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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 them,
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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 startup
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for space explorations
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is going to put out its first
space probe later this year.
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It was a fraction of a 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 are 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 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 take
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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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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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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)
Adrian Dobroiu
4:54 It was a fraction of a NASA spaceship,
That should be "It weighs a fraction".