the raw materials such as filaments, resins,
and any electronics components will still need to be
shipped to the consumer, but in the future printers
will have the capability to print different materials and
integrate the various materials into a single product,
making it easier to assemble the final product [38].
This paradigm shift will not make the traditional industrial factory assemblage model obsolete. However,
there will be benefits to sending digital files along with
design instructions to a nearby location over the current model for some products.

3D Printers - As Commonplace
as Microwave Ovens?
There will be a point when 3D printers will become as
acceptable as home microwaves or industry focused
radio frequency ID (RFID) tags. From a consumer perspective, one of the indicators will be the wide availability
and standardization of product codes. For example, if a
consumer requires a new part for a home appliance, they
can scan the code for a broken component and obtain
and download the digital file for the new component. This
scenario is in the future, but the possibility of printing
almost any object with any type of material is not. Almost
every facet of our society is being impacted by 3D printing including education, medicine, exploration, and architecture. The availability of low-cost printers, innovative
software, and a place to sell 3D products is fueling what
is being conceived as a 3D printing revolution.

Author Information
The author is Director, Center for Research, and Professor of MIS in the School of Business, Madonna University, Livonia, MI 48150. Email: polla@madonna.edu.

4D Printing: Self-Replicating Machines
The concept of a self-replicating 3D printer has already
been demonstrated with the RepRap desktop printer,
which allows you to print the parts for a new 3D printer
at home for you to assemble. Researchers are exploring
3D printers that can print a fully working printer, which
can start printing another 3D printer as soon as it cools
down. The idea of 4D printing entails creating objects
on 3D printers that utilize geometric code that would
allow the object to transform on its own when exposed
to environmental factors such as temperature, water, or
humidity [37]. Applications for architecture, transportation, and fashion are also being explored [28].

Distributed Manufacturing
There will be a time when inventors and manufacturers will have the capability to send instructions
digitally to a local 3D printer farm or directly to a consumer's home, significantly reducing the cost of the
finished product and allowing product personalization.

september 2015

∕

References
[1] A.S. Anisimov, D.P. Brown, B.F. Mikladal, L.Ó. Súilleabháin, K.
Parikh et al., "Printed touch sensors using carbon Nano-Bud® material," in SID Symp. Digest of Technical Papers, vol. 45, no. 1, pp.
200-203, 2014.
[2] B. Betts, "Software reviews: 3D print services," Engineering &
Technology, vol. 7, no. 10, pp. 96-97, 2012.
[3] J.F. Bloch, I. Ali, R. Passas, and S.R. du Roscoat, "Papers as functional
green materials," Advanced Materials Res., vol. 747, pp. 715-718, 2013.
[4] J. Chen, X. Chen, X. Zhang, O. Eichstädt, R. Du, F. Deng, and
Z. Zhang, "Computer-aided design and manufacturing of dental
implants with irregular geometries," in Biodental Engineering III
- Proc. 3rd Int. Conf. Biodental Engineering, BIODENTAL 2014,
2014, pp. 51-56; http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2s2.0-84902314004&partnerID=tZOtx3y1.
[5] X. Chen, J. Liu, T. Shi, H.Qian, K.Chen, and Q. Wei, "3D printing
robot: Model optimization and image compensation," J. Control
Theory and Applications, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 273-279, 2012.
[6] D.W. Cho, J.W. Lee, J.Y. Kim, and T. Y. Kanga, "Solid freeform
fabrication method applied to tissue scaffolds," in Handbook of
Intelligent Scaffolds for Tissue Engineering and Regenerative
Medicine, pp. 609-631; 2012.
[7] L. Columbus, "Roundup of 3D printing market forecasts
and estimates," Forbes, 2014; http://www.forbes.com/sites/

IEEE TEchnology and SocIETy MagazInE

http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2 http://www.forbes.com/sites/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2015