3D printing is rightly classified a disruptive technology. Based on a simple low power, low cost 3 axis robotic platform, nobody could have possibly grasped the impact that grafting a simple plastic extrusion head to the robotic carriage would have on the world.
The first home built machine was developed under 10 years ago and 3DFused Filament Fabrication (FFF) was born. The impact is transformational and far from over as new, follow on technologies and ideas are constantly being created to solve previous impossible problems. Employed across the board from medicine to civil engineering the technology is fully scale-able and all pervasive. The world of product prototyping and concept to creation is now available at the press of a button.