One of the recent "smart" products we have come across is this smartphone-based 3D printer that a known mechanical engineer professor at Taiwan Tech has created. The professor, who happens to be the College of Engineering's Dean, is Jeng Ywam-Jeng who is also known as a consultant for companies like New Kinpo Group Taiwan and XYZ Printing.

The 3D smartphone printer was recently showcased at the Inside 3D Printing Shanghai 2015 was made by Jeng and a team of his graduate students and research assistants. The new 3D printer is said to make use of a new photopolymer that makes use of visible light emitted from a smartphone instead of using the traditional method of using UV lights or lasers.

So how exactly does it work? The recently created 3D printer made by Jeng's team works like the usual 3D printers. It starts with the printer placing a coated vat of the specialty resin on top of a mobile phone. The resin is then cured by the device into a metal print bed as the photopolymer material is released. The printer then uses a z-axis platform to create the shape of the design and the smartphone to cure the material as the object is then built on layers.

According to Jeng, they have tested the machine on 3D printing of a hollow ball and the resulting object has a thickness layer of about 100 microns. He further adds that the printer doesn't need to be put in a dark box like most; the user can just shut the lights off in the part of the room that the device is located. It has been made known that Jeng's team has been working on the prototype of this 3D printer for almost a year now.

It has also been revealed that an earlier version of this printer needed the use of a computer to control the printer motor. But now, the team has discovered the joys of easily using the smartphone screen with the said motor. This made it easy to load ad print 3D models because the printer and the printer management tool were now built into the same device.

It seems like they have already created the best 3D printer in town, but Jeng said that they still hope to add a feature which allows the user to scan a 3D object using their mobile phones, insert it into the printer and print that model effortlessly. The printer is yet to be released publicly. Jeng doesn't have a specific date for the release yet but is expecting that the device will be selling for about $100 USD, aside from the smartphone cost. Consumers and enthusiasts need to be patient and wait for that day.