Building anything, anywhere starts with this 3D printer
This solar-powered 3D printer fits in a suitcase and can replicate itself or print parts to build an even larger 3D printer.
Open-source 3D printing has the potential to address all sorts of problems in the developing world, and yet it remains largely a first world-centered curiosity primarily used to create geeky figurines, models, jewelry and phone cases.
Enter Michigan Technological University professor Joshua Pearce and his troika of obsessions -- 3D printing, solar power and the open-source movement. Pearce combined these to create 3D printers designed for communities that need their own means of production but don't have a reliable source of electricity.
"Say you are in the Peace Corps going to an off-grid community," Pearce said in a statement. "You could put your clothes in a backpack and take this printer in your suitcase. It's a mobile manufacturing facility that can make whatever you and the community need or value. It has nearly unlimited flexibility."
Technically, this isn't the first solar 3D printer we've seen. An ambitious graduate student set up some panels and a 3D printer in the Sahara Desert a few years back that was capable of turning the desert sand into 3D-printed glass creations.
Pearce's concept for sun-powered 3D printing aims to be a bit more practical and utilitarian, however. In an article published September 30 in the journal Challenges in Sustainability (PDF). Pearce and his colleagues describe two solar-powered 3D printers they designed.