3D Scanners and Starch Replicas

One of my childhood memories is watching a scene from the first season of the Japanese anime TV series Star Blazers, a dubbed version of which was shown on Boston-area UHF television in the mid-1980s. In it, the ship's science officer shows off a device which can replicate any small- or medium-sized object -- I think the example used was a scooter.

It seemed fantastic at the time, but a preliminary version of the same technology exists now. The New York Times reports that relatively low-cost 3D scanners and printers are available to individuals and small businesses. The scanners can scan a small object in three dimensions, using lasers and rotating turntable. The "printer" can take the data from the scan, and recreate the object, using starches or resins. The NYT article, by Peter Wayner, explains:

The world is just beginning to grapple with the implications of this relatively low-cost duplicating method, often called rapid prototyping. Hearing aid companies, for instance, are producing some custom-fitted ear pieces from scanned molds of patients. Custom car companies produce new parts for classic cars or modified parts for hot rods. Consumer product makers create fully functional designs before committing themselves to big production runs.

The scanners cost between $2,500 and $40,000, and the printers cost $40,000 and up, says the article. Individual copies of an object using printers made by Z Corporation cost $70, ranging upwards of $700 for larger copies. Printers made by Dimension Printing use plastic in their replicas, costing about $50 per cubic inch, says the article.

While prototype manufacturing appears to be the dominant market for these types of services, there is a potential market for people's own belongings. Imagine being able to scan that rare Hummel figurine you've treasured for all of those years, and make a nearly exact copy of it to keep in your office.

Unfortunately, there may be a hitch with such plans, notes the article:

The legal landscape, though, may not be ready for the Napsterization of three-dimensional things. Most of the cute, small tchotchkes in my house that fit on the turntable of the NextEngine scanner I tested are copyrighted. Zapping up a new version might run afoul of the same laws being used to fight the piracy of songs.

Scans also require a powerful system for the home user who want to use the 3D scanners. The article says the $2,500 NextEngine scanner requires a fast PC with a recent video card and 2 GB of RAM and lots of storage -- an individual scan typically takes up 100 MB of space.

Also, the scanners can make near-perfect 3D models of objects, the functionality of those objects -- if there is any -- cannot be replicated. So while it would be possible to scan my son's toy robot, the resulting replica would be a statue, without any wind-up movements. This is unlike the Star Blazers example, in which the replica scooter was able to work as soon as it left the chamber.