In a nutshell, they're developing a machine that enables multi-color printing on your single-extrusion machine. You can use up to 4 filaments in a print with just one print head, and it does that by sitting in the path between your filament spool and your extruder motor and splicing the appropriate filament in on-demand.
Of course multi-material is way cooler than multi-color (at least in my book) and I think they've had some degree of success there too, but I think that's more of a "bonus" than a feature. I've heard they had some success with PLA and dissolvable support - I haven't heard anything about ABS. They do have a nifty youtube video demonstrating a flashlight they printed from PLA and conductive filament.
On one hand, I think this is a really cool freaking concept! I haven't personally messed with multiextrusion myself but I've heard it's a pain. You have to worry about leveling both nozzles, and during a print you have to worry about the idle one dribbling. And of course there's extra hardware - more steppers for more extruders, more wires to run, additional stepper drivers - RAMBo can't support more than 2 extruders? I'm fuzzy on details, but with the way the mosaic machine is set up, it bypasses ALL these problems. Seems like it's almost as badass as sharks with frickin lazors!
On the other hand the machine is not free (obviously...). I just got an email from them today saying they're about to enter their kickstarter phase and I'm wondering, yes multiextrusion is cool, but how much is it "worth?" I'm sure some people would value it highly but I'm worried it would wind up being mostly a curiosity, and I'd just fall back into the habit of single-color printing.
At this point I'm just curious what other people think. Coolest thing since sliced bread? Overhyped toy?
Convince me that it's worth it at any price, please... I want one and I don't want to feel like I'm making a mistake in getting one!
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
(For real though, honesty above all else please.)
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)