3-D printing

“What makes The Deep unique is that the students have a lot of ownership, and the students help run the space,” says Professor Marty Culpepper, who is known as the Institute's “Maker Czar.”

Welcome to The Deep

A new creative space opens as maker culture continues to thrive at MIT.

April 8, 2019

Microfilaments made using a new 3D printing method, shown in gray in this illustration, form a structure that cells, shown in color, can adhere to. The shapes formed by the filaments determine the very uniform shapes of cells.

New 3-D printing approach makes cell-scale lattice structures

System could provide fine-scale meshes for growing highly uniform cultures of cells with desired properties.

March 25, 2019

Students participating in the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program include: (clockwise from top left) Veronica Boyce, Nicholas Bonaker, Alexandra Dima, Neeraj Prasad, Elizabeth Weeks, and Alexander Denmark.

Exploring the nature of intelligence

Undergraduate research projects show how students are advancing research in human and artificial intelligence, and applying intelligence tools to other disciplines.

February 21, 2019

MIT researchers have devised a technique that “reverse engineers” complex 3-D computer-aided design (CAD) models — breaking them down into the many individual shapes they’re made of — to make them far easier for users to customize for manufacturing and 3-D printing applications.

Customizing computer-aided design

System breaks down complex designs into easily modifiable shapes for custom manufacturing and 3-D printing.

January 2, 2019

MIT researchers have designed an ingestible sensor that can lodge in the stomach for a few weeks and communicate wirelessly with an external device.

Ingestible capsule can be controlled wirelessly

Electronic pill can relay diagnostic information or release drugs in response to smartphone commands.

December 13, 2018

MIT researchers have 3-D printed a novel microfluidic device that simulates cancer treatments on biopsied tumor tissue — and keeps the tissue alive for days — so clinicians can better examine how individual patients will respond to different therapeutics.

To guide cancer therapy, device quickly tests drugs on tumor tissue

Inexpensive 3-D-printed microfluidics device could be used to personalize cancer treatment.

December 12, 2018

Associate Professor A. John Hart (right), doctoral student Adam Stevens SM ’15, and their colleagues have designed a 3-D printer that can deposit material 10 times faster than today’s desktop models can. The team has also developed a novel process for 3-D printing using cellulose, a widely available natural polymer.

Accelerating 3-D printing

Researchers have designed a novel printhead that works with unprecedented speed and pioneered ways to melt and extrude renewable materials.

November 29, 2018

The RePaint system reproduces paintings by combining two approaches called color-contoning and halftoning, as well as a deep learning model focused on determining how to stack 10 different inks to recreate the specific shades of color.

Reproducing paintings that make an impression

CSAIL's new RePaint system aims to faithfully recreate your favorite paintings using deep learning and 3-D printing.

November 29, 2018

people smiling and talking in front of scientific posters

Collaborating for MIT’s Future poster session offers community insights and inspiration

For the fifth year, the poster session brought together colleagues from across MIT to learn about new projects and partnerships.

November 2, 2018

Desktop Metal's Studio System is designed to make the production of metal parts an office-friendly experience.

Startup uses 3-D printing to reinvent the production of metal parts

With an MIT alumnus and four professors among its co-founders, Desktop Metal is pushing the boundaries of metal 3-D printing.

October 5, 2018

As the additive manufacturing lead at Lincoln Laboratory, Derek Straub works with technical staff to design 3-D-printed parts for various systems and technologies and oversees production on nine industrial machines.

Derek Straub: Shaping the future of additive manufacturing

Lincoln Laboratory's 3-D printing lead has been named to Manufacturing Engineering magazine's 30 Under 30 list.

September 25, 2018

An MIT system uses an algorithm that can take 2-D videos and turn them into 3-D-printed “motion sculptures” that show how a human body moves through space.

Creating 3-D-printed “motion sculptures” from 2-D videos

CSAIL system could help athletes, dancers, and others better analyze how they move.

September 18, 2018

3-D-printed colloidal crystals viewed under a light microscope.

MIT researchers 3-D print colloidal crystals

Technique could be used to scale-up self-assembled materials for use as optical sensors, color displays, and light-guided electronics.

August 30, 2018

Students in the Beaver Works Summer Institute’s Autonomous RACECAR course follow their cars around a racetrack during the program’s final race.

A transformative summer for student engineers

High school students explored engineering and technology at the Beaver Works Summer Institute, ending with robot races and demonstrations.

August 13, 2018

Mohan Hathi of Team Exoskeleton poses with the exo-hand built in the Engineering Design Workshop.

High school students learn to build big ideas

Visiting students learn what it takes to be an engineer — and a bit more about themselves — at the Edgerton Center’s annual Engineering Design Workshop.