• Electric motors are essential components across automated manufacturing systems, yet their production and replacement typically rely on centralized facilities and complex supply chains. • Researchers at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT) are developing a multimaterial 3D printing platform designed to fabricate fully functional electric motors onsite in a single manufacturing step. • The approach could reduce replacement costs, minimize operational downtime, and shift production toward faster, localized, and more flexible manufacturing models. • The work appears in the journalVirtual and Physical Prototyping. • The paper is led by Jorge Cañada, an electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) graduate student at MIT, with contributions from fellow EECS student Zoey Bigelow. • Luis Fernando Velásquez-García, a principal research scientist at MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL), is the senior author overseeing the study.

Article Summaries:

  • MIT researchers have built a multimaterial 3D‑printing platform that can fabricate fully functional electric motors on‑site in a single manufacturing step. The printer uses four specialized extruders to deposit conductive, magnetic, and structural materials layer by layer, enabling the rapid creation of a linear motor in about three hours. The prototype, produced with five different feedstocks, matched or exceeded the performance of conventionally manufactured motors while costing roughly 50 ¢ in materials. The study, led by EECS graduate student Jorge Cañada with contributions from Zoey Bigelow and senior author Luis Velásquez‑García, appears in Virtual and Physical Prototyping and highlights a potential shift toward localized, flexible manufacturing.
  • Electric motors are essential components across automated manufacturing systems, yet their production and replacement typically rely on centralized facilities and complex supply chains. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) are developing a multimaterial 3D printing platform designed to fabricate fully functional electric motors onsite in a single manufacturing step. The approach could reduce replacement costs, minimize operational downtime, and shift production toward faster, localized, and more flexible manufacturing models. The work appears in the journal Virtual an

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