3D-printed houses and cars on the horizon as manufacturing goes large

Housebuilders and makers of car parts in a few decades time may need nothing more than a large robotic arm, some raw ingredients and a programmable design, thanks to the next-generation of 3D printing machines which are opening up the technique to large-scale industry. There are currently two types of manufacturing: additive, also known as 3D printing, where an item is built by adding material layer by layer; and subtractive, which starts with a piece of material and takes pieces away through processes such as milling and polishing until you're left with the final product. Now, researchers are building hybrid machines that are able to perform both types of manufacturing at once, and on a scale that brings 3D-printed houses and cars within reach. 'We want to use the best of both technologies,' said Jose Antonio Dieste, from Spanish technology centre AITIIP. 'Additive manufacturing has some problems, one is the accuracy for large parts, another is the quality of the finishing.