3D Printing News Unpeeled: LocLab and Hexagon, SpaceTech and Glowscape

eSoutheast University (SEU) Nanjing and ETH Zurich have made Glowscape this is a large format Kuka robot 3D print using Natureworks Ingeoe PLA pellets. The interactive lit piece uses its translucency to be lively and engendering touch and feel by passers by. The print looks fairly straightforward and this could really point to more fun street and building furniture. 

A former special forces soldier and serial entrepreneur, Will Glaser has founded a satellite startup. Based out of the Florida Gulf Coast University’s Emergent Technology Institute in Fort Myers, Florida the company called,  Space Tech hopes to use 3D printing for cube sats. The wants to use off the shelf technology and 3D printing to make specific satellites for the US Government. There is a great deal of potential for systems integration and inexpensive custom space products so the company seems timely. 

Hexagon has bought LocLab which can take scan and other large scale data of buildings, neighborhoods and infrastructure populating it intelligently and automatically with data. Enriched and stitched together large scale scans could be much more valuable if they are correctly representative of the real world and also tell you where all the street lights, man holes and train tracks are. A digital twin of a city could help planners and developers manage and drum up interest for major projects as well as help maintenance and asset management. Further more it could let other software optimize planning and construction or maintenance.