News - A new 3D all-in-one peripheral 'Zeus' is soon to hit Kickstarter

[HEXUS]

The funding project, from startup company AIO Robotics, will start in early September.

Read more.

[Saracen]

I have to wonder whether, like so many other 3D claims, the reality will fail to meet expectations.

[Ksyruz]

This is just another 3D printer for arts and crafts with the function of sending emails and not necessarily needing to connect to a PC, which is a bit silly to view details on a little 7" screen

[Whiternoise]

I have to wonder whether, like so many other 3D claims, the reality will fail to meet expectations.

Of course, this is nascent technology.

Laser scanning, something I'm fairly well versed with through my academic research, is old tech and pretty reliable. 3D acquisition by triangulation isn't terribly difficult and the results can be extremely accurate. We can obtain sub-micron precision with single-point high end rigs nowadays. For example http://www.keyence.com/products/meas...5000/index.jsp.

Printing on the other hand is somewhat handicapped by patents, many of which are coming up for expiry. The current advice is to wait a bit longer, around a year or two. That sounds an awful lot like "Let's just wait for the new graphics card", but the market is only just starting to open up so it's probably true.

http://qz.com/106483/3d-printing-wil...f-key-patents/