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Amazon Files Patent For Mobile 3D Printing Delivery Trucks 101

Posted by Soulskill from the get-your-almost-functional-lego-replica-in-30-minutes-or-it's-free dept.
ErnieKey writes: Amazon has been inching its way into the 3D printing space over the past 10 months or so. This week, however, the U.S. Patent office published a filing by Amazon for mobile 3D printing delivery trucks. The trucks would have 3D printers and CNC machines on board and be able to communicate with a central hub. When a product is ordered, the mobile 3D printing truck that's closest to the consumer's home or office would then get the order, print it, and deliver it as soon as possible.
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Amazon Files Patent For Mobile 3D Printing Delivery Trucks More

Amazon Files Patent For Mobile 3D Printing Delivery Trucks

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  • What's the market here? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    I really don't get it. With all the 3D hype, I've never seen anyone in the street or personally talk about or have a 3D printed object.

    What are people doing that it requires such a massive infrastructure?

    Last I heard, it was only Luddites that had factories or delivery trucks, we were going to 3D print everything at home, including the home itself?

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by jythie ( 914043 )
      Yeah, but how many people on the street do you encounter that talk about making wood furniture at home? While the hype is a bit much, 3D printers are mostly exciting to the same types of people who in the past would have a woodshop in their garage or similar hobby setup.

    • what's the point? it can't work (Score:4, Insightful)

      by swschrad ( 312009 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2015 @12:31PM (#49128607) Homepage Journal

      how fast is 3D printing? slow as death by clean living. so that's one notch in the handle.

      can you 3D print in a moving truck? the platform and system have to be stable like a $6000 turntable. notch 2.

      is a 3D print product pretty? flexible? neon colors, black, and white are what you have, assuming you are not slinging molten metal or concrete, the other two mediums in use. not flexible. notch 3, fashionistas in revolt.

      so far, it looks like three strikes and Amazon is out. they spend more time on slick PR releases than thought there.

      • how fast is 3D printing?

        How fast is traditional manufacturing? Sure, once you get your tooling set up and dedicate an entire warehouse to production and assembly, you can crank out ten thousand widgets a day... but it takes months and lots of money to get to that level of production.

        Meanwhile, if a part can be 3D printed, you press a button and the next morning you have it in your hand. Client/customer needs some customization? No problem, a day or so of computer time and press the button...

        can you 3D print in a moving truck?

        Probably. Depends on the printing method

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by camg188 ( 932324 )

        they spend more time on slick PR releases than thought there.

        But if they hold the patent, anybody who does put thought into it to make it work has to pay them.

      • Thats today's technology, but it will not be that way forever.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by sls1j ( 580823 )
      I've had a 3D printer for a little over a year now. And it's a big deal. The very best thing about it is being able to design parts that fit. I had an antique drain where I needed to attach a hose from my furnace. I was able to make a part that fit the hose and the drain cover, replace lost vacuum cleaner parts, an LED flashlight helmet mount, custom clips for easily attaching straps to a caving bag, the list goes on and on.

      Currently I'm working on quadcopter frame. Though most of the frame is alumi
  • Prior art, right here. I've got the idea of a "mobile 3D printing drone."
    • Too late, the military was publicly talking about doing something like that years ago with one making metallic parts for vehicles in the field.
      This definitely does not reach the threshold of being non-obvious to someone versed in the field.

  • New patent strategy (Score:5, Insightful)

    by almitydave ( 2452422 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2015 @11:53AM (#49128215)

    So Amazon just patented 3-D printing... ON A TRUCK? What other existing technologies can we add "on a truck" to to create a novel invention?

    • Not just 'on a truck' you unenlightened fool.

      It's 3D PRINTED on a truck.

      Now, that's progress. You thought we were getting flying cars. Nope, we get printed plastic forks.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by itzly ( 3699663 )

        I'm still waiting for my package to arrive by 3D printed truck.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Thud457 ( 234763 )
        new patent = (existing process) x ["with a computer" | "on the internet" | "with a 3D printer" | "in a box" | "with a fox" | "via drone" | "in virtual reality" | "with methane micro-lasers" | "in an app" | "with more cowbell" | "with an AI" | "dipped in liquid nitrogen" | "using fiber optics" | "facilitated by nanobots" | "using MEMS" | "meme enhanced"]

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by msauve ( 701917 )

          I think Dr. Suess has a claim to that style of invention:

          Say!
          I like green eggs and ham!
          I do! I like them, Sam-I-am!
          And I would eat them in a boat!
          And I would eat them with a goat...
          And I will eat them in the rain.
          And in the dark. And on a train.
          And in a car. And in a tree.
          They are so goodm so goodm you see!

          So I will eat them in a box.
          And I will eat them with a fox.
          And I will eat them in a house.
          And I will eat them with a mouse.
          And I will eat them here and there.
          Say! I will eat them ANYWHERE!

        • Margarita Manufacture on a truck or Pizza making in a delivery truck. How about I patent the process of patenting shit with no innovative value or R&D investment for the general purpose of patent trolling and cock blocking competition.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Megane ( 129182 )

        I'd like to see a video of a 3D printer working on a truck while the truck is moving. Especially up north where they have a lot of potholes. Especially a day with extreme weather. It should be worth the price of the popcorn.

        And if they say "Well, uhhhhh, we'll print it in the truck before driving out there!", then I'd like to know why they think it's more efficient to have the truck and driver sitting around for a couple of hours while a 3D printer runs, rather than just leave the printer in a non-vibratin

    • 3D printing is still in its infancy, so I will patent the more old school mobile manufactory. Load up a truck with a bunch of lumber and some carpenters, or a furnace and a glassblower, or an upholsterer. Design and order your furniture and accessories online, and these dedicated craftsmen will make it to spec while they drive to your home for delivery!

      • 3D printing is still in its infancy, so I will patent the more old school mobile manufactory....!

        Sounds like 'ye old renaissance fair on a "truck" pulled by a team of coldbloods and accompanied by pipes and drums. Are pipes and drums patentable if they're 3D printed on a truck? This is so confusing...

    • How about a method for producing food... ON A TRUCK! Sure it may have some prior art, but that seldom stops a patent nowadays because just about everything has prior art.

      And while we're on the topic... if we can add "on a computer", "on the internet", or "on a truck" to make a new patent, how about "in a building"?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by itzly ( 3699663 )

      We can do 3D printing on a truck using a computer.

      • We can do 3D printing on a truck using a computer.

        3D printing on a truck using a computer that is connected over the internet to a one-click "virtual" electronic shopping cart.

    • So Amazon just patented 3-D printing... ON A TRUCK? What other existing technologies can we add "on a truck" to to create a novel invention?

      Why is this surprising? How many "new" ideas have been patented by adding "on the Internet" to an existing idea?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Nidi62 ( 1525137 )

      So Amazon just patented 3-D printing... ON A TRUCK? What other existing technologies can we add "on a truck" to to create a novel invention?

      I'm going to take all those with/on a computer patents and add on a truck to the end of them. I'll be rich!

    • I was thinking:
      Baking a baby in a truck
      But I'm pretty sure there is plenty prior art for that.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by aurizon ( 122550 )

      Here is another patent idee for them:-
      Micron Level Platform Stabilization, a method of dynamic compensation for turns, stops/starts etc.

      This could even lead to a Grand-Prix racing car with onboard stabilized printing patents - fastest possible delivery.

      At times, as in the Fire fiasco, and then again here, it seems as if Amazon and Bugs Bunny share similar cerebral processes - Hare-Brained...

  • Why Mobile? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by jythie ( 914043 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2015 @11:54AM (#49128227)
    I am not really understanding what the point of making the fabrication itself mobile, other than not having to pay rent on dedicated facilities. They would still have to have some kind of depot for the raw materials, so why have all the extra weight of driving around the equipment? Esp since you could not print while driving since that would really screw up the accuracy.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by necro81 ( 917438 )
      The thing that stuck out in my mind would be time: depending on the size of the part and the quality, a #D-print build typically takes on the order of hours. Maybe that can get a bit better in time, but probably not by much. Given that, why put the fab in a truck?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jythie ( 914043 )
        The only place I can really see this making sense would be rural or otherwise fairly remote/sparse areas, kinda like the old book-mobiles except mobile manufacturing. In those situations, a couple hours to print might be better than the days or weeks shipping might take, with the added bonus that you could move around and serve a wider area. However as a general rule regions like that have very poor economies (or at least very limited), and thus the economics of having a fleet of these things serving the

    • SCUD printers, sneaking around in the night, printing bootleg taillight covers for any make of car.

  • Really? (Score:3)

    by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2015 @11:54AM (#49128237)
    There is plenty of prior art. Mobile sintering machines that get emailed instructions on how to fabricate a part have been in use for quite a few years. Get the instructions, make a part via sintered printing, machine it to final specs. The US military uses them to fabricate parts by deployed troops, who can haul the machine around in a deuce and a half, or whatever they call a truck nowadays.

    • Now this I could go for. A big green truck with one giant-assed machine zapping, sparking and beeping in the driveway. Out comes -- a machine gun mount.

      That would be cool.

  • So stupid ... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by gstoddart ( 321705 ) on Wednesday February 25, 2015 @12:04PM (#49128321) Homepage

    This isn't an invention, it's a frickin' business model.

    People have been driving around in trucks for decades making stuff on location -- think welders and machinists. People have been dispatched to drive around and make stuff for decades.

    But somehow you can get a fucking patent for "a system and methodology of placing one or more existing technologies in a truck and dispatching using existing technologies".

    If the patent office approves this, they should be lit on fire, dipped in shit, shot and then fired.

    OMG, we're going to use the intertubes to cause trucks to use existing technologies and then deliver it to you. Seriously?

    I know people who work as ferriers (you know, the guys who shoe horses). And largely, this is what they do.

    • Indeed. If you do A = B + C, where A is the new technology, and B and C are existing technologies, then the operation "+" should be sufficiently advanced for the patent on A to be approved.

  • And here I thought that they would be making trucks filled with concrete and with big nozzles attached that could print houses, roads and bridges...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by neminem ( 561346 )

      I thought they were going to be 3d printing *delivery trucks*. You know, like "would you torrent a car?" (or in this case, delivery truck.) I was sadly disappointed.

  • Has anybody patented delivering boxes on a truck yet? Better jump on that one.

    • No no no ... this is much more sophisticated ... this is 3D printed (which isn't patented), on a truck (which isn't patentable), using the interwebs (which apparently is patentable), and centrally dispatched.

      Can't you see the sheer amount of innovation it takes to combine "with a computer", "on a truck", and "3D printed"??

      Stop laughing. No, really, stop laughing ... stop it ... stop it now ... Mom, he's doing it again.

      Seriously, as I said elsewhere ... this is NOT an invention. This is a business process,

  • I thought 3d printers and CNC machines required stable platforms. Even a guy whittlin' with a knife has the sense not to do it in a moving truck.
    • I don't think they print while the truck is moving. They print wherever the truck is, Then they deliver it.

      I bet they hope to eventually be able to print while the truck is in motion, but we don't have the tech to do that yet.

      Of course, that will probably be another set of patents. :(

  • If I am going to order a custom 3d printed object, I am going to want to order it from a company using a decent printer on stable ground, not some tiny peace of crap printer bumping around down the road.
  • Just put the fabrication equipment in a commercial building and ship the finished products. Next day delivery infrastructure is already in place. Why does it need to be fabricated in my driveway? If there turns out to be a demand for same-day delivery, set up regional production facilities and deliver the product via courier. Amazon, feel free to PayPal me a huge consulting fee.

  • ...It will print an accompanying drone to carry you order from the truck if it can't get there before the print job is done.

  • 3D Printing "on a truck" has got to be as novel as writing an invoice "on a computer".

  • I can see a contractor wanting mobile 3D printing and CNC milling for field use.

    But Amazon is a general merchandise retailer. The successor to the Sears, Roebuck catalog.

    What is the point to putting printers and mills on wheels rather than just setting them up at their existing regional distribution centers?

    • Well, two obvious reasons:

      1) They want to make the widgets they sell you
      2) If they can't, they want a cut of the action from whoever does this.

      Patents, especially stupid patents which are mostly just business models, are just rent-seeking.

      Some ass at Amazon figures they get a good revenue stream if they can hoodwink the patent office into granting this.

      Which further reinforces my belief that patents are mostly garbage and about entrenching corporate profits in law for no good reason.

  • I don't know what is the sadder comment about businesses and the patent system: That Amazon filed this patent, or that Amazon needed to file this patent. More than half the stupid shit that companies patent these days are just a defensive move to protect them from some patent troll getting there first and raking in the bucks from the folks just doing business and doing all the real work. They never follow through on the "cannot be obvious" requirement, or that you actually have to capitalize on the patent
  • We already have 3-D printing VOLCANOES. Also, I don't see this as a patentable process. Also, it will have to be a big truck (as big as Timothy Olyphant's control truck in the movie Die Hard 4.0) with plenty of power, space, cooling and venting for the StrataSys Objet500 Connex3 printers that they will need to have onboard.
  • When prices for 3D printing fall, they'd have the system ready. The problem as noted, there is prior art.
  • I was just going to patent combo taco trucks and 3D printing trucks. First the printer makes you a chicken burrito with guacamole, and then prints out Elon Musk's latest rocket nozzle in titanium. That's an invention worth patenting like Amazon's, right, right???
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by lgw ( 121541 )

      Odd, I've never had Amazon ship me a 2nd day package by USPS. Other people selling on their site, sure, but I don't pay for 2nd day for them anyhow (since it's not free in that case).

  • What the heck is a patent for doing something . . . on a truck . . . doing?

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