With regard to 3D technology, compelling headlines have been made, including ideas for making clothes, food, guns and house parts using 3D printers.
This has also had an impact on education, planning to install 3D printers in schools in the UK and the US.
These technologies have great potential for young people both inside and outside the school.
Schools are increasingly interested in this \"rapid prototyping\" technology.
But there are still some common obstacles.
Access, funding, awareness and confidence of teachers.
However, many learners have acquired 3D design regardless of whether their school is ready or not.
One of the most enlightening advocates is 14-year-
Old female students from Manchester, England.
Amy Mather won the first European Digital Girl Award from the European Commission last year.
The female student presented her ideas in front of an expert audience, including the O2 Arena in London, the next generation of cable and the Campus Party of the Royal Association for the encouragement of the Arts (RSA).
After attending the Manchester Science Festival at age 11, Amy participated in coding and later 3D design.
But the main inspiration for her work comes from the movement loosely referred to as the \"digital manufacturer\", a global movement that encourages young people to create with technology.
This includes support from Fab Lab in Manchester.
\"Fab lab\" represents a \"manufacturing lab\" in which digital ideas are turned into products and prototypes.
The Fab lab is open to the public, which enables Amy to use software and hardware that is not available in the school, such as 3D printers and
laser cutting machines.
She uses 3D design and manufacturing techniques in her GCSE product design course at the school.
\"There are always people with experience, people with experience in life and breathing,\" she said . \".
\"There\'s a great community spirit, so it\'s really, really easy to learn there and do and experiment at your own pace.
\"The Fab laboratory in Manchester is the first of nine in the UK and is expected to rise to 30 in three years.
They are part of a global program starting in the US, starting with a college course, \"How to make (Almost)
\"Anything\", created by Professor Neil geshenfield, director of the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms (MIT)in the US.
Within eight years of publishing his groundbreaking book, Fab: The upcoming revolution on your desktop --
From PCs to PCs, there are currently about 200 Fab laboratories in more than 40 countries.
Professor geshenfield believes that the digital revolution has taken place and we are seeing it put into practice.
The challenge for Fab Labs, he said, is to take advantage of the \"innovative power of the world\" and apply it to \"designing and producing solutions to local problems \".
Fab Labs serve education and business so that interested people can come together to use the technology.
Professor gershenfield expressed firm opposition to the media\'s hype about 3D printing.
Amy Mather reflects the attitude of \"Moving On.
This is also a phrase that often appears in conversations with her.
She\'s not the kind of person who waits until she gets the most hands --to-Date technology.
If you can build using other methods, why wait for access to the 3D printer?
She described how she made her own apartment using 3D design software
Packaging version of stool-
Then cut the parts out with the machine so she can assemble the final product.
She uses laser cutting machine technology to make a shell for the computer she uses for the project, and even designs a vacuum using a 3D printer-
Make a chocolate mold for a friend\'s birthday party.
Unfortunately, she admits, the edges are too sharp.
\"But I will try again with thicker food --safe plastic.
\"What I really like is that you can do very complex designs,\" she added . \".
\"Most of the software is very easy to use and very intuitive.
With a few online tutorials, it\'s really easy to learn how to get around it.
Free, open
SOURCE system that allows students to cut from the tablet and then assemble the 3D model.
Martin Stevens and his partner Trupti Patel have also highlighted the ease of use and lower prices for this improvement, and his company 3D is the first to work with schools in the UK. Entry-
He said the horizontal printer has evolved from kits that are adopted by more confident teachers and advanced students.
Plug now. and-
Play the machine \"out of the box\" with the reliability and robustness required by the school.
Experience has alerted Martin Stevens to government plans that often put hardware into unused schools, so his top priority is to provide students and teachers with a full range of online video support materials.
Some students show extraordinary independence.
Peter Shortz and Gerhard de clecker, 15-year-
Old students at Menlo Park High School in Pretoria, South Africa used mobile apps to make their own 3D printers.
This is their fast prototype mobile contribution to African schools with pc shortages.
\"We can recycle Coke and soft drink bottles to make 3D printed filaments a raw material for our machines,\" they said . \".
\"We can even use this material to 3D print the prosthetic limb.
\"Amy Mather is keeping a close eye on the new developments.
She currently accepts the freehand 3D printing concept offered by a new invention 3 Doodler, which is described as \"the world\'s first 3D printing pen \".
It does not require a computer or a printer.
\"You put the plastic stick inside and it works a bit like a glue gun,\" she said . \".
\"It heats the plastic and squeezes it through the tip of the pen, and you can draw 3D items with it.
You can draw it on a flat surface first, then assemble it, or draw it directly in the air.
\"It\'s good for quick prototyping ideas and creativity, but it\'s far less expensive than a 3D printer and you don\'t have to know any CAD [
Computer-aided designsoftware.
\"You can continue to do what you like and exchange and change colors and things.
I think this is a very useful tool.
\"In this case, her next ambition is to try to build her own\" mini-Maker Faire \", the mini-Maker Faire.
\"We will invite
18 years old, there are instructors who can show them how to use technologies such as laser cutting machines, CAD software and CAM [
Computer-aided manufacturingmachinery.
\"You asked them to create whatever they wanted and in the end they held an exhibition to show the public their work and how proud they were of it.
