Project PRINT GREEN has evolved 3D printers into on-demand gardeners by designing a “green” printer that can print a mini garden. The garden continues to grow even after printing. The project was created at the University of Maribor in Slovenia, conceived by students MajaPetek, Tina Zidanšek, UrškaSkaza, DanicaRženičnik and Simon Tržan, with help from their mentor DušanZidar. PRINT GREEN has taken the familiar motto “Think, before printing” and turned it around as– ‘Print, because it’s green’. It has fused our primal activity – cultivation and our most modern technologies – a 3D organic sowing device to bring biological elements such as, soil, water and seeds into a modern mechanical or computerised environment.
The printer can print customised objects in a variety of sizes and forms. A CNC device prints a material compound from the “organic ink” in the machine, a combination of soil, seeds, and water, designed to print in any shape or alphabet. The finished product is a 3D “green” holder. While the material appears brown, as it is extruded, given time and light, the design turns green, bringing a new twist to “watching the grass grow.” Layer by layer the holder builds patterns to produce beautiful objects and images with a green touch. This 3D printer, a dream of every garden lover first built in 2013, has been exhibited in trade shows such as 3D Print Show and Trieste Mini Maker Faire in both Europe and America.
PRINT GREEN team is pondering over incorporating flowers for a colourful print, along with exploring the possibility of making prints without any software, like developing a stamp that can make prints without any computers. The printer is not only useful in teaching children about printing and gardening but is also being considered as the future of architecture. With further research, it could also transform the food industry by reducing the production chain. Coming together of art, technology and nature with the help of creative minds is definitely not good but great news for mankind.
Image Credits : print-green.org
