With new 3D printer, any consumer can become developer, Zelenograd start-up thinks

NPP IIS, a start-up based at the Zelenograd Nanotech Center just outside Moscow, has developed and launched sales of its PICASO 3D Designer, a printer ?for everyday life and for broad consumer purposes?

NPP IIS, a two-year-old start-up based at the Zelenograd Nanotech Center just outside Moscow, has developed and launched sales of its PICASO 3D Designer, a printer that the company says is designed ?for everyday life and for broad consumer purposes,? local portal Zelenograd.ru reported. Sales began on December 3; one can buy the new $3,000 product through the NPP corporate website, distribution chains, and via suppliers of large industrial equipment, the developer said. The device is said to use a virtual computer model to create real physical objects, thus opening lots of opportunities for a variety of undertakings, from high school projects to R&D and industrial efforts. Printing tasks are generated in the STL file format, using Polygon, NPP?s proprietary Russian-language software. ?By 2025, between 5% and 10% of consumer goods will be made by consumers themselves; and between 30% and 50% of small-scale manufacture of complex items will be accomplished using 3D printers,? thinks Andrei Yusupov, the CEO of NPP IIS...