Conventional 3D printing builds a part one slice at a time.
We cure the whole part at once.
Every commercial printer in production today is layer-bound. Throughput is set by the time it takes to traverse Z, layer after layer. Hours per part.
MAV projects calibrated light into a volume of resin. Where the integrated dose crosses the cure threshold, material solidifies — everywhere, simultaneously. The whole part appears in a single exposure.
Seconds, not hours.
Most MAV prints are made in three minutes. Volumetric exposure cures the whole part in a single illumination — no Z-axis travel, no layer-adhesion penalty, no slow ramp.
Throughput is bounded by light-engine optics and resin chemistry, not mechanical motion. The print is finished before a layer printer would have warmed up.
Engineering-grade parts, not demos.
Conventional 3D printing is constrained to thin, low-viscosity resins. MAV prints with materials up to 20× more viscous — the chemistries that produce structurally sound, end-use parts.
Volumetric cure also removes the layer-adhesion failure mode, which is what disqualifies most 3D-printed parts from real load paths today.
Layerless by construction.
Layer interfaces are where conventional 3D-printed parts fail under load. MAV cures the whole part in a single illumination — no layer adhesion, no stress riser at the seam, no anisotropy.
The optical consequence is just as categorical. Layer lines aren’t removable, not even with vapor smoothing. MAV prints optically clear plano-convex lenses straight off the bench; conventional 3D printing can’t approach optical-grade clarity without significant post-processing.
Print directly over electronics and metals.
Volumetric exposure cures the resin around an inclusion in the same single illumination it cures the bulk part. No nozzle has to traverse the surface; no print head has to make contact. MAV is the only additive technology that can print directly over electronics or metals.
The inclusion sits in the resin volume; cured polymer forms around it. Sensors, antennas, magnets, board assemblies — components that would have been added in a second step on a layer printer can be encapsulated in the print itself.
Cornell-licensed IP, MIT residency, building the printer.
Co-founded by Prof. Robert Shepherd (Cornell, inventor of the technology), Aaron Pempel (CEO, former Nike GM), and Prof. T.J. Wallin (MIT, 35+ patents).
Meet the team
