Automating design and fabrication of tools for specific kinds of 3D expression

Thomas Sandladerer: Made with Layers: I bought the cheapest 3D printer on AliExpress!
at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikjOEaPY6Rk

I was amazed you got it assembled and working. Getting rid of the screen is a good idea, and they are closer to essential operating steps. If you got some wood or aluminum you could hot glue some rigidity. It seems to be trying “soft, but more intelligent”. It really raises “What do I want to make with this?” so “What forces and requirements are needed to do what I plan to do?”. You could get to where “I want to make some of these.” gives you instructions to “Print and assemble these components, snap or glue them together, use quality parts at these points – all based on intelligent planning”. All based on “Precisely what do you want to make with this?”

If they sold linear components that snap or glue together, and offered a range of rigidity and precision, it would suit someone who had many different things in mind. But someone wanting to be a small manufacturer (maker) more narrow requirements and possibly harder pieces at critical locations and steps.

I think if you focus your mind on any one part, and use robotic arm 3D vector methods, rather than xyz linear thinking, it might give really artistic and interesting results. But it then is a very human specific instrument (like a musician’s instrument or an artist’s brush or sculptor’s tools) to make creative things for sharing.

These sorts of things could be means of expression — if the engineering, force and material design – could be part of “What do I want to make and what tool can I “fabricate” to do it best to suit my overall purpose?”

I worked online for about 10 years with sculptors, artists, 3D workers and makers, and groups who wanted things made. They generally like hard tools, not soft ones; precision and ease of operation. Then the creativity is in the human “hands on” steps to make things. Maybe the whole field of 3D scanning and replication to needs to be sorted out from “designing and making originals”.

If you could have hand and voice controls and several automata (A “linear component” is a separate entity and obeys certain rules. Several such components, working in orchestrated concert are working toward a human design goal. I can see a full AI (LLM in there somewhere  to enable all human languages and cultures) controlled design system where a human artist and designer over time can make most anything that comes to mind. And with diffusion printing (same as diffusion video) algorithms, the AI could simply use “soft techniques” to creatively add and assemble things. Glass, wood, metal, meta-materials, pick and place computer, PCBs, coatings, acrylic, hard repeating elements glued together, hard elements welded together. It would take fairly sophisticated but “lean and efficient” thinking. But I expect that to emerge from combining LLM (needs a wrapper and rules) and machine learning. And, a much more serious “What are the essential purposes and steps in creativity and human expression?”.

Yes, resin and cast parts that snap or glue together and some 3D printed parts. Hard plastic rods can last as long as thin metal tubes. Casting and coating. A bit of chemistry – shared in a global collaborative “nothing lost” environment might work. Talking only and not encouraging communities is not really sustainable. Lots of pathways to explore – so tens of millions working together where everything is remembered and accessible and available. Not many unconnected pieces. If all the 3D workers in the world worked seamlessly and efficiently – that can be done with some who only facilitate and enable.  A global marketplace and community, not many individuals all struggling alone

You could make a “distributed maker network” where people send you what they want to do and you print and send them the system completely assembled tested and operating. And anyone of 8 Billion humans (and AIs) can be part of that global open community.

Richard Collins, The Internet Foundation