PRESS RELEASE
Inkbit Awarded Research Contract from The United States Air Force. $1.7M will be used to build three Inkbit systems for use at USAF bases across the country
Medford, Mass. – March 25, 2021 – Inkbit, the company that built the first 3D printer driven by vision-based feedback control, today announced that it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract for $1.7M from the United States Air Force to build three Inkbit systems for use at USAF bases across the country. These three systems are among the first commercial systems to be built by Inkbit, which just announced the launch of its first-of-its-kind closed-loop feedback 3D printing ecosystem, Inkbit Vista, in February.
This contract, which also funds the development of technical improvements and software tools to enhance production output, builds upon work funded by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) to develop Inkbit’s proprietary vision system. The first unit is expected to be deployed by the Texas National Guard.
“The Texas National Guard is proud to be the leader in adopting additive manufacturing into the National Guard. We are excited to take the technology developed by agencies like DARPA to initiate expeditionary parts production efforts that will greatly reduce costs across the force,” said Lt. Col. Alex Goldberg, Chief Innovation Officer, Texas Air National Guard.
Adoption of additive manufacturing technology continues to rise across government agencies and enterprises across the United States thanks, in part, to its ability to produce high quality, end-use applications.
“We are thrilled to be awarded this substantial contract from the United States Air Force,” said Davide Marini, co-founder and CEO at Inkbit. “We are at an inflection point in our business where the technology is undoubtedly making a difference in how additive manufacturing is used to create materials that are appropriate for end-use, pass quality assurance standards, and reduce general production costs from legacy systems. We are looking forward to working with the USAF and are excited to make a difference with additive manufacturing.”
Inkbit Vista features the proprietary Vision-Controlled Jetting (VCJ) solution and multi-material design software, enabling manufacturers to bridge the gap between prototyping and full-scale production. It also enables real-time, in-process voxel-level control to meet the reliability and performance demands of volume manufacturing. This technology converges advanced computational techniques with a scalable hardware architecture and materials chemistries inaccessible to incumbents. For more information about Inkbit, please visit inkbit3d.wpengine.com.
About Inkbit
Inkbit strives to eliminate the existing chasm between prototyping and manufacturing to enable rapid, on-demand manufacturing of multi-material, end-use products. Using computer science to improve manufacturing, Inkbit developed the first 3D printer powered by machine vision and real-time feedback control to meet the speed, precision and reliability requirements of volume production. Based in Medford, MA, Inkbit is a 2017 spinout of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT. Inkbit’s technology is based on research led by Prof. Wojciech Matusik and intellectual property licensed from MIT. Early supporters include the MIT Deshpande Center, the MIT Industrial Liaison Program (STEX25) and The MIT Engine Network. To learn more about Inkbit, please visit https://inkbit3d.wpengine.com.