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UC Berkeley Group Working On Creating Inexpensive 3-D Printer Materials
phrackthat writes "A UC Berkeley group, in a bid to drive down the costs of 3-D printing, has been focusing on more natural materials such as salt, wood, ceramics and concrete (the last two, while not naturally occurring, are made of naturally occurring components). The use of these materials create new avenues for architecture, such as printing buildings. Professor Ronald Rael, the head of the project, stated that these materials and the designs they enable will require new IP protections — 'This is going to require some IP protection for designs, so if you design architecture in the computer, you're protected, just as music and movies are.' I wonder if he's ever heard of design patents?"
People have been doing 3D printing using ceramics and cement for a few years now. Why is this suddenly new again? Entire buildings have been constructed this way using giant printing machines no less. Don't the people at Berkeley or Tech News know how to use Google yet?
Better yet, I love how "cermanic and concrete" are somehow natural because they're made of natural materials. As if they're somehow more natural than plastic. I am reminded of Abstruse Goose.
Cynical Idealist