Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
11.5
Fabrication Scenarios
Envisioning the future of fabrication is not the same thing as predicting the future.
Design fi ction is about imagining the implications of a technology in a potential
future setting, rather than predicting the specifi c future of a new technology. The
remainder of this chapter is devoted to some imagined scenarios of our own that we
believe can inform our understanding of the possible futures of home fabrication.
11.5.1
The Horizon of Home Fabrication: The Next Decade
Our scenarios require that we make some educated guesses about what the future of
fabrication will look like. These guesses are at least partially extrapolated from
current trends and trajectories that we have observed in the development of home
fabrication appliances. However, some of these conditions are less grounded in the
current technology and more grounded in what we imagine would need to happen
in order for our fi ctional scenarios to come to pass. We suggest the following fi ve
conditions as likely advances over the next 10 years:
1 .
3D printers as household appliance:
In order for 3D printers to spread beyond
hackers and hobbyists, they need to become cheaper and easier to use and main-
tain. Fortunately, this appears to be happening already. The same cannot be said
for laser cutters and other more industrial fabrication solutions (such as lathes
and CNC mills). In our imagined future, 3D printers and other fabrication
technologies are common, affordable, and well on the way to ubiquity. It also
seems reasonable to imagine that the home fabricator of the future will be a net-
worked device, connected to the other computers and media devices in the home,
and able to exchange information with them.
2 .
Closed loop between “feedstock” and “product”:
One factor that limits the use-
fulness of 3D printers is that they require raw feedstock in various materials and
colors to produce objects. Over time the cost of this feedstock can exceed the
cost of the printer (similar to the cost of cartridges for ink-jet printers). Further,
one drawback of ubiquitous 3D printing is a potential proliferation of fabricated
“junk” in people's lives. Unlike data (which can be accumulated without any
meaningful material footprint in the home) fabricated objects take up nonnego-
tiable physical space. If we wish to imagine fabrication being used more widely
and frequently, we must solve both of these problems. To do so, we envision an
integrated recycling solution
10
that closes the loop between input and output by
allowing us to fuel our replicators with household waste and previously printed
objects.
3 .
Wider range of printable materials and colors:
As 3D printing has evolved, the
technology has moved from the slow creation of low-resolution plastic parts to
10
Similar to the Filabot:
http://fi labot.com/
