David Bowen has built a spectacular machine that prints 3D renderings tracking the different growth phases of an onion bulb.
The idea may seem a little crazy, but we can see the results :-)
As a matter of fact, this is art.
The artist won a prize at the 13th Media Arts Festival in Japan.
His circular robot scans the onion every 24 hours with a laser, and each time makes an exact replica of it in plastic with his 3D printer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0lC58Co5Y0
via boingboing
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://community.robotshop.com/index.php/blog/show/david-bowen-3d-print-of-an-onion