3D Printed Micro Robot by Georgia Tech

More details about the project:

https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/video-friday-georgia-tech-3d-printed-micro-bristle-bot

Cytosurge Improve their FluidFM µ3Dprinter with Pinpoint Accuracy Tech

I wrote about Cytosurge technology before. They developed a 3D printer that can print metal on the micro-scale. A true technological wonder. Just imagine small robots floating in your bloodstream to repair your body or extremely complex and fine electronic parts like micro-antenna arrays. Star Trek stuff. This is a technology that makes a large step towards that future. 
The company has now improved their machine with ability to print directly and precisely on complex surfaces like existing electronic component boards or microchips. 

Tech description:

The new pinpoint metal additive manufacturing process is made possible by two high resolution state-of-the-art cameras integrated into the FluidFM µ3Dprinter. The cameras enable automated loading of the print tips (FluidFM iontips), printer setup, calibration and computer-assisted alignment to print on already existing structures as well as the visualization of the finished structures. The bottom view camera is mainly used for internal system processes, like controlling the automated gripping of the FluidFM iontip. The top view camera images the object or surface to print on. With the high-resolution live video, the exact position of the object or surface to be printed on can be manually chosen and set as starting point for the printing process.

This procedure allows the user to print metallic objects on contact pads that are pre-defined on the surface of an integrated circuit, on micro-electromechanical-systems (MEMS) or on other components.

This unique capability of the FluidFM μ3Dprinter to add 3D printed structures directly onto existing objects or surfaces with pinpoint accuracy opens the door to a new world of additive manufacturing of complex metal objects.

You can learn more about this amazing tech at: http://cytosurge.com/

Cytosurge FluidFM µ3Dprinter is world’s first sub-micron metal 3D printer

Cytosurge AG, based in Zurich Switzerland, presents their revolutionary FluidFM µ3Dprinter which is world’s first 3D sub-micron direct metal printing machine.

This 3D printer could be used as an advanced tool for development of many new scientific and engineering applications from biology to nanorobotics.
It is one of the first steps towards practical manufacturing of parts for nanobots floating in your body to repair the damaged cells.







From the video description:

At the forefront of nanotechnology, additive manufacturing, life sciences and single cell biology, Cytosurge FluidFM µ3Dprinter is the world’s first 3D printer capable of delivering sub-micron resolution in direct metal printing, while offering scalability and good prospects in both production cost and speed.

The FluidFM technology opens a new world for metal object manufacturing and enables research opportunities in fields such as microelectronics, semiconductors, surface modification, microbots, sensors, material science and many other fields. Virtually any design can be offered to the system, including overhanging structures with 90 degree angles, without support structures or post processing steps.

High-precision surface modification processes can also be executed by printing ultra-thin or structured objects and by depositing multiple metals at the target surface. With the FluidFM µ3Dprinter various metals like Cu, Ag, Au, Pt can be printed.

The printing of other metals (Sn, Cd, Cr, Ni etc.) and various alloys are under investigation.

Company homepage:

https://www.cytosurge.com/page/micro3dprinting

Advancements in nano scale 3d printing by Jan Torgersen of TU Wien

It is not 3d printing if it 's not nano scale 3d printing.



From video description:

After his studies in mechanical engineering at the Vienna University of Technology, Jan Torgersen started his phd work at the Insitute of Materials Science and Technology. Jan's field is Additive Manufacturing Technologies; the technology involved in 3D printing. He developed a new printer that is able to produce nano-scaled objects suitable for numerous applications in photonics, surface modifications and biomedical engineering. This printer is currently the fastest of its kind and brings the technology closer to industrial applications. How it works got illustrated recently by a video that went around the world, showing the construction of a racing car model in the scale of a human hair.

In the video, a race car with dimensions of 330x130x100µm3 is fabricated. The structure consists of 100 layers, each made of an average of 200 polymer lines. It is finished in 4 minutes and resembles the CAD file at a precision of ±1µm.

More details on TU Wien page:

http://www.tuwien.ac.at/en/news/news_detail/article/7444/

Here is Korean concept for 3d printing nanobots:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2013/09/3d-printing-nanobots.html

3d printing nanobots

... because they ain't going to make themselves ... oh wait ...
... anyway, it is better not to make them self-replicating ... you know ... Grey Goo scenario ...





Video by: http://www.youtube.com/user/profahn?feature=watch

http://fab.snu.ac.kr/

Here are some updates on real nano scale 3d printing:

http://diy3dprinting.blogspot.com/2014/01/advancements-in-nano-scale-3d-printing.html