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What’s next in 3D printing

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    My grandfather was a cobbler.
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    Back in the day, he made custom-made shoes.
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    I never got to meet him.
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    He perished in the Holocaust.
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    But I did inherit his love for making,
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    except that it doesn't exist that much anymore.
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    You see, while the Industrial Revolution
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    did a great deal to improve humanity,
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    it eradicated the very skill
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    that my grandfather loved,
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    and it atrophied craftsmanship as we know it.
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    But all of that is about to change with 3D printing,
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    and it all started with this,
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    the very first part
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    that was ever printed.
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    It's a little older than TED.
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    It was printed in 1983
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    by Chuck Hull,
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    who invented 3D printing.
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    But the thing that I want to talk to you about today,
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    the big idea that I want to discuss with you,
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    is not that 3D printing
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    is going to catapult us into the future,
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    but rather that it's actually going
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    to connect us with our heritage,
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    and it's going to usher in a new era
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    of localized, distributed manufacturing
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    that is actually based
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    on digital fabrication.
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    So think about useful things.
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    You all know your shoe size.
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    How many of you know the size
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    of the bridge of your nose
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    or the distance between your temples?
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    Anybody?
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    Wouldn't it be awesome if you could,
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    for the first time, get eyewear
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    that actually fits you perfectly
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    and doesn't require any hinge assembly,
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    so chances are, the hinges are not going to break?
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    But the implications of 3D printing
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    go well beyond the tips of our noses.
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    When I met Amanda for the first time,
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    she could already stand up and walk a little bit
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    even though she was paralyzed from the waist down,
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    but she complained to me that her suit
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    was uncomfortable.
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    It was a beautiful robotic suit
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    made by Ekso Bionics,
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    but it wasn't inspired by her body.
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    It wasn't made to measure.
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    So she challenged me to make her something
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    that was a little bit more feminine,
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    a little bit more elegant,
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    and lightweight,
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    and like good tailors,
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    we thought that we would measure her digitally.
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    And we did. We built her an amazing suit.
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    The incredible part about what I learned
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    from Amanda is a lot of us are looking at 3D printing
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    and we say to ourselves,
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    it's going to replace traditional methods.
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    Amanda looked at it and she said,
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    it's an opportunity for me
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    to reclaim my symmetry
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    and to embrace my authenticity.
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    And you know what? She's not standing still.
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    She now wants to walk in high heels.
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    It doesn't stop there.
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    3D printing is changing
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    personalized medical devices as we know it,
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    from new, beautiful, conformal,
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    ventilated scoliosis braces
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    to millions of dental restorations
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    and to beautiful bracings
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    for amputees,
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    another opportunity to emotionally reconnect
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    with your symmetry.
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    And as we sit here today,
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    you can go wireless on your braces
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    with clear aligners,
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    or your dental restorations.
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    Millions of in-the-ear hearing aids
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    are already 3D printed today.
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    Millions of people are served today
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    from these devices.
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    What about full knee replacements,
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    from your data, made to measure,
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    where all of the tools and guides are 3D printed?
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    G.E. is using 3D printing
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    to make the next generation leap engine
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    that will save fuel to the tune
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    of about 15 percent
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    and cost for an airline
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    of about 14 million dollars.
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    Good for G.E., right,
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    and their customers and the environment.
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    But you know the even better news
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    is that this technology is no longer reserved
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    for deep-pocketed corporations.
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    Planetary Resources, a start-up
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    for space explorations
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    is going to put its first space probe later this year.
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    It was a fraction of the NASA spaceship,
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    it costs a fraction of its cost,
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    and it's made with less than a dozen moving parts,
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    and it's going to be out in space later this year.
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    Google is taking on this very audacious project
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    of making the block phone, the Ara.
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    It's only possible because of the development
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    of high-speed 3D printing that for the first time
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    will make functional, usable modules
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    that will go into it.
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    A real moonshot, powered by 3D printing.
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    How about food?
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    What if we could, for the first time,
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    make incredible delectables
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    like this beautiful TED Teddy here
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    that is edible?
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    What if we could completely
    change the experience,
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    like you see with that absinthe serving
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    that is completely 3D printed?
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    And what if we could begin to put ingredients
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    and colors and flavors in every taste,
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    which means not only delicious foods
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    but the promise of personalized nutrition
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    around the corner?
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    And that gets me to one of the
    biggest deals about 3D printing.
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    With 3D printing, complexity is free.
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    The printer doesn't care
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    if it makes the most rudimentary shape
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    or the most complex shape,
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    and that is completely turning design
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    and manufacturing on its head as we know it.
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    Many people think that 3D printing will be
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    the end of manufacturing as we know it.
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    I think it that it's the opportunity to put
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    tomorrow's technology in the hands of youngsters
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    that will create endless abundance
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    of job opportunities,
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    and with that,
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    everybody can become an expert maker
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    and an expert manufacturer.
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    That will take new tools.
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    Not everybody knows how to use CAD,
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    so we're developing haptics,
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    perceptual devices
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    that will allow you to touch
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    and feel your designs
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    as if you play with digital clay.
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    When you do things like that,
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    and we also developed things that takes
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    physical photographs that are instantly printable,
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    it will make it easier to create content,
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    but with all of the unimagined,
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    we will also have the unintended,
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    like democratized counterfeiting
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    and ubiquitous illegal possession.
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    So many people ask me,
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    will we have a 3D printer in every home?
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    I think it's the wrong question to ask.
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    The right question to ask is,
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    how will 3D printing change my life?
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    Or, in other words, what room in my house
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    will 3D printing fit in?
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    So everything that you see here
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    has been 3D printed,
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    including these shoes
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    at the Amsterdam Fashion Show.
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    Now these are not my grandfather's shoes.
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    You know, these are shoes that represent
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    the continuation of his passion
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    for hyper-local manufacturing.
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    My grandfather didn't get to see Nike
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    printing cleats for the recent Super Bowl,
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    which I think is kind of serendipitous,
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    and my father didn't get to see me standing
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    in my hybridized 3D printed shoes.
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    He passed away three years ago.
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    But Chuck Hull, the man that invented it all,
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    is right here in the house today,
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    and thanks to him,
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    I can say, thanks to his invention, I can say
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    that I am a cobbler too,
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    and by standing in these shoes
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    I am honoring my past
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    while manufacturing the future.
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    Thank you.
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    (Applause)
Title:
What’s next in 3D printing
Speaker:
Avi Reichental
Description:

more » « less
Video Language:
English
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDTalks
Duration:
09:14
  • 4:54 It was a fraction of a NASA spaceship,

    That should be "It weighs a fraction".

English subtitles

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