3D printing is changing the way we make things -- we're in a time of rapid change in both our ability to make and shape the world around us. Like every tool we as a species have used, 3D printing is changing the way we think about the design and structure of our built world. The printing press shaped what people wrote. The cotton gin changed how we made cloth. The assembly line changed how we manufactured nearly everything. Many of these technologies evolved as people applied them to real problems. Today, all over the world, many children are born missing parts of their fingers, hands, and arms due to a variety of congenital birth defects. As these children grow up, there are few options for prosthetics because just like shoes, they outgrow them quickly. And 3D printing might be a solution for that.

Andreas Bastian is a designer, engineer, and artist who develops and applies cutting edge 3D printing technologies. By being a 3D printing research scientist at Autodesk, he studies both novel and established additive manufacturing technologies and their role in the near future.
More about Andreas Bastian: http://bit.ly/1EXendY

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx