On Aug. 21, 2024, researchers at the University of Minnesota (UM) announced a first-of-its-kind adaptive 3D printing system that can identify the positions of randomly distributed organisms and safely move them to specific locations for assembly. This autonomous technology will save researchers time and money in bioimaging, cybernetics, cryopreservation, and devices that integrate living organisms.

The research was published in Advanced Science, a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The researchers have a patent pending on the technology.