UMaine has the world’s largest 3D printer [Video]

The world’s largest 3D printer has created a house that can cut construction time and labor. An even larger printer unveiled on Tuesday may one day create entire neighborhoods.The machine revealed Tuesday at the University of Maine in Orono is four times larger than the first one — commissioned less than five years ago — and capable of printing ever mightier objects. That includes scaling up its 3D-printed home technology using bio-based materials to eventually demonstrate how printed neighborhoods can offer an avenue to affordable housing to address homelessness in the region.Thermoplastic polymers are extruded from a printer dubbed the “Factory of the Future 1.0.” There could be even larger printers after the University of Maine breaks ground this summer on a new building, a spokesperson said.The massive printer “opens up new research frontiers to integrate these collaborative robotics operations at a very large scale with new sensors, high-performance computing …