3D printers are like a step towards science fiction, but while a single step can start the journey, it takes many more to complete it, or a very, very long leap. As unlikely as it sounds, a company based in Rapid City, SD, called FRE, has achieved that leap.
In the image gallery, and the video embedded below, you will see the world's first ever all-in-one robotic work center, said to be capable of creating any object without human assistance.
Granted, there are some limitations (you won't be able to 3D print or subtract things in a sophisticated enough manner to make mechanical contraptions for example), but there isn't anything as advanced anywhere else in the world, to our knowledge.
A company called FRE, short for Flexible Robotic Environments, and stationed in Rapid City, SD, is the party behind the existence of the so-called VDK6000 Robotic Work Center.
The Work Center can not only 3D print objects from a variety of materials, metals included, but can also cut, drill or otherwise affect its shape and mass until the product matches whatever 3D model you've inputted.
In fact, several metal 3D printing techniques are supported. For example, Direct Metal Writing is a process whereby aerosol jetting technology is used to print low viscosity inks out of metal. Onto a 3D substrate, an aerosol stream of deposition material is focused, deposited and patterned. Cellphone antennas and circuits can be done this way.
Laser Additive Manufacturing is another technique, where a laser beam melts metals as they are deposited on a build platform. It's the most common metal 3D printing technology seen thus far.
Dynamic Gas Cold Spray is another technology that the VDK6000 has integrated. It is very rarely used because it's a fairly violent method of getting things done. You see, metal powder (1-50 microns in size) is sprayed towards an object through a supersonic gas jet.
The sheer speed causes the powder to adhere to the surface via a process called plastic deformation. Making new parts or repairing old ones can be done in this matter.