3D Printing News Unpeeled: Tidal Power for Boats & Automatic Experiments

Marko Lazic has made the Offone, a 3D printed phone with a pared down design and e-ink display. The small phone can do Uber, calls, texts and the essentials but not much more. Will people want simple, easy to use phones that act as a permanent digital detox?

Lance McMullan of Juneau, Alaska has developed a 3D printed tidal power device made on a Modix Material Extrusion 3D printer. The Chinook 3.0 portable tidal power device is not meant to be a permanent sea floor installation but rather a unit that can provide electricity to small boats. So far it can make up to  1.6 kilowatts and weighs 45 kilo. A larger and smaller unit are in the works.

Keith Brown, at Boston University´s KABlab has been running an automated experiment since 2021. A robot setup 3D prints optimal energy-absorbing structures, crushes them, and then redesigns them. Named MAMA BEAR, the Mechanics of Additively Manufactured Architectures Bayesian Experimental Autonomous Researcher experiment should be done for many more use cases. Now it has designed a structure that is very efficient in energy absorption.