The mechanical structures of HP's printing division are actually close to those used in robotics. (If you think about it, a printer and a PC are essentially a robot that can replace a typist, secretary or stenographer.) HP combined its PC and printer divisions in March. Put its in-house designers to work and this could form the core of an integrated robotic system.
Commentary: How HP (and Dell) Can Avoid Being Dragged Down by PCs
Given that robotics at this scale is new, having something near at hand should give HP a faster ramp to market than any other existing technology company-and a mitigating edge over the automotive companies that have been working on this problem. Personal robots would also give HP a product that could leverage its printer and PC units, further validating their merger.
The Second Wave: 3-D Printing
At the moment, 3-D printing is attracting more interest than personal robots. I find this ironic, because to me 3-D printing is both more complex and further from market than robots. However, 3-D printing has interim steps of viable products, and most fall within HP's capabilities, so I think it's a better option for the company.
The obvious first connection is that HP dominates the printing business, so anything related to printing would seem to be a natural extension of who HP is. That said, while 3-D printing happens today on a small scale, it hasn't yet reached the industrial scale of a company such as HP. Put another way, it's pretty much where PCs were before Apple came along.
Right now, the savings that 3-D printers demonstrate are in line with the savings that were associated initially with printers. For instance, fabricating a part can cost anywhere from $1,000 to $20,000. Using a 3-D printer for the same task often costs under $200. The issue is that the fabricated part can be used in a full production test, while the printed part can only be used in a mockup.
Recently, though, there was a breakthrough in printing more complex parts. This video, for example, shows a working, usable crescent wrench coming from a 3-D printer that appears to have an HP print head for color. Think about that the next time you need an obscure tool or car part.
