The robotically 3D-printed Voxel Chair 1.0 looks like it came straight out of a science fiction film. The futuristic mesh-like prototype was designed by Manuel Jimenez Garcia and Gilles Retsin, and manufactured using extruded PLA plastic through Robotic Additive Manufacturing Platform (RAMP), an innovative process that enables 3D printing of large-scale products with stunning detail and durability.
The Voxel Chair, whose shape is inspired by the Panton chair design, is the first prototype of its kind using new software that is specifically developed for robotic 3D printing. Unlike most 3D printing processes that use pre-defined forms, this innovative software – based on research by Manuel Jimenez Garcia and Gilles Retsin – allows for optimal control of thousands of line fragments.
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Designed in collaboration with fabrication firms Nagami.Design and Vicente Soler, the chair was built out of transparent PLA, a non-toxic, biodegradable plastic that can be made out of various renewable resources like corn starch. Cyan-colored particles were mixed into the plastic to give the chair its unique glass-like appearance.
The unique chair is just one example of how the RAMP process can be used to build stronger 3D-printed products. Considering the breakneck speed of advances in the field, unprecedented large-scale 3D objects are only a matter of time.
The Voxel Chair 1.0 is currently on display at the Imprimer Le Monde in Centre Pompidou Paris.
Via Ignant
Images via Manuel Jimenez Garcia, Gilles Retsin and Nagami.Design
