A car seat prototype "printed" in three dimensions using industrial technology that is poised to enter the mass market. Courtesy Der Spiegel.
HAMBURG, Germany: Fans of Star Trek will remember Captain Kirk's "replicator" - an all-purpose device with which crew members of the Starship Enterprise could create prototypes, spare parts, even food, from next to nothing. But like Kirk's "pocket communicator" - today known as an iPhone - much of what was science fiction in the 1960's has come to pass.
Now, the replicator has a real world cousin. 3-D printing, used industrially for the last few
decades, is ready to enter the mass market. And from manufacturing
to the potential sculpting of human organs, the technology promises to be more than a new type of printing press. It could usher in the
next industrial revolution. Courtesy Der Spiegel.