From Additive Manufacturing to 3D/4D Printing 2

33D Nanomanufacturing, 3D μ-Electronics and μ-Robotics

“What is annoying about modern theories, is not that they are false, but they may be proven true”. [ARE 02]

“We are still called to decide what we like best. This may be a theory which is accepted with total confidence, which is built in a manner which makes refutation impossible, through which ethical considerations permeate. Alternatively it could be a theory which is considered with a critical eye, which is capable of improvement, and which leaves us the freedom to organize our lives in the way we find the most helpful”. [FEY 99]

“Other blunders punctuate the tumultuous history of 3D printing and its patents. Ranked top is the notification of this technology’s creation. On 16 July 1984, French researchers from the “Compagnie Générale d’Électricité”, the future Alcatel, lodged with the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI – the French National Institute of Industrial Property Rights or Patent Office) their stereolithography patent. However the issue was that the Company did not believe this to be possible, any more than the CNRS did. Moreover it did not pay the renewal fee to ensure that the patent remained valid. Three weeks later the American, Chuck Hull, the founder of the global giant 3D Systems, submitted his patent for 3D printing. Thus it came about that 3D printing became an American invention”. [MAK 16]

“It needed to take us a long time to understand that the capability of a given technique was ...