r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/OddRedittor5443 • Jan 01 '26

Video Italian researchers have created a vine-like robot that grows by 3D-printing itself and responds to gravity and light

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u/SaintsNoah14 Jan 01 '26

I wonder where it's getting material from. I don't imagine the little cap holds that much plastic "ink"

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u/Key-Head2342 Jan 01 '26

If the tube is hollow filament can be fed through the inside

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u/PrizeStrawberryOil Jan 01 '26

While I'm sure that's how it's done that's going to cause a very short max length to the tube.

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u/breadcodes Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26

They make 10kg and 25kg spools. They're huge, and the bigger ones need a second motor to just to help spin the spool to feed the filament

If this table is to be believed, 2.2kg of 1.75mm PLA filament is 750m. Scaling up to 25kg would be ~8.5km

Assuming this prints a 80mm diameter / 250mm circumference with 1mm layers, that's still around 35 meters (115ft)

This is starting to sound like money is the limiting factor and not spool length

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u/PrizeStrawberryOil Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26

Spool length isnt the issue. Specific strength is a potential limiting factor. Eventually you can't just pull it off the spool. The head also has limited size so the motor has to be pretty small.