Yahoo Japan Corp. has developed a voice-activated Internet search that links to a 3D printer, letting users look online for blueprints to deliver solid objects in a few minutes, the company said.<\/p>\n
The search engine scours the Internet for information that it can use to print palm-sized renderings of items as diverse as hippopotamuses or fighter jets.<\/p>\n
Heralded as a technology that is potentially as game-changing as the steam engine was in its day, 3D printers have become a more commonplace reality over the last few years.<\/p>\n
The devices use slices of information about a three-dimensional object and gradually deposits fine layers of material — such as plastic, carbon or metal — to build a copy.<\/p>\n
Design information for a working handgun was posted online earlier this year, sparking warnings that the technology needed to be tamed amid fears of a wave of home-built weaponry.<\/p>\n
Yahoo Japan, which is part-owned by Japanese mobile carrier Softbank and US Internet giant Yahoo! Inc. has no firm plans on commercialising the technology.<\/p>\n
As part of the project, Yahoo Japan has introduced the 3D search engine to a school for blind and visually impaired students in Tokyo on a temporary basis, it said, adding they can use it for free until mid-October.<\/p>\n
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