The Future of Input and Output Devices and 3-D Printing

With the increases in technology, more and more input and output devices are becoming available. And even though some of these devices seem futuristic or just simply unbelievable, some are coming closer and closer to reality. Some of these devices include a text to brail reader, which is a device that scans the text in a book or can even be hooked up to a computer to translate the web page to brail. Another output device that is being worked on is a projector for cell phones, laptops and other mobile devices, that could project high quality video on a screen or a wall. But one of the most common new output device is the 3-D printer. The 3-D printer is a device that can be connected to a computer and print a solid object. To someone like myself, who has only ever witnessed a regular printer print writing onto a piece of paper, the idea of printing a solid object seems crazy. But it is becoming more and more common and one day it could be everywhere we turn, in schools and even in homes.

The first 3-D printer was based on a technique called stereolithography, created by Charles Hull in 1984. 3-D printing is an additive technology, where the object is built up by adding many thin layers. Since then, there has been  3 or 4 different techniques created and used in 3-D printing. Since this time, and after lots of developments, 3-D computers have become commercial  through a wide range of manufactures. The two largest companies in 3-D printing are 3-D Systems and Stratasys. 3-D printing has become a huge market and these two companies alone created a revenue of $3 billion dollars in 2012. The major problem with 3-D printers is the price. 3-D printers start out in the 10 to 20 thousand dollar range and only increase depending on the type of printer. The most high end machines that can build metal parts can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Along with the price another problem with 3-D printers is the amount of space that they can take up. Most of the printers are floor standing models  and are often very large. 

It is still unclear if 3-D printing will ever become successful enough to reach the average household, but the amount of popularity the 3-D printer has received in its short life looks very promising. Prices will have to drop drastically and the size will also have to get a lot smaller. But if we look back at the early models of televisions, and how they were also floor models , and computers, which were often as big as a room, it is a real possibility. 

Source: http://www.explainingthefuture.com/3dprinting.html