A prototype 3D printer has for the first time combined several printing methods to enable researchers to produce devices out of multiple materials in a single print run. So far the machine has created basic electronic devices, but the technology brings materials scientists a step closer to their goal of printing complex equipment such as robots or smartphones.

The printer is being presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 21 March.

“Each printing technology has its own limitations,” says Jerry Qi, a materials scientist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, who led the design of the multimaterial printer. “We put four 3D-printing technologies under one platform.”

Read the article featured in Nature journal here.