MIT’s New 3D Printer Can Print a Working Motor, Complete With Moving Parts: “This is a great feat, but it is just the beginning.” (Victor Tangermann, Mar 1, 2026, Futurism)
The tech behind 3D printing has come an extremely long way. The additive manufacturing technique, which generally involves depositing one layer at a time, has gone from relatively crude rapid prototyping in industrial settings to high-end fabrication of detailed parts in a growing list of fields, from medical implants to the construction of entire neighborhoods and rocket engines.Now, MIT researchers have devised new tech that can 3D print entire complex machines with moving parts in a matter of hours. As Gizmodo half-jokingly points out, it brings us one small step closer to being able to “steal a car” by downloading it from the internet, as suggested in the slogan of the much-derided anti-piracy ad from the early 2000s.